New Pedersoli Kentucky

[fstreed]

My new flintlock pistol came today from DGW. I haven't shot it yet, perhaps tomorrow if the weather cooperates. I cant quite get the hang of posting pictures but here are some links (hopefully) to a picture or two.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35460591@N04/4295980295/in/set-72157623264585816/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35460591@N04/4295979007/in/set-72157623264585816/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35460591@N04/4295966547/in/set-72157623264585816/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35460591@N04/4296710382/in/set-72157623264585816/

A few initial impressions: The wood is rather plain walnut, which I expected. The angle of the grain through the grip isn't ideal as one of the pictures shows. The inletting on the sideplate leaves the rear of it sticking above the wood quite a bit, should be easy enough to fix. The trigger pull is hard but not as bad as I feared after reading several posts criticizing Pedersoli's triggers, I am hoping that it will wear in and loosen up. If I have to I will break out the stones and work on it. The frizzen spring seems to be way too strong, it is hard to close and even harder to open, but it sparks good. The machining in the bore is rough, it shredded several cleaning patches. That condition will probably go away with some shooting. In general, it looks pretty good. I am somewhat reserving judgment until I shoot it a few times. We will see how the Eyetalian measures up to the Spaniard.

 

[mdrougas]

Very nice. I always thought that Pedersoli's were well made and top shelf. What gives?? What caliber are they??? I carry a .54 cal/20 gauge North Star Trade Pistol with my .54 cal Lancaster Rifle. I love shooting my flinters. Have fun and let us know how it goes. MJD

 

[fstreed]

They are both .50 cal. The percussion that is sharing the not quite period correct case (Gotta haul 'em in something) is a Traditions. It actually looks better in the pictures than it does in real life. No complaints about it though, it shoots very well and has a decent trigger. The wood on it is beech, it has some kind of a hard plastic looking finish but is actually a nice piece of wood with the grain following the lines of the pistol from the fore end through the grip.

The Pedersoli is a better looking pistol, better lines, and of course walnut will always look nicer than beech. The sideplate problem isn't really serious, I can fix it easy enough, but it must have been Friday afternoon when this one went by the quality control guy. As for the trigger, I would bet that it just needs to be wore in and will smooth up a lot.

I'm looking forward to shooting it. Haven't shot a flintlock in years.

 

[fstreed]

I shot the Pedersoli yesterday, put 30 balls through it. I definitely have a learning curve ahead of me concerning flintlocks.

I had several failures to ignite the priming powder (3f). The flint I was using is probably a little too big, I have some on order from TOTW but for now I am making do with some I got at the local Muzzle loading/Hippy head shop.

I also had several "flash in the pan", and almost all shots were noticeably slow to ignite, a definite pfttttboom effect. Last night when I took the pistol apart for cleaning I noticed that there isn't much of a chamber in the breech plug and the path from the pan to the main load is kind of convoluted. I think what was happening is that I wasn't getting the main charge down into the breech plug chamber sufficiently, and then around the corner into the vent, now that I understand the setup I think I can probably correct that by altering my loading technique. I took the barrel down to my shop last night to drift the front sight a bit and I drilled the vent hole out a little, to 1/16. That should also help.

Otherwise, the pistol did OK. I was loading with 30 grains of 3f GOEX, a .490 ball with a .015 patch lubed with Hoppes patch lubricant, and an overpowder fiber wad lubed with Stumpy's Moose Morrow stuff. The fiber wads are the 1/2 inch ones, I cut them in half then soak then in melted Moose Morrow, then zap them for a few seconds in a microwave. I was shooting at 34 yards because that was the distance between the tree I leaned the big piece of cardboard against and my redneck shooting bench/Ford Ranger hood. I fired a 20 round group that measured 5 1/2 inches and was centered about 6" left and 20" low from my aiming point. Considering my ignition difficulties and lack of load development I thought that was pretty good. For now I will concentrate on getting this thing figured out until it fires reliably, then start on load development.

The trigger is starting to smooth up a bit. The bore still cuts patches and is noticeably rough, I might have to polish it a little, or just shoot it more, there isn't anything wrong with it, it is just new.

 

[AZ Muzzle]

I have a 50 cal. Pedersoli Kentucky pistol in percussion with maple stock. I use the same load, patch & ball as you do and she shoots like a dandy. I had to file the front sight a bit to adjust to my shooting style. After hours of practice, I can sink the lead consistently in the 10 ring at 25 yards.

I would recommend the Pedersoli Kentucky Pistol.

 

[mdrougas]

Thanks for posting the results of your first outing with the new gun. Sounds like you'll have it down in no time at all. Have fun and take care. MJD

 

[napolean]

I have one of these also ( see photos post) Mine is older and the lock has a fly in the tumbler, so I ordered a single set trigger from DGW and installed it. Works great. The barrel on mine was not rough, but I hated the factory trigger set up.
Jon