Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket unboxing and first impressions

[Timber Wolf]

Bought one from Dixie to celebrate my coming milestone birthday. I call it my “turning 62 and not retiring” present to myself. The buying process was seamless, and you can’t beat Dixie’s $18.50 shipping although the price was not the cheapest (but they actually have some). Overall I am well pleased with the Trade Musket. It is slimmer and lighter than I expected. The wood is of course very plain but generally well done. It is a little proud at the tang and one spot on the left rear of the tang wood “arrow” embellishment got routed a little deep. Both are fixable if somebody cared to refinish the stock (I don’t).

A couple of additional less than stellar items are the “snake” and pan bottom. The snake does not lie flat against the stock, which is OK because I plan to remove it anyway. I know the serpent is HC, but it does not work for me, and it is my gun. A couple of brass washers will easily substitute and fix the issue. The bottom of the pan though is just plumb rough. It may work fine but there is no reason that it can’t be smooth and easy to wipe out. I have some polishing wheels for the Dremel that should take care of that. The rest of the lock looks good, both the function and geometry, at least to my newb eye. The touch hole appears to be centered on the pan at a very slightly high Sunset position, should be OK. Bore measures at .632, a little bigger than I expected but I don’t think it is a problem. I have a mold I have cast balls from and shot through another “20 gauge” BP barrel but I can’t remember the size it casts right now but suitable patches will make them work.

If it shoots as good as it looks I will be happy. I want a “better” Fowler type gun at some point but the Trade Musket should make a fair stand-in until one comes along.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Nice report! It's good to hear of production made guns that look good out of the box.

This Pedersoli smoothbore was wisely named a "Trade Musket" instead of a Northwest gun by its builder. It is different from Northwest guns in several respects, that "serpent" being one of them. Pedersoli could have outsourced more authentic and better looking side plates, but they wanted to design their own for some reason. I never understood that. Some people have improved them, mainly by removing the brass enclosed within the serpent's curled tail, but since it is flush mounted and doesn't appeal to you anyway, there is no reason not to remove it. You don't really need washers or a sideplate at all unless the side nails or lock bolts are too long and you don't want to shorten them.

Enjoy your new gun! Let us know how it shoots.

Notchy Bob

 

[duca]

What!! No pictures!!

 

[William Lincoln]

Pictures helps and sometimes brings helpful comments.

 

[MountainSmoke]

I'm happy for you, jealous, but happy for you. Good luck with it!

 

[hanshi]

I think those are very nice guns.

 

[Jaegermeister]

Pictures or it didn’t happen.

 

[springfield art]

I'm pleased to read this, as I just posted asking for some tips on choosing a Trade Musket. Part of my interest is in the little Dragon/Serpent, so that's a necessity! I'll check out the Peder musket, maybe one will come up used. I'm not looking real serious or hard right now, just for future reference.

 

[springfield art]

I also see that Military Heritage has a pretty nice looking Indian Trade Musket. It can get confusing in that Indian (meaning the Natives) and the modern item being made IN India can confuse!

 

[waksupi]

It is good they didn't inlet the serpent, as they are supposed to be. This gives leeway to make or find a correct one.

 

[brushblind]

I bought the Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket from Dixie last summer and took photos from out of the box until I finished, step by step along the way. Here is a photo album from beginning to end.
Pedersoli Indian Trade Gun Kit

What's the chrome wheel cleaner for?

 

[user 48702]

It strips the protective bluing off with little effort. One of the photos shows the bluing dissolving and virtually sliding off the barrel. I did have to reapply and scrub all the books and crannies with a toothbrush. Immediately flush with water to kill the action. You can apply, flush, and apply several times to achieve an iron gray finish. There were few machine marks on the barrel, but I used some 600 grit sandpaper to clean it up a little before starting the browning process. I haven't tried it yet, but I've read where it will also strip off chemical case color as well.

 

[springfield art]

I bought the Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket from Dixie last summer and took photos from out of the box until I finished, step by step along the way. Here is a photo album from beginning to end.
Pedersoli Indian Trade Gun Kit

Those are nice! Thanks for posting. I love the Serpent, even though people say it's not "correct". Beautiful job you did on it! I just may consider one as opposed to the India-made. Custom is a bit more than I want to spend.

 

[springfield art]

How do you keep your Shop so sparkling clean? Wish I could do same! But I don't have a shop per se!

 

[user 48702]

How do you keep your Shop so sparkling clean? Wish I could do same! But I don't have a shop per se!

Thanks, its not as clean as it looks. My dad put everything in that you see on the walls and such, it was his dream woodshop that he started on about 10 years before he went to the happy hunting ground. He had been accumulating all of this old equipment for years in hopes of setting up a nice wood shop. He passed away June a year ago and I inherited all of his tools. All of the handsaws, planes, and carpenter tools that are on the wall, belonged to his father and my mother's father, both were old school carpenters. Thankfully a few years ago he tagged each tool so I would know who owned what. It's a nice treasure and I still get a little weepy every once in a while when I walk in. Sad thing is, as with a lot of other folks, I have two sisters and eventually everything I want to keep, I'll have to move. The biggest job I have ahead, is he also left me everything in a large two story barn type building and I've got to go through everything trying to decide what to keep. If he had one of everything, he had three. He was a tool hoarder and it is packed top to bottom.

 

[user 48702]

Those are nice! Thanks for posting. I love the Serpent, even though people say it's not "correct". Beautiful job you did on it! I just may consider one as opposed to the India-made. Custom is a bit more than I want to spend.

If you do decide on one, check out Dixie Gun Works, at the time they were the only dealer who had the kits in stock. I looked last week and noticed that that Dixie had both factory finished as well as the kits in stock. They have one of the hardest websites to navigate. You will not find the kit unless you search for just "Indian Trade Musket Kit" If you put in Pedersoli, it will not come up, but it is made by Pedersoli. To be honest, this is the first kit I have attempted. I have stripped and refinished many stocks over the years, mostly military, but this kit was interesting and fun. I had a lot of help from some of folks here on the forum, as well as others. All told, I think I have about 30 to 35 hours in the project from start to finish.

 

[DuncNZ]

What!! No pictures!!

This is from the Pedersoli catalogue at the top of the page . They call it a musket-rifle but that is just the way they do it at Pedersoli. Muzzle Loading Rifles model Indian Trade Musket Rifle

 

[Jimi The Weed]

Bought one from Dixie to celebrate my coming milestone birthday. I call it my “turning 62 and not retiring” present to myself. The buying process was seamless, and you can’t beat Dixie’s $18.50 shipping although the price was not the cheapest (but they actually have some). Overall I am well pleased with the Trade Musket. It is slimmer and lighter than I expected. The wood is of course very plain but generally well done. It is a little proud at the tang and one spot on the left rear of the tang wood “arrow” embellishment got routed a little deep. Both are fixable if somebody cared to refinish the stock (I don’t).

A couple of additional less than stellar items are the “snake” and pan bottom. The snake does not lie flat against the stock, which is OK because I plan to remove it anyway. I know the serpent is HC, but it does not work for me, and it is my gun. A couple of brass washers will easily substitute and fix the issue. The bottom of the pan though is just plumb rough. It may work fine but there is no reason that it can’t be smooth and easy to wipe out. I have some polishing wheels for the Dremel that should take care of that. The rest of the lock looks good, both the function and geometry, at least to my newb eye. The touch hole appears to be centered on the pan at a very slightly high Sunset position, should be OK. Bore measures at .632, a little bigger than I expected but I don’t think it is a problem. I have a mold I have cast balls from and shot through another “20 gauge” BP barrel but I can’t remember the size it casts right now but suitable patches will make them work.

If it shoots as good as it looks I will be happy. I want a “better” Fowler type gun at some point but the Trade Musket should make a fair stand-in until one comes alon

 

[JeffG]

 

[Jimi The Weed]

Bought one from Dixie to celebrate my coming milestone birthday. I call it my “turning 62 and not retiring” present to myself. The buying process was seamless, and you can’t beat Dixie’s $18.50 shipping although the price was not the cheapest (but they actually have some). Overall I am well pleased with the Trade Musket. It is slimmer and lighter than I expected. The wood is of course very plain but generally well done. It is a little proud at the tang and one spot on the left rear of the tang wood “arrow” embellishment got routed a little deep. Both are fixable if somebody cared to refinish the stock (I don’t).

A couple of additional less than stellar items are the “snake” and pan bottom. The snake does not lie flat against the stock, which is OK because I plan to remove it anyway. I know the serpent is HC, but it does not work for me, and it is my gun. A couple of brass washers will easily substitute and fix the issue. The bottom of the pan though is just plumb rough. It may work fine but there is no reason that it can’t be smooth and easy to wipe out. I have some polishing wheels for the Dremel that should take care of that. The rest of the lock looks good, both the function and geometry, at least to my newb eye. The touch hole appears to be centered on the pan at a very slightly high Sunset position, should be OK. Bore measures at .632, a little bigger than I expected but I don’t think it is a problem. I have a mold I have cast balls from and shot through another “20 gauge” BP barrel but I can’t remember the size it casts right now but suitable patches will make them work.

If it shoots as good as it looks I will be happy. I want a “better” Fowler type gun at some point but the Trade Musket should make a fair stand-in until one comes along.

My friend Steve helped me polish the pan and work on the lock. Trigger pull was horrible. Also fixed the snake to my liking.