Pedersoli Double .72

[F.G. Ford]

Hey guys, I just got a Pedersoli double .72, I have wanted one for years.
It is truly awesome. It came with a mold, now I have to cast some balls to feed this monster.
Does anyone have any experience with these guns? Years ago, I had a double .58, great gun, foolishly traded it away.
I have to admit, this gun is heavy, but the squirrels will be nervous now.
If I can't hit them, I will rattle the tree.
Ant information will be appreciated.
Pedesoli really outdid themselves, with this fine double.

 

[FishDFly]

Check with Howie, seems he has one to shoot hogs with.

 

[Britsmoothy]

How big are the squirrels in your woods and is your woods next to a nuclear facility?

 

[ZUG]

So you got a Pedersoli 12 gauge with a tight bore -- < A 12-gauge shotgun, nominally 18.5 mm (0.73 in), can range from a tight 18.3 mm (0.72 in) to an extreme overbore of 20.3 mm (0.80 in)>. This info taken off the web.

Pedersoli makes fine muzzle loading shotguns I have two - one 12 gauge and one 10 gauge both are not choked - I LOVE them. They are a bit heavy for upland game but that's when I take the 12 gauge Pietta out.

 

[F.G. Ford]

In reply to Britsmoothy:
I feed'em lots of nuts.

 

[Britsmoothy]

So you got a Pedersoli 12 gauge with a tight bore -- < A 12-gauge shotgun, nominally 18.5 mm (0.73 in), can range from a tight 18.3 mm (0.72 in) to an extreme overbore of 20.3 mm (0.80 in)>. This info taken off the web.

Pedersoli makes fine muzzle loading shotguns I have two - one 12 gauge and one 10 gauge both are not choked - I LOVE them. They are a bit heavy for upland game but that's when I take the 12 gauge Pietta out.

Your resource is a little bit out.
I have owned12g's with bores @.710"!
Many European 12g shotguns use a .719" bore as standard.
It's splitting hairs I know and of little importance but I think the OP's gun is rifled IIRC.

 

[ZUG]

I stand corrected Britsmoothy you are correct - rifle not smoothbore -- I should have paid more attention to the heading of the subject instead of the message title.

 

[mark_fare]

I've had a Pedersoli .72 x .72 for a little more than a decade now. Mine regulated both barrels at 50 yds with this load: 150 grns Goes 2f, .715" round ball, and a .018" pillow ticking patch lubed with Hoppes 9 Black Powder Solvent and patch lube. I use CCI #11 Magnum primers. I have found that this gun will not shoot to point of aim from the bench. It shoots best offhand. The recoil of 150 grns powder is stout, but manageable.

 

[nightwolf1974]

Do they still make these? I haven't seen one listed anywhere for awhile.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@nightwolf1974, its still listed on the Pedersoli web site.

Muzzle Loading Rifles model Safari Express (davide-pedersoli.com)

Other rifles are listed from 50 to 58 caliber.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Hey guys, I just got a Pedersoli double .72, I have wanted one for years.
It is truly awesome. It came with a mold, now I have to cast some balls to feed this monster.
Does anyone have any experience with these guns? Years ago, I had a double .58, great gun, foolishly traded it away.
I have to admit, this gun is heavy, but the squirrels will be nervous now.
If I can't hit them, I will rattle the tree.
Ant information will be appreciated.
Pedesoli really outdid themselves, with this fine double.

i have an older double .58 - and it too - is awsome!

 

[Musketeer]

A .72 double rifle would make a nice anti-squirrelcraft gun.

 

[Howie1968]

Hey guys, I just got a Pedersoli double .72, I have wanted one for years.
It is truly awesome. It came with a mold, now I have to cast some balls to feed this monster.
Does anyone have any experience with these guns? Years ago, I had a double .58, great gun, foolishly traded it away.
I have to admit, this gun is heavy, but the squirrels will be nervous now.
If I can't hit them, I will rattle the tree.
Ant information will be appreciated.
Pedesoli really outdid themselves, with this fine double.

Yes sir i have one and have shot it with roundballs and 2 different conicals a 800 grain conical and 1000 grain conical the roundballs are right at 500 grains Remember this is a slow twist rifle my favorite load is .710 roundball .015 patch and i use a wonder wad over powder to help prevent burn throughs of the patch ive tried several powders including pyrodex RS 2F 777 and Goex real black 2F. i settled on the real black as im using #11 nipples and winchester magnum caps. i thought of switching to musket cap ignition but the real black ignites easily with real black. i use it to hunt pigs at ranges of around 25 yards so on paper the longest ive shot is 50 yards the rifle will print both barrels into a nice group of 2 inches if i do my part for the most part this gun is way more accurate than i am. i shot the big 800 gr and 1000 gr and they thump your sholder hard, even with a 12 lb rifle accuracy was decent and good enough for hog hunting. at 50 yards i couldnt mange decent groups so i just use the roundballs. ive taken a few hogs with mine even missed a hog. with the big 500 gr bullet it slams hogs hard. i dont carry it often because of the weight but i have a couple pedersoli sxs 12 gauge shotguns i load with .690 roundballs .015 patch and 80 grains of 2F they shoot well enough at 25 yards to go hunting with me. i use them after i shoot a hog to have bigg medicne for a wounded hog at close range when im searching for them in the thickets if i had a do over id have gotten the .58 version since my shotguns do the same thing at hoghunting range

 

[Ironoxide]

I would be very interested what kind of accuracy you get in the end (once you've developed a load).

I recently read in "Shooting the british double rifle" by Graeme Wright that 3 inches at 50m is actually pretty good for a black powder double shooting round ball. Also with those large calibers remember one measures groups from the center of the hole to the center of the most distant hole. For a while I thought my groups were an inch bigger because I thought you're supposed to measure edge to edge.

For load development I suggest in investing into a set of 3 legged shooting sticks like these:
They look flimsy, but are surprisingly solid. You can adjust them approximately to "chin level". Then you rest the back of your left hand where most people put the forend of the rifle. You put the forend of the rifle on that hand and you wrap your fingers around the barrels. Put the gun into the shoulder normally.

People have different shooting techniques for those rifles so obviously use what works for you. I read the above advice somewhere and it did help me. They are very different than any other rifle I shot before.

 

[mark_fare]

I would be very interested what kind of accuracy you get in the end (once you've developed a load).

I recently read in "Shooting the british double rifle" by Graeme Wright that 3 inches at 50m is actually pretty good for a black powder double shooting round ball. Also with those large calibers remember one measures groups from the center of the hole to the center of the most distant hole. For a while I thought my groups were an inch bigger because I thought you're supposed to measure edge to edge.

For load development I suggest in investing into a set of 3 legged shooting sticks like these:View attachment 84497
They look flimsy, but are surprisingly solid. You can adjust them approximately to "chin level". Then you rest the back of your left hand where most people put the forend of the rifle. You put the forend of the rifle on that hand and you wrap your fingers around the barrels. Put the gun into the shoulder normally.

People have different shooting techniques for those rifles so obviously use what works for you. I read the above advice somewhere and it did help me. They are very different than any other rifle I shot before.

Can you tell me what brand those shooting sticks are? They look to be just the thing I need.

 

[Ironoxide]

Unfortunately there is no maker's mark on them. I looked online for that exact model, but I couldn't find it.

I checked my original purchase email from quite a while ago, but the only manufacturer name was the name of the web shop I bought them at (a hunting shop here in Poland Pastorał myśliwski, podpórka, tripod, statyw) That may not be very useful for you depending on location. Sorry.

Any tree legged shooting sticks will do as long as you can fit your hand where they intend for the rifle to go. Pretty much all of those sold online are telescopic as well. Unfortunately they all are rather expensive these days for some reason.

 

[pamtnman]

I would be very interested what kind of accuracy you get in the end (once you've developed a load).

I recently read in "Shooting the british double rifle" by Graeme Wright that 3 inches at 50m is actually pretty good for a black powder double shooting round ball. Also with those large calibers remember one measures groups from the center of the hole to the center of the most distant hole. For a while I thought my groups were an inch bigger because I thought you're supposed to measure edge to edge.

For load development I suggest in investing into a set of 3 legged shooting sticks like these:View attachment 84497
They look flimsy, but are surprisingly solid. You can adjust them approximately to "chin level". Then you rest the back of your left hand where most people put the forend of the rifle. You put the forend of the rifle on that hand and you wrap your fingers around the barrels. Put the gun into the shoulder normally.

People have different shooting techniques for those rifles so obviously use what works for you. I read the above advice somewhere and it did help me. They are very different than any other rifle I shot before.

The classic British shot-and-ball double guns, like the Lancaster Colindian and the Holland Paradox, routinely printed 3” groups at 100 yards. Almost any good British double shotgun can shoot minute-of-deer at 50 yards with properly sized round balls. The attraction of the purpose-made shot-and-ball guns was their wide utility in places like Africa and India, where it was big game all day and then a few birds on the way back to camp for dinner

 

[Pokerhelper]

Hey guys, I just got a Pedersoli double .72, I have wanted one for years.
It is truly awesome. It came with a mold, now I have to cast some balls to feed this monster.
Does anyone have any experience with these guns? Years ago, I had a double .58, great gun, foolishly traded it away.
I have to admit, this gun is heavy, but the squirrels will be nervous now.
If I can't hit them, I will rattle the tree.
Ant information will be appreciated.
Pedesoli really outdid themselves, with this fine double.

I'm looking for one too. Do you know anyone with one for sale?

 

[jv32311]

That's got to be a blast to shoot. Or maybe a double blast