Cabelas blue ridge rifle in flintlock

[leadball]

Any body use or have experience with cabelas blue ridge rifles? I have been eyeing the flintlock. It looks well built but the 1:48 twist may be too fast for PRB. I use a traditions .50 caliber kentucky with a 1:66 twist and it shoots a PRB very well. Opinions on the Blue ridge?

 

Can't say, but if the barrel is button rifled, it's too shallow to shoot really well with patched ball. We got decent accuracy from them using .495 balls and .018 patch. Yeah, it's tight, but would shoot up to 80gr. without stripping with that combo.
: Cut rifling will always beat out buttoned with PRB. There are some good shooters with them at our club, but they can't compete against GM barrels.
Daryl

 

[Stumpkiller]

Examined one (at an archery club where we couldn't fire it) in .36 cal and it looked well made. The owner loved it and claimed suberb accuracy. Note that we were all traditional archers there, and 'superb accuracy' might mean 'all shots in the black' ::. He said he was making headshots on squirrels, and I believed him. I'm 6'3" and the stock was a bit cramped for me, but it was a very sleek rifle.

I heard a rumor that Pedersoli makes the Blue Ridge.

 

[dumbear]

I have a .32 and a .45, both shoot great. One of the guys in the club has a .54 and It shoots RBs good enough to win, he also killed an elk with it. The BlueRidge is a good rifle, all of them I've seen shoot great.

 

Are they cut or buttoned? - Not this thread, but many original Hawkens were 48" twist and the standard cal for the plains was .53. Cut rifled makes a BIG diference.
Daryl

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

Most original Hawken rifles had a 1:48 twist because they only had one rifling machine, and that was the twist rate it used. It must have worked well at stabilizing the ball for a variety of calibers, or Hawken rifles wouldn't have been the most sought-after rifles of their day. I'm not saying 1:48 is the best, just that it works well. Personally, I prefer a slower twist for larger calibers (.54, etc), but 1:48 works well for a .45. I think many people that say they had a .45 1:48 rifle that didn't shoot well should probably blame the quality of manufacture of the barrel rather than the twist rate.

The Pedersoli Frontier and the Cabela's Blue Ridge are the same rifle. Pedersoli licensed Cabela's to sell it under the 'Blue Ridge' name, but you can get the same rifle as the 'Pedersoli Frontier' from other dealers. The only difference would be the price.

I don't have experience with the Frontier/Blue Ridge, but I have a .45 Pedersoli Chambersburg Pennsylvania flint rifle with a 1:48 twist. Pedersoli uses button rifling. As with centerfire rifles, the quality of finish given to the bore during manufacture is more important than the method used to rifle it. A barrel using the cheapest method of rifling can shoot better than one using a 'better' method, if the bore is given a better quality finish during the manufacturing process. With a patched .440 ball, my rifle can make (on a calm day) 5" groups at 100 yards shooting off-hand (no rest), and it'll do much better off the sandbags. It's plenty accurate enough for my needs. Yes, you can get other rifles with expensive aftermarket barrels that will shoot better than that, but we're talking mass-produced standard grade flintlocks, not expensive custom or upgraded pieces. Click here to see a picture of the Chambersburg:

Chambersburg Pennsylvania

 

I'm going out tommrow to throw some .490 lead balls down range with my .50 flintlock Blue Ridge.
It's my first flintlock so I had a lot to learn,but a lot of the guys at my local club shoot flinters,so I got a lot of good advice.Two things they advised me to do after examinig the gun and firing it was to have the vent enlarged to 5/64,and have the foot of the frizzen ground so that the frizzen moved easier,which inceased lock time and prolonged flint life.Once these were done I was very happy with it.Have fun.

 

At Cabela's the blue Ridge rifle in flint is $519 each plus shipping or $555+ with tax if bought in store. If you go to Dixie gun works online to Petersoli frontier rifle in flint is $495 plus shipping which is $28.45 for a total of $523.45.

 

[Rebel]

I have had them in both .45 and .50. Both were very nice guns for the money. Both shot rd. balls exceptionally well. But i went and bought a North Star West Early English Trade gun .62 cal. flintlock smoothbore and sold my last BP rifle, which was the Cabela"S Blue Ridge .50 cal.

 

[smokeblower]

I have nothing but praise for my .50 Blue ridge/frontier, they are the same gun. I have taken deer at sixty yards and at twenty yards. you have to play with the front sight, I made a cross mark and a little fingernail polish instead of grinding it down. I use the Lee REAL,s for hunting and practice. It is my dry low moisture weather deer gun. it is a good out of the box flinter and has a sleek stock. My only gripe would be the cheap dowl rod ramrod. Mine broke trying to pull a ball so I glued it together and it is now a decoration item in the stock. why would they(Pedersoli) make a nice gun , then go cheap on the ramrod?

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

Why would they (Pedersoli) make a nice gun, then go cheap on the ramrod?

I'm not sure what to say about that, since I've never used a Frontier/Blue Ridge. Try lumber supply places to find a real hardwood rod, Maple, Cherry, Oak, Walnut, etc. You can get brass tips from Dixie and a bunch of other places.

 

[Ohio Joe]

I don't know why, Pedersoli would go with a cheap rod, I expect it's like anything else that is production made, cut cost where you can then add 25% to the high side??? You would think for what they charge for their rifles they'd at least come with a quality hickory rod... ::

 

[rich e]

Hi guys, this is my first post on this site, been checkin it out for awhile but had no reason to log on, but I can offer some assistance as far as rifling on the Cabelas blue ridge, I have a 50cal flint, it shoots vary good, the groups are pretty good for me, I'm not the best flintlock shooter around but this gun is a good sparker and ignition is pretty quick, so even I don't do to bad with it. the rifling on mine is vary deep, at least .010-.012 deep, so it shoots a thick patched ball pretty good. you'll like it its a darn good gun, but the price has gone up alot since i got mine.

 

[Bluegrass]

Well yall, the price of the Blue Ridge flinter's gone down to $450, so I'm orderin' one tomorrow. :winking: Could somebody tell me what size flint the Blue Ridge takes, I'd like to order a whole mess of black English flints fer the rifle too.

 

Could somebody tell me what size flint the Blue Ridge takes, I'd like to order a whole mess of black English flints fer the rifle too.

3/4 X 7/8 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Stumpkiller]

Roaddog,

Now you're getting around to an Avatar that makes a statement.

Arrrr!

 

Old Musketman gave me that pic, I thought I'd better use it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

 

[GobblerKnob]

I bought one a few years ago to hunt fall turkeys with (In PA that's still legal.) It's a .45 caliber. I chose that caliber because .32 is too small to hunt deer with. Anyway, out of the box, the 1st 3 rounds touched each other! To date, I have killed 4 turkeys with it and 6 deer. I absolutely love that gun! For birds, I use 65 grains of 3 F. For deer, I use 80. It is a well-made rifle that is as accurate as you are. I give it the highest endorsement possible!