Pedersoli Frontier question

[Benjamin Martin]

Anyone have experience with the Pedersoli Frontier (or Cabelas Blueridge) flintlocks, good, bad, or otherwise?I'm considering getting one, not sure what caliber, .45 or .54.I'll make my mind up on caliber later, but I'm curious about the quality of the rifle.Is it accurate and well built?It seems historically accurate enough, especially for a production gun.If you have any experience or knowledge of this rifle, I'd appreciate your input.Thanks!

 

[Rebel]

I have had a few of them in flintlock and they are a good shooting rifle. They have a large good sparking lock and ignition is quick. The barrels are accurate shooters. All and all a nice rifle. The forstock can using a little thinning down, but other than that they aren't bad for the money.

 

[Mark Ter Bush]

I've been wanting to ask this question also.
I've been looking at the .36 caliber for a decent beat around rifle for shooting jacks and coyotes out in the desert.
I haven't seen or held one of these rifles and some honest imput would be very helpful.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Benjamin,

I had the chance to shoot a friend's Blue Ridge 36 cal. flintlock. It was a real shooter. I liked the shape of the stock but not the finish.

 

[Alberta Black]

I have a Frontier Carbine in .45 cal that I have been shooting for three years. It has a good reliable lock that is larger than the other Pedersoli locks.

I had a Frontier rifle in .32 caliber but sold it because it was too heavy. But it was accurate and fun to shoot.

My hunting partner has a Frontier Carbine in .32 that he likes as well.

What I do not like about the Frontiers is their lousey rear sights. It took quite a bit of filing to get the notch big enough for me to properly see the front sight and when I eventually replaced the sights on the .45 it cost me some bucks as the notch would not take standard Lyman rear sights and I had to buy Pedersoli sights. I probably should have looked a litte harder for sights.

Originally I wanted one in .36 but the supplier only had a .45 Carbine. This makes the gun a little more versitile as I can hunt deer at short range.

The gun is light and although I am not the world sbest shot I can bust clay birds at 35-40 yards pretty regularly with a patched round ball.

Richard

 

[davy]

Here is my Ped Frontier flinter in 45 cal. I am in the middle of changing it over to an all iron gun. I have had good luck with mine other than I did enlarge the powder chamber .. as I had an issue with misfires.

Once I enlargered the chamber I have had no problems. And it shoots better than I can ... I am still workin on getting rid of the flint "flinch" :cursing:

I do agree and changed out the rear site!:cursing:

I do intend to slim down the fore end as I think it is too wide. I like just fine so far!

Of course perhaps mebee one of these days I can afford one of the beautiful custom guns that these great gentlemen exhibit here! :hatsoff:

Davy

 

[windsor]

I have a Frontier (.50 cal) and it is my first flinter. I'm quite proud of it for what it is. I shoot with some very experienced black powder guys and that has helped me a lot. The sights do leave something to be desired. To get it to shoot straight, we really had to move the sights around quite a bit for windage. The front site had to be filed down quite a bit. Also, as Alberta Black mentioned, it's tough to see the front sight. I opened up the rear sight a small bit with a V file and it has helped a lot. I may still open it up more. However, now that it's sighted in it shoots very well. It sparks well also. I'm using 7/8 x 1" english flints and I get nice, white sparks dripping off the pan.

The best thing about this flinter is that it's shown me what I do and do not desire in a gun. This will be helpful as I'm looking forward to building my own custom during this coming winter.

 

[Leatherbark]

I've had one for several years........and I like it very well. Always goes Bang,if I do my part..........First ,with the patent breech it is advisable to use 3fg powder instead of 2fg.......2fg in my Blue Ridge seems to bridge in the firing chamber......It could be removed and enlargened somewhat for reliable firing with 2f black......Always goes bang with 3fg black......After I enlarged the touchhole a bit
I widened the notch in the rear sight and replaced the front with a brass one made for a Harpers Ferry 1803 from Track.....Had to file it down much ,but it has a much better sight picture now...............Bob

 

I'v had one for about 5 years and am happy with it,but I filed the foot of the frizzen down so that the frizzen would move easier and not wear out my flints so soon,and also give me a faster lock time.Also enlarged the vent to 5/64.I did not replace the sights,but that sounds like a good idea.I too am still suffering from flinching sometimes.

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

I have had two flinters, a long rifle and a carbine, and liked them both. I sold them because I wasn't shooting much at the time, but I wish I had them back. Accurate, fun to shoot, and well made, although not authentic by any means. If you have a chance, check out the carbine. No problems with the issue sights. Mine were .54 caliber, and were a bit lighter than the smaller calibers using the same barrel size.
Sure wish I had that carbine back. It was a real fun gun to shoot.

 

[TN.Frank]

I had one for a short time but swapped it back to Rebel for a shotgun that he had. On the plus side, the lock seemed like it was very high quality and the ballance was nice on the negitive side, didn't like the way the butt fit my shoulder and didn't like the trigger gaurd other then that it's a fairly nice rifle for the money. :v

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Davy,

Good job on your stock. Some nice wood too. As I remember my friend's new rifle it was in plain walnut with a spray on finish.

 

[davy]

Davy,

Good job on your stock. Some nice wood too. As I remember my friend's new rifle it was in plain walnut with a spray on finish.

Thanx GW, we do what we can, with what we have! :grin:

I could not abide the stock finish, and as I wanted some minimal stock carving on it (subject to my own VERY minmal skills :shocked2: ) I refinished it with good ol standby Tru Oil.

I was surpised by the figure of the wood after I removed that covering blanket of sprayed on finish!

Seeing as I simply cannot leave things alone I do intend to thin the forearm a bit, (among other nefarious changes to the cosmetics of the rifle :haha: ) as it is much wider than I personally like, so I guess it will get redone again in the near future! I kinda see this as a work in progress and hopefully I will not butcher it too much! :hmm:

Davy
:grin:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Davy,

You dunna fine job! Hard to believe it's the same stock. True-Oil is my favorite too. What type of stain did you use to get walnut so reddish? And nice touch on the ramrod :grin:

GW

 

[davy]

Davy,

You dunna fine job! Hard to believe it's the same stock. True-Oil is my favorite too. What type of stain did you use to get walnut so reddish? And nice touch on the ramrod :grin:

GW

No stain .. for some reason that photo picked up the colors of the backdrop!
Here is a better photo of the actual color! :grin:
Yeah I am partial to them striped rods too ... PC or not! :hatsoff:


Davy

 

[windsor]

Davy, that gun looks terrific! Can you tell us more about what you did to finish it that way? I assume you sanded the spray finish off, correct? What type of stain did you use? I'd love to do that to my Frontier as yours looks great.

 

[davy]

Well thanx, I knew I wanted to do some minimal carving on the buttstock, just to give it some very simple lines in keeping with a southern style rifle.

Frankly I dont have the great experience, and nor have I the gifted finer skills that many of these fine gunsmith gentlemen have here, so I try to use the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle in my processes.

So I first stripped it with a spray can stripper solution that I got at Walmart (yes Martha Walmart), then did my small amount of line incisions.

I then sanded it to 320 wet/dry sandpaper finish ... I think the finer sanding to 320 makes the grain stand IMHO.

I also did apply a coat of the Birchwood Walnut stain but I do not think it did much to change the appearance.

I then used several coats of True Oil, thinning the first 2 or three for a sealer mix, finishing up with full strength coats, using fine steel wool between coats to knock it down until I liked the finish, then waxed it. Thats it.

During process I also converted my brass to iron mounts cuz I like the iron mounts on these guns .. not as flashy, and I think it adds to the guns appearance in my opinion.

Afterwards I would still like to thin the forearm a bit, as it is way too wide to my liking. :grin:

Hope this helps ...

Davy

 

[Leatherbark]

Davy.......I like that trigger guard better than the one on my Blue ridge........What style is it? Did you have to mount it to the trigger plate like the Pedersoli is?..........Thanks........Bob

 

Benjamin, One more thing that I don't see mentioned here is the long length of pull on these. I believe that they are about 14-1/4". That is fairly long by most standards. I am 5'08' and while I can reach the trigger o.k. I have to take what is an un-natural position to do it. I can shoot it all right but if I had to wear some heavy winter clothes it would then be impossible. Just something to think about. squint

 

[TN.Frank]

Sounds like some people are too short to even own a gun, let alone shoot one,LOL :grin: At 6'4" length of pull is always an issue with me. Since I've gotten into a couple 14" LOP guns my Austin n' Halleck with it's 13.5" LOP feels down right short. I'm glad they're makin' guns for us "normal size" folk. :blah: :haha:
The trigger gaurd and butt plate does look a lot better then the factory brass "junk" that comes on em', for some reason I just cant take a "shine" to brass, I like iron, PC or not. :v