Loyalist Wheel Lock Pistol

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Has anyone ordered one yet and test fired? Before I take the plunge. I am familar with the shortcomings of the Indian made guns.
 
I have one on order that Blair totally reworked and restained the stocks.
I'll let you know once it comes in and I get a chance to fire it!
 
I have one. It is actually a pretty good gun all things considered. I suspect the Loyalist folks spent some extra time and labor polishing and hardening the parts. The wheel is a bit narrow but when I take the time to grind the pyrite to contact it properly it fires fairly reliably. I can get 3 or 4 shots before I have to "sharpen" the pyrite. Now I know why they invented flintlocks. In all I am quite pleased with Loyalist Arms and their service. While the wheel lock is a bit pricy I feel I got good value. They're nice people to deal with too!
 
I finally received mine in today!
Very nicely done for the price and you can see inside the lock, that Loyalist Arms re-polished and tuned the action to work reliably.
I'm a Jeweler by Family trade, so I have access to a diamond cutting wheel to cut Pyrite wedges for my 2 Wheel lock guns. I'm using Spanish Pyrite, which was well know in the past to produce fine quality Pyrite pieces. I keep a small Diamond file in my gear to re-polish and flatten the edge of the pyrite as the previous poster stated. I can get about the same, 3-4 shots before having to re-cut the edge.
I'm going to shoot some hotter loads this weekend and will report how it goes. The recommended load from Loyalist Arms is only 30grn of FFG. I prefer FFFG for pistols and it should produce some better
velocity and be cleaner.
Another note, I found with this pistol, is that it seems to prime better with FFFG rather than my usual, FFFFG prime I use in all my other Flintlocks. It stays better in the pan with the cover on and seems to ignite more reliably.
I'll post a range report after Sunday afternoon shoot!
 
AZ Longrifle said:
I'm using Spanish Pyrite, which was well know in the past to produce fine quality Pyrite pieces.
I'll post a range report after Sunday afternoon shoot!

And you get this Spanish Pyrite from where?
How do we get some?



Thanks
Tinker2
 
Gents:

Tinker2 said:
AZ Longrifle said:
I'm using Spanish Pyrite, which was well know in the past to produce fine quality Pyrite pieces.
I'll post a range report after Sunday afternoon shoot!

And you get this Spanish Pyrite from where?
How do we get some?



Thanks
Tinker2

I second that request! The only good pieces of pyrite that I have are 3 from South Dakota. I'd love to get my hands on some more!

Slowmatch Forever!
Teleoceras
 
Thanks for the Post AZ. I ordered one a week ago. Couldn't resist. I ordered mine "in the white" so I could stain the stock myself and TRY to age the metal.
 
SDC10026.JPG

I had always wanted a wheellock. I bought this one from a new CA dealer but it seems to be the same Indian production. Please excuse the broomhandle; it is just there for scale. I tuned it a bit and just found a bullet mold but have not been home in daylight yet to try shooting it.
 
Stupid questions time.

Somethings that never occurred to me until I actually had a wheellock and my reference books seem to not mention such as why pyrite? I am just assuming that flint would be too hard and potentially damage the wheel but what about other rocks that would spark just fine like varieties of quartz? For now fortunately I live in a gold mining area and have learned to catch likely fool's gold out of the corners of my eyes but I am still curious. I am also following the line about how many shots you all are getting out of your pyrite since mine seems to vary quite a bit from piece to piece.

Also, I cannot find any mention of whether wheellocks traditionally used leather, lead, or parchment to hold the pyrite in the jaws. Does anyone happen to have any references for this?

What have you folks who also have this make of .60 cal wheellock found to be a good modest target load? I have been delayed shooting mine until I either have a "day" off or until the days get longer in several weeks.
 
I faithfully used pyrite in mine. And yes it varied considerable from piece to piece. I think I got about twenty shots from one piece, but some crumbled on the first shot. Mostly I got from two to five before they would crumble.
I sold mine to Grizrob and he has been using chert. He has got many shots from a piece of chert. He says that he cannot see any damage to the wheel even though the chert must surely be striking the sparks off the ridges of the wheel instead of the wheel striking sparks off the chert as with pyrite.
Please experiment and add to our knowledge.
Teleoceras, You surely aren't thinking of paying $16 and shipping, cutting up that jewel and using it in your wheellock. Are you? Desperate times call for desperate actions, huh?
volatpluvia
 
I got some video and some still pics from our shoot on Sunday with "capandball" a new member from here that I met.
I'll post them later today.
Had some problems with the gun that I'll explain as well.
 
IMG_3175.jpg

IMG_3177.jpg


This is using 40grns of 3F powder and a .595 patched ball. The shooter is "capandball" from AZ,
That went shooting with me at the last Mesa Black Powder match.
 
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