My Pedersoli Frontier

[dikman]

Ok, let's try a couple of photos. It was a dull, overcast day and I turned the flash off to try and get a uniform lighting (hard to get a good photo).





I'm interested to hear any thoughts/opinions on the wood.

 

[Alden]

The further away the more maple it looks to me. Pretty sharp whatever it turns out to be -- just enough character to it with that coloring to make it pretty darn perfect. Subtle but sharp. Balanced. With a nicely fitted and colored lock. Even the trigger-guard seems perfectly flush... How could you have done much better than that!?

Thanks for the pics -- good start!

 

[dikman]

The top photo is probably closer to the actual colour, the others came out a bit darkish. The lock has some very striking colour-case-hardening on it.
More shooting today. I measured out loads of 70 gns/3f (for consistency) and can get probably 97% somewhere in the black area of the target at 50 yards, although I'm having to aim above the top of the black at the moment. At some point I'll have to file the front sight, but a bit more experimenting is in order first. I also tried a few balls made from range scrap I've collected - a bit harder than pure lead, but because of the thick patch they worked fine. Also, there is a noticeable delay between the pan igniting and the main charge, and I'm wondering if this is exacerbated by the patent breech that Pedersoli use?

On a slightly different note, but related due to me getting a flintlock, a club member gave a me a box of large flint nodules that he collected from a trip to the (far) west coast. I'm about to try my hand at flintknapping - once I learn more about it. Should be interesting....

 

[BrownBear]

...a noticeable delay between the pan igniting and the main charge, and I'm wondering if this is exacerbated by the patent breech that Pedersoli use?

Read back over what I said about picking and ball seating.

Also check the diameter of your vent. Might be a little small. Many folks like them a little larger, on the order of 5/64".

 

[dikman]

Brownbear, I've basically been doing what you said - pushing the ball down until it just touches the powder and using a pick quite freely! I may need to enlarge the hole slightly, but I'm reluctant to do that until I've eliminated everything else that I can. Like you, I'm using a .490 ball and the patch is .018-.020, greased with Gatafeo's mix. I'm swabbing between shots, and the ball goes down reasonably easy (as in I don't need a hammer!).

I'm not too fussed about the "delay" at the moment. I find it strangely satisfying to get a flintlock to fire when I pull the trigger :grin: .