Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket - Review

[Rob Dorsey]

Hey Y'All,

This is shaping up to be the best Christmas ever! Not only am I alive (which at a certain age starts to be a subject of gratitude and ever so slight amazement) but my wife has gifted me with three guns of my dreams, whittling away at my "bucket list" and presented early enough to take advantage of the season.

They are all Pedersolis, much to my pleasure, and are 1)a 50cal Pennsylvania long rifle, 2) a double SxS 12ga percussion shotgun and 3) a .62cal/20ga Indian Trade Musket. They all arrived within a four day period and, damn, this is one happy boy here.

The reason I'm bothering you on this frosty fall morning is my utter amazement at the Trade Rifle. It was really the last of my list and was included just to fill out my BP battery. Let me cut to the chase by saying that of the three, it is the most wonderful, hands down and will play a big part in my hunting and shooting life from now on.

When ever I get a Pedersoli gun, and I have several, the first thing I do is re-finish it. My earlier Pedersolis had much better rubbed oil finishes but lately they seem to have gone to a very "factory looking" finish that looks sprayed on. I notice that in the Pedersoli videos of the factory they show the stock making but notthe finishing. I therefore lightly sand the stock and then put on one wiping of proper color stain followed by 10 or 12 coats of TrueOil. You all know what this results in and the mediocre walnut of the Pedersoli stock really glows.

However, that taken care of, the Pedersoli hardware is incomparable in the price range. The lock is big, it appears to be the same one used on the Penn. 50cal, and the wood/metal fit is very nice. Not the seamlessness of say a vintage Purdy but again darned nice for the price. My other appearance related re-adjustment has to do with the brass which on all Pedersoli firearms is way too bright. This involves removal of the offending part followed by several applications of a solution which produces an instant greenish-brown patina which deepens with each application. Also, for those familiar with the Ped. Trade Musket, I modify the brass serpent cartouche on the left side by cutting out the fake waves in the middle of the looped tail with a Drimel tool. This makes the piece more original to period and just looks better, IMHO.

This thing is getting long so I'll finish up (no pun). It shoots great! Ball or shot all come out the other end very nicely with short lock times and, so far, sure ignition. The big .610 lead ball gives me a reassuring kick when it launches and it really thumps anything that gets in its way. The shot pattern is like any cyl. bore 20ga and I've settled on 70gr of FFg with 1oz of #6 shot for birds or...ready for this?... 8 .32 balls for small game. The 8 ball thing is very cool. They're from my flint squirrel rifle bag and with the same 70gr FFg will I am sure do an able job on more than squirrels or rabbits (my personal fave') but maybe turkeys, coyotes or coons, dunno yet.

The little musket weighs like 6 pounds loaded and is the easiest carry in my vault. I've only had one outing at our club with Chester our rabbit runnin' beagle and the 8 .32s put easy meat in the fridg.

If you want an easy carrying accurate woods musket for small game and, with ball I dunno how large game but whitetail certainly, this little musket offers authentic woods tromping fun. Maybe a survival gun as well, I'll let you ponder that one. But, if the SHTF thing ever arrives, it's going in the truck with the other guns.

Best,
Rob

 

[Alden]

Nice -- keep her!

Thanks for comments but want a pic or two. Love mine* as such a special gun. There will be critics along any minute to tell you it is garbage -- they will focus on a particular year, maker, country of origin or destination population, high level of quality, color treatment, when-in-doubt parrot that the trigger-guard needs to be 1/16th inch bigger, etc.. But you enjoy the heck out of it, as I do, and...

Merry Christmas!


*

 

[Britsmoothy]

Now you got me chomping ont' bit! Mine has been on order for weeks....because you guy's keep buying everything :hatsoff:

You have lifted my spirits, thankyou :thumbsup:

Eight .32's! Sounds interesting!

B.

 

[Hierophant]

There will be critics along any minute to tell you it is garbage -- they will focus on a particular year, maker, country of origin or destination population, high level of quality, color treatment, when-in-doubt parrot that the trigger-guard needs to be 1/16th inch bigger, etc..

C'mon now, no one is going to do that on an internet forum...

Looking at the Pedersoli Trade Gun. Now that I have my first flintlock rifle (as opposed to cap locks of which I have 3) a flint smoothbore of some kind is on my short list. The Pedersoli is definitely in the running.

 

[Wes/Tex]

You'll find that as the years go by, and the eyes go with them, those trade guns really come into their own! I jokingly tell folks I've had to switch from from 'shooting the eye out of a fly' to 'spray and pray'! :haha: Flintlocks are much more satisfying for many reasons and you'll come to love it. Congratulations on having one great wife too! :hatsoff:

 

[Rob Dorsey]

Ok, now that I got your attention, what about a rear sight? I notice that the front blade is soldered on. Must mean that Pedersoli reckons that there ain't enough meat in the barrel to allow for a dovetail notch. Fair enough, we solder, so I think I shall fashion a steel rear sight, simple V blade sight, cut a shallow notch on the top barrel flat and solder it in place.

Now, Alden, you got to tell me how you fitted a strap. Looks like you replaced the middle barrel lug pin with a strap loop of some design and likewise fitted a loop on the front trigger guard screw. Close? Details Please.

Pics to come tomorrow.

Rob

 

[Wes/Tex]

had a hunting buddy who solved his rear sight on a Bess copy with a quick add-on made of a Coke can and some bathtub silicone! Little odd looking but worked for him and that's the important part. If you want one, add one...permanent or temporary.

 

[Rod Lassey]

A pretty fair number of NW guns in the Museum of the Fur Trade have had rear sights added. They didn't come that way from the factory, but there was obviously a need for them.

Rod

 

[DanChamberlain]

I finished an "In the white" Pedersoli Trade Gun a few years ago from Dixie. It's fun. I didn't try to make it purty as it was supposed to look like - for me anyway - a gun that was rode hard and put away wet. Barrel is gray with lots of stains, stock is dark and it suits me just fine. Carries like a single barrel shotgun, light and lively. Need to try balls in it. Squirrels hate it!

 

[Ike Godsey]

i made me a barrel-tang-screw with a longer had. and filed the notch in the screws head. worked perfectly once you get used to it.

plus the facts:

1) you do not have to alter your barrel
2) you can quickly replace the new made screw with the original one if you want

ike

 

[BillinOregon]

Rob: First off, congratulations on marrying this woman you have for a wife. She gives you not one but THREE muzzleloaders at a time?!
:applause: :bow:
I'm printing out your thread and leaving it under my bride's pillow ...
Now to the trade gun. She sounds like a wonderful companion, so that means you have at least two.
I took a visiting friend to the High Desert Museum near here (Bend, Oregon) where there is an outstanding exhibit of firearms on display, several original trade guns among the collection. While I did not look for -- or notice -- sights on the Northwest guns, I did take note of the details of a long-barreled flint fowler in the case with the representative Lewis and Clark firearms. This piece was fairly plain and had about a 40-inch 20-bore barrel. The neat feature was a very tiny but functional front and rear sight -- so unobtrusive that your eye would not be disracted when swinging on a bird, yet they would be there for taking a bead with a round ball. I'm guessing the front sight was perhaps 3/16 wide from the rear, 3/8 long and 3/16 or less high, while the rear was maybe 5/16 wide and 3/16 high. Smallest set of sights I have seen on a smoothbore.

 

[matt denison]

A pretty fair number of NW guns in the Museum of the Fur Trade have had rear sights added. They didn't come that way from the factory, but there was obviously a need for them.

Rod

I did the math last trip to the Museum of the Fur Trade. Exactly 13% of the TRADE GUNS on exibit had rear sights installed.

 

[Rob Dorsey]

Great ideas on a rear sight. However don't want it too close to my old eyes if possible. How about an "L" shaped sight supported by the tang screw but positioning the notch a bit further away from the eye? I'll work on that before cutting into my pretty new barrel :shocked2:.

Best, Rob

 

[BillinOregon]

Rob, I'll bet the rear sight on the Lewis and Clark fowler I saw was at least 12 inches forward of the breech. That would make it easy on my eyes, too. The sight set was small enough that you could get at least two whole sets -- front and rear -- out of one silver dime.

 

[nwtradegun]

sir, my I add a few thoughts. I have been in the smoothbore areana for 25 years. have owned a north tar tradegun, several French style and now have a pedro indian trade musket. it however is a reworked brownbess from Dixie. I have not had the need for a rear sight. you need to get to know your musket as you would shooting slug from a shotgun. a patched rb will be most arrurate. the size needs to be found unless u have already.
out to 75 yards they will take any game you hunt.

 

[Mercian]

Well I love mine, as soon as I picked it up and handled it, it felt good, couldn't have come away without buying it. Just love being out in the woods with it. I'm not interested in organised game shooting, having pheasants driven over me isn't my style, like to slip into the woods quietly stalk them and shoot them where I find them, and I'm sure that's the way the gun likes to do it too. Yes I'm sure there's plenty of thing's could be done to alter the look, but at the moment I've got a couple other things I'm working on, one of which is a 12ga Chambers Colonial Fowler, so for now I'll just let her age naturally. I'll be in the woods with her on Wednesday afternoon.

 

[pargent]

+1 Yes try to master shooting without the rear sight

 

[spudnut]

One of these was in the want adds here a little while back with all the accoutrments for about 500 .Dang if I only had the money t the time.Ive handled a couple of these(not the bess mock up)and have wanted one.nice piece

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You can take a brass bracket, bend it, use one hole for the tang screw, and one hole for the rear sight, and it will work. The problem though is the Pedersoli machine screw at the tang then is barely engaging the threads. You can swap out the tang screw for a longer one (metric threads, mate), or you can have somebody cut you a dovetail in the flat portion of the barrel before it goes to round and install a rear sight. The breech is much thicker than the barrel, and you don't need much of a dovetail to make it work.

Mine had some seriously badly mounted ramrod thimbles, so I had to glue mine in. You can also see the hardening line when they quenched the frizzen, and it looks like the lock builder was in a hurry. Otherwise as a shooter it shoots fine.

LD

 

[Britsmoothy]

Well I love mine, as soon as I picked it up and handled it, it felt good, couldn't have come away without buying it. Just love being out in the woods with it. I'm not interested in organised game shooting, having pheasants driven over me isn't my style, like to slip into the woods quietly stalk them and shoot them where I find them, and I'm sure that's the way the gun likes to do it too. Yes I'm sure there's plenty of thing's could be done to alter the look, but at the moment I've got a couple other things I'm working on, one of which is a 12ga Chambers Colonial Fowler, so for now I'll just let her age naturally. I'll be in the woods with her on Wednesday afternoon.

Hey.....there is another like me in little England...well I'll be... :hatsoff:
(I was out last Wednesday in the foul rain doin' as you describe :thumbsup: )

Have fun.

Brits.