Pedersoli AN IX [Range Report: BIG PICTURES!]

[Burke888]

Hey guys,

As some of you may remember from awhile back, I recently picked up my first flintlock a Pedersoli AN IX pistol. When I first got it from Dixie Gun works the trigger was extremely loose and I sent it back to them. They returned me the same pistol, but the trigger issue was somehow corrected, they did not say how, but I suspect they put in a new trigger.

My initial impressions was that this was a well built pistol. It is very heavy compared to the modern semi automatic pistols I am used too. The lack of sights is a neat novelty, you'll notice it as soon as you pick up the pistol. I went ahead and made some pure lead balls of .66 caliber with a Lyman bullet mold. I had some difficulty in making the balls wrinkle free, but I quickly discovered that if I held the mold directly up to the pour spout on the melter that I would get wrinkle free balls (that just sounded weird :grin: ).

Materials Used
For this pistol I used Tom Fuller English flints (5/8"), along with some leather to help keep them in. For my first 10 or so shots I used a cotton cleaning patch coated in Crisco to help cut down on fouling and keep the ball from rolling out of the barrel. After those first 10, I shot the balls bare with a nice coating of Crisco. Main charge was FFG Goex (~35 grains), with a prime of 4 grains FFFFG. FFG Goex did work as prime. I believe I will stick to FFG as prime in the future because it will help simplify things.


Range Report
My brother and I fired exactly 40 rounds that day. We did most of our shooting at a mere 20 feet. Both my brother and I are experienced pistol shooters. We know the ins and outs of trigger control and sight alignment. However, we had tremendous difficulty in shooting this pistol accurately. The lack of sights was very unusual for us and simply "pointing" it did not result in very good groups at 20 feet. We also had the misfortune and ignorance to prop our target in front of a medium sized oak tree :nono: . After 3 shots we realized our error; the pistol rounds were literally bouncing off the tree! We relocated our target, luckily escaping injury.

Recoil was very mild even with 35 grains of FFG powder. We have shot an Armi Sport 1861 (~60 grains FFG 500 grain minie ball) and one thing we have discovered is that these "old" guns are heavy and do not kick much. After around 15 or so shots we started getting the dreaded miss-fires. We have no idea how to re-knapp the flints so we just kept shooting. The sparks created by the flint gradually kept getting fewer and fewer. Towards the end of the 40 rounds, we would have to fire the pistol up to three times to achieve ignition. We ended up using the same 5/8" Tom Fuller English flint for the whole day. When we got home we scrapped it.

Questions:

• Is 5/8" the optimial size flint to use?
• The frizzen has light gouges in it, my finger nail can get caught on them, is this normal?
• Any problems with using FFG as prime?
  
• Does anyone know of any good books or places where I can learn more about this pistol?

Overall it is a fun pistol to shoot and we had an enjoyable time trying to get some neat pictures. Here are some for your enjoyment:

AN IX Pedersoli

Sparks before the pan ignites!!

Pan going off before main charge

Thanks for taking the time to read, hope you enjoyed! I appreciate the comments and suggestions!

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Nice job on the photos! You're going to get marks on the frizzen, but if they start to deepen then the frizzen hasn't been hardened all the way through. Common with Pedersolis and the like.

Groups with this type of pistol is a term to be used loosely. They are point and shoot combat weapons and with practice you will become quite good at it. Target guns they aren't, but again, with practice you may surprise yourself with what you can achieve with them. A six inch grouping at ten yards would be good shooting and in period would have ruined an enemy soldier's day.

Polishing the lock innards, including the inside of the plate itself if needed, will speed things up some as will polishing the points where the frizzen contacts the frizzen spring. Polishing the spring in this area is good too.

Learning to shoot this type of pistol well is a skill worth bragging about.

 

[arquebus]

Use a flint close to the same width as the frizzen. Set the flint so that at half-cock it is not quite touching the frizzen. If the balls are slightly undersize, try rolling them between two mill-******* files, this will knurl the surface & enlarge the diameter by about .005". Knurling the balls like this will allow you to use them without a patch but they are still easy to load & won't roll out like an unpatched ball. I do this with one of my smoothbore pistols & use a felt wad over the powder. Good Luck & post some more of those great photos from your next range trip!

 

[Jumpshot]

Cool pictures. What camera did you use?

 

[Burke888]

Cool pictures. What camera did you use?

Just a stock Nikon D60, with the kit lens.

 

[Burke888]

Quick Update:

Took the pistol out for a 2nd range trip. This time I noticed that I would get a fairly large number of flashes in the pan as the day wore on. The flashes in the pan seemed to increase with the round count. I also noticed once that the frizzen did not flick open all of the way. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Your flint edge may be worn down some. With that many shots the sharp edge of the flint will break away. you should notice that the flint now sets back more than when you put in in. Lossen up the
screw and advance the flint forward to it's original position, it's probably time to nap the flint sharp again.
The flash pans on the later shots could be a fouling "cake" on the breech which will obstruct the touch hole if it's drilled too close to the breech. Using a vent pick before loading could help this.

That is a fine looking horse pistol and some outstanding pictures. Those "Burst" settings are something else!

:thumbsup:

 

[fyrfyter43]

Like grzrob said, try picking the vent. I load my Queen Anne with a pick in the vent, then remove it right before priming. That's the only way I've been able to get it to go bang with any reliability. I also opened the vent up to 5/64.