Pedersoil ignition problem fix

[Gonzo]

I am new here and after fussing with a misfiring Pedersoil Pennsylvanis rifle in 45 cal for a year I have have finally solved it.

The "patent breech" is too small in diameter.

I read on this board sporadic frustrations with Pedersolis flinters. Trust me this will make all your dreams come true.

Ever notice thatyour cleaning brush doesnt make it to the bottom of the barrel like you are used to. That is because you have a "patent breech". The Pedersoli patent breech is 1/4 inch diameter. Its too dang small for powder mixed with a little oil and some carbon crud to make to the bottom of the breech where the touch hole can light it off.

I removed the breech plug and drilled mine to 5/16 and it is now a very reliable shooter. I had to shorten up the touchhole liner to match the larger bore. It took me about an hour. Dont forget that you MUST remove the touchhole before you remove the breech plug.

I have a drill press but it could be done with a vice and a hand drill. The steel was very easy to drill.

I dont know what other models are affected but I do know that all Pedersolis have patent breeches. I suspect they are all built to the 1/4 inch.

If you decide to live with this bring a wire brush in 22 cal to clean the patent breech between shots. Also slpping the barrell to get the powder down the breech helps.

I shot mine last weekend with 445 balls and .010 patches with wonderlube and I ran a spit patch down it every 10 shots or so. Didnt hang up even once. I didnt notice any change at all in ignition speed and I very much doubt the wisdom of the 19th century patent breech invention.

 

[oldmaster]

Hello, I have the same rifle. It's my first flinter and was given to me by my youngest son for father's day. My biggest problem is keeping the flint tight in the jaws and keeping an edge on the flint. Other than that, I like the rifle. I've never had a problem with the patent breech because I store my rifle muzzle down.

 

[jsn]

do you use a felt strip or piece of leather to hold the flint?

 

[Jumpshot]

I use a piece of leather I cut off one of my mocassins. Works for me. :grin:

 

[dlgraley]

I have the Pedersoli Pennsylvania Dixie that I built from a kit in 45 cal. I haven't had any issues with the patent breech, but it sure does eat up flints. The flint is hitting the frizzen at the proper 60 degrees, but I still only get about a dozen relaible shots out of a flint before it dulls.

 

[LRB]

I have done a few like that in the past, but I think I drilled them out even larger. It does help, but I have heard lately of problems removing the breech plugs.

 

[hanshi]

Welcome to the forum, Gonzo. Glad you got the problem fixed. I had the Cub but never had a problem with the patent breech. What I did have trouble with was the flint lock. Just never could get it to work with the reliability I needed. It was a fine rifle in percussion, though.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I wouldn't recommend removing the breech plug nor drilling out the powder chamber so it is larger. My experience has been that most ignition problems with Pedersolis are an easy fix.

1. Clean the powder chamber well while cleaning! Several ways to accomplish this. a. Use a flush tube system. b. Use a .22 cal bore brush with a patch wrapped around it. c. pull the touch hole liner when cleaning (use choke tube lube on the threads).

2. Keep the powder chamber dry! I never oil the powder chamber nor do I slather soaking wet patches down the bore while shooting.

3. I open up the touch hole liners with a 1/16th" drill.

4. If you find that your Pedersoli eats flints or doesn't spark well, look towards your frizzen. Pedersoli frizzens do not seem to be hardened very deeply and wear out fairly quickly. Re-harden or replace your frizzen. Replacement frizzens are around $22 from DGW.

Just my two cents worth based on my experience with Pedersolis. Once you get them figured out, they really are reliable tack drivers.

 

[Gonzo]

I am used to going out and shooting 50 shots in a couple hours. I couldnt do that before I drilled it out without a breakdown and now I can. I dont see any down side to the larger breech. Its just too small to not cause problems.

Oily powder in the patent breech was one of the problems I had too. Storing barrel down I guess will keep oil from filling it up and effectivly shutting your rifle down. The larger bore breech makes this a less likely scenario. Oil will still collect there but there is more room for it.

When I disassembled my breech to drill it out I noticed that the end of the patent breech was about 50% clogged with carbon. I didnt have too much trouble getting the breech plug off. I clamped the barrel in a vice then turned it with large crecsent wrench on the barrel. I assume gunsmiths might have some special wrench for this.

For you guys having trouble with the flint staying in the jaws use lead instead. Take a lead ball and pound it flat with a hammer. Then fold it and cut a little notch with some wire snippers. Wrap the flint with the little notch facing backwards so that the hammer screw is contacting the flint. Trim off the extra lead and voila my flints never come loose. Then use an old drill bit to tighten it in the jaws.

I also note that the frizzen jaw screw was too long. With thin flints it would bottom out. I shortened it a little on the grinder.

 

[ebiggs1]

“I dont see any down side to the larger breech. “

Strength of the breech area! The smaller the caliber, the smaller the “patent breech.”

My experience with flints that come loose is they are not flat. They have “hump backs” and thus are difficult to get the jaws the have a good grip. I find lead makes loose flints worse. I have always had to re tighten lead wraps after a short while.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I solved the breaking flint problems in my Pedroseli by thinning the frizzen spring. :hmm:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

“I dont see any down side to the larger breech. “

Strength of the breech area! The smaller the caliber, the smaller the “patent breech.”

Opening up the powder chamber will not affect the strength in the least. There is a full 1/2" of solid plug behind the rear of the powder chamber. I have one .45 caliber bored out to 7/16" but 3/8" is plenty.
The photo is on a 1/4" grid.

 

[ebiggs1]

I doubt they put the extra material there because it's too strong. Maybe so, I could be wrong.

 

[superscifi12]

Well I hardly ever post on here- but here it goes, As a production machinist here is my point of view with a little info from work. (we don't make parts for guns but general machining) They most likly have one plug made and they fit it to multiple guns because it is cheaper. We do the same we make a whole family of parts that there is only one difference so we make blanks that will work for all of them even if it means there is more waste on a certain one. Setup time is minimal- the machine is running more.

I run old school screw machines- Acmes, Brown and sharps, davenports and wickmans. Cnc's may be different.

mike

 

[larry wv]

I have had a blue ridge in .54 for a long time. No failure to fire. I just keep it clean. Sure not going to scar my barrel up and drill to fix a problem I don't have. But if it is apart for another reason I would consider drilling it a bit. Larry Wv

 

[Joel/Calgary]

On my Pedersoli Kentucky .50 (same hardware as Pennsylvania but shorter barrel), even with good cleaning, I had to slap the side of the breech to settle 3Fg fully. After my gunsmith drilled to chamber out to ~.30", it was more reliable, but I'd still get powder bridging occasionally, if I poured the powder in fast. My .32 Frontier has the same ~.20" chamber, and I just live with having to slap the side of the breech when I load, unless I pour the powder very slowly.

By the way, the various forms of chambered breech were late-18th and early-19th century developments intended to improve the burning of the main charge. The idea was to shoot a jet of flame up through the centre of the charge rather than having it just burn outward from the bottom corner by the touch-hole.

Regards,
Joel

 

[matt denison]

"I run old school screw machines- Acmes, Brown and sharps, davenports and wickmans."

This is very interesting to me. Please check for a PM from me.

Matt Denison

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I doubt they put the extra material there because it's too strong. Maybe so, I could be wrong.

It's just a cheaper way to build the gun in both flint and percussion and a variety of calibers. A 13/16" barrel in .45 caliber has barrel walls only about .170" thick.
Thus with a drum having our common thread of 18 per inch you will have only three threads supporting the drum. You'll notice in the photo that the last two threads nearest the drum are not even fully formed, so ONE actual thread. Therefore the reason for threading the drum into the breechplug, to support the percussion drum.
Flint vent liners are threaded full length and are not being pounded on by the hammer and don't need the additional support. There is no other logical reason to make a breechplug 1 1/8" long. :haha:
Original flint guns seldom had plugs longer than 1/2" and custom builders today follow that same policy, 1/2" thread depth is plenty and drilling the powder chamber to 3/8" does not eliminate the threads surrounding the chamber. An overload will burst the .170" barrel walls long before it could possibly strip out the breechplug. One would not want a powder chamber larger than the rifle bore but up to that point, bigger is better.