.45 Navy Arms Kentucky Rifle percussion model.
I dated it using an online reference for Italian date codes, mine is XXX which is supposed to equal 1974. Since I bought the gun off the rack, after watching it sit there for a couple of years, in about 1977 I figure that's got to be correct.
Anyhow, I shot it quite a bit for a couple of years and even managed to win a match using it but my primary shooter back then was a T/C .50 Hawken. The Kentucky, a caplock model, spent the several years displayed on my father's wall. I put in back into inventory after my father passed a little over 20 years ago.
I've shot it a bit over the past 20 years, usually at 25 yards using charges of about 45 grains 3FG, a .440 ball wrapped in a .015 patch. It does okay but it's generally been a nostalgia thing when I've shot it.
Cabin fever bound the past couple of days, too wet and cold to do much, I dug my Navy Arms Kentucky, made by Pedersoli, out to fondle it a bit. I dropped a bore shine down the barrel and shot a flashlight beam to get a view of the rifling. It was like watching the opening scenes of a Twilight Zone episode, those lands and grooves were spinning tightly.
Now when I bought this shooter I was not concerned about such things as barrel twist rates. I did, however, like guns I thought looked pretty cool. At the time this was one. I figured I was a pretty smart guy just knowing my T/C Hawken had a 1 in 48" twist for round and Maxi balls. I never even bothered to check the twist rate might be in my Navy Arms Kentucky.
An online search suggested the Navy Arms Kentucky had a 1 in 48" twist however this was not manufacturer data rather auction site information from past listings, one identified as a 1978 model.
Today I used the marked ramrod method to determine twist rate and it appears to be around 1 in 20". It's beyond me why Pedersoli would put a 1 in 20" twist barrel in 1974 when patched round balls were probably the most likely projectile to be used in this gun but that's what it is. All I can figure is the twist rate for the 45-70 is 1in 20" so perhaps they intially thought that would be the correct twist for a .45 cal muzzleloader.
As soon as this cold and wet spell ends I'm going to spend a range session, at 25 yards, to remind myself of how this gun shoots. No matter what, it will probably remain a wall hanger.
Before I forget, have any of you had any experience with a Pedersoli Kentucky Rifle?
I dated it using an online reference for Italian date codes, mine is XXX which is supposed to equal 1974. Since I bought the gun off the rack, after watching it sit there for a couple of years, in about 1977 I figure that's got to be correct.
Anyhow, I shot it quite a bit for a couple of years and even managed to win a match using it but my primary shooter back then was a T/C .50 Hawken. The Kentucky, a caplock model, spent the several years displayed on my father's wall. I put in back into inventory after my father passed a little over 20 years ago.
I've shot it a bit over the past 20 years, usually at 25 yards using charges of about 45 grains 3FG, a .440 ball wrapped in a .015 patch. It does okay but it's generally been a nostalgia thing when I've shot it.
Cabin fever bound the past couple of days, too wet and cold to do much, I dug my Navy Arms Kentucky, made by Pedersoli, out to fondle it a bit. I dropped a bore shine down the barrel and shot a flashlight beam to get a view of the rifling. It was like watching the opening scenes of a Twilight Zone episode, those lands and grooves were spinning tightly.
Now when I bought this shooter I was not concerned about such things as barrel twist rates. I did, however, like guns I thought looked pretty cool. At the time this was one. I figured I was a pretty smart guy just knowing my T/C Hawken had a 1 in 48" twist for round and Maxi balls. I never even bothered to check the twist rate might be in my Navy Arms Kentucky.
An online search suggested the Navy Arms Kentucky had a 1 in 48" twist however this was not manufacturer data rather auction site information from past listings, one identified as a 1978 model.
Today I used the marked ramrod method to determine twist rate and it appears to be around 1 in 20". It's beyond me why Pedersoli would put a 1 in 20" twist barrel in 1974 when patched round balls were probably the most likely projectile to be used in this gun but that's what it is. All I can figure is the twist rate for the 45-70 is 1in 20" so perhaps they intially thought that would be the correct twist for a .45 cal muzzleloader.
As soon as this cold and wet spell ends I'm going to spend a range session, at 25 yards, to remind myself of how this gun shoots. No matter what, it will probably remain a wall hanger.
Before I forget, have any of you had any experience with a Pedersoli Kentucky Rifle?
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