Pedersoli or TVM

[mancill]

I need some feed back. I am in the market for a flintlock rifle. I have 2 percussion rifles and a trade gun with a L&R lock, I love all 3. Now I want a flint lock rifle. Pederasoli Kentucky less than half of what a tvm would cost me. However the twist rate is 1:48 on the 50, and I only shoot patched round balls. So in yalls honest opinion is the TVM worth the money over the pederasoli. The gun will be shot weekly and hunted year round so it will not be a safe queen and function and reliability is top on my list.

 

[azmntman]

1-48 is THE standard in many rifles (Hawken etc). I asked Mr Hoyt what twist he would likely cut into a barrel for me to shoot ONLY PRB and he said 1-48.

Get the Pedersoli and find its favored load and then use the savings for extra powder and ball and practice more so's ya can shoot the pants off the TVM :grin:

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have a little difference of opinion; I shot factory guns for years(TC), one day a friend gave me his flintlock rifle with a Roller lock and a Bill Large barrel.

On shot with my new gun and the TC stuff was for sale, there was that much difference in performance.

Think of your new rifle as a lifetime purchase, you will probably never get rid of it. Some where down the road you will want to trade off the Pedersoli and move to a gun with better parts. You can skip that step if you go with a better rifle now.

Order your rifle with a swamped barrel and a Chambers lock and you will be a happy man.

I have several different twists in my barrels, a 1 in 48 .40 that is a tack driver. A 1 in 70 in 54 that is a tack driver. Most ball barrels in the larger calibers are 1 in 66.

 

[LRB]

TVM. No contest.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Ditto

TVM, No Contest

:wink:

LD

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Consider a Kibler Colonial Rifle or Southern Mountain rifle kit. With very little effort, you will have a better rifle than those other alternatives.

dave

 

[Snakebite]

Of those two I'd go with TVM. It's more than a production gun, you can have the LOP you need, a swamped barrel if you like, different finish, etc.

A long time ago I had a Pedersoli Gemmer Sharps in 45-70 and it was a well made gun. So quality wise, at least for that rifle, it was first rate, but for what you're looking for I'd definitly go with TVM, I did, I have a late Lancaster in .54 with a swamped barrel and a Chambers lock, I could not be happier with it. It cost more, but well worth it in my opinion.

My understanding from way back is that with a .50cal or larger, a slow twist barrel is what you want. I have a .40cal Southern Mtn Rifle and it has a 42" barrel and had a 1-48 twist, but my custom Hawken with a 34" Douglass XX barrel is 1-66 as in my TVM. All my guns shoot extremely well, it's my eyes that are the problem.

:grin:

 

[mamero]

As someone who just started shooting flintlock recently I would say go with TVM given the two. My first flintlock is Investarms Hawken 50 cal and intially I was impressed with overall quality and accuracy. At the same time I wondered why would anyone pay 3-4 times the money on a rifle that would not shoot any more accurate and to be honest my Investarm came with a nice stock to boot, so its not lacking in looks either. Lock gives close to 100 shots from a flint if I am careful knapping and with RMC liner is dead reliable. So I happily shot away entered some cometitions and had a ton of fun and wone some medals. So what gives?

Well I shot over 500 rounds out of it and now the lock is showing signs of wear. So by the end of this year im prolly looking at a replacement lock. I sure wish this was a Siler lock and was covered by a lifetime warranty. This year I talked to a fellow shooter who claims to have shot 11-12 thousand rounds out of his Siler and only had to re sole the frizzen and was still shooting it. 😳
So if you do shoot year round and want this to be your primary hunting gun I would go with TVM. I am waiting on my Jim Chambers Isaac Hines to get here in interim Investarm will do.

 

[Gene L]

Hi,
Consider a Kibler Colonial Rifle or Southern Mountain rifle kit. With very little effort, you will have a better rifle than those other alternatives.

dave

How is better?

 

[nwtradegun]

TMV, 1 in 60 for rdball

 

[mamero]

Not sure what he meant by it but it is cheaper alternative, includes swamped barrel and Siler lock. With TVM swamped barrel is $200+ extra and lock plate carvings are better looking on Kibler. Kibler was my initial pick but there is no left hand option

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gene,
Jim Kibler's kits are CNC manufactured so the stocks and parts fit as if they were hand inlet. They require only a little hand fitting to complete the construction. The architectures of both of Jim's offerings are superior to any offering by TVM or Pedersoli. For example, the web of wood between the barrel channel and ramrod groove is thin to give the guns slim shapes, whereas, TVM leaves a thick web which gives the forestocks a clumsier look. Lock panels, wrists, and butt stocks on Kibler's rifle kits have more refined and correct shaping. TVM and Pedersoli leave too much wood on their finished stocks. Kibler only uses the best parts - locks made by Chamber's, barrels by Rice, and cast parts that were designed by Jim and held to close tolerances. Visit Kibler's website and you can see for yourself.

dave

 

[Eric Krewson]

I put together a Kibler southern rifle, it may have been an earlier kit as I bought it second hand. It took a little more inletting than hand fitting to get some things in place, the buttplate too quiet a bit of inletting as did drilling the holes in the right place and getting them centered.

I understand Jim has refined the later shaping and inletting to be better and better over time.

The kit I built would have stumped someone with no building or inletting experience.

 

[Elnathan]

1-48 or so was the standard twist for American rifles pretty much until the end of the muzzleloading period, except those guns intended to shoot conical bullets. The slower twists for .45 and up is a modern convention.

I'd love to have a .50 with a historically proper 1-48 twist...

Having said that, I have no first-hand experience with either Pendersoli or TVM, but I do know that a swamped barrel is a considerable improvement over a straight one, particularly if like most modern folks you don't like a muzzle-heavy rifle.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Eric,
Do you mean it would have stumped someone more than a Chamber's, TOW, TVM kit? Really?

dave

 

[Sparkitoff]

If you are going to travel with your rifle consider that you’ll need a hard case to fit it and that may dictate A half stock with a hooked breach or other easily removable barrel.

I could not afford a custom rifle or a high end production one so I pieced one together. I found a green mountain 38 inch barrel that was new and unfinished, a renegade stock and I purchased an L &R lock. Total cost $425. I. Had to earn let the lock some and blew the barrel but other than that it was ready to fire up on assembly. I get one ragged whole groups at 50 yards. First performance leave me concerned that I could spend a lot more money and not gain anything overall

If I could change things I would want a nicer looking stock and possibly brown the furniture instead of blueing. And I would love to shave a few pounds off the total weight..

I may get a pecatonia stock and make the rifle balance and look a bit better.

My point is you may be able to get what you want why matching pieces together and save a lot of money. If you couldn’t find a quality barrel and purchase a new quality lock is no reason you would not have perfect reliability and excellent accuracy.

If you prefer to receive something ready to go I would definitely invest in getting something made to your specifications so you get exactly what you want the first time around.

 

[rr11]

I have a TVM .54 Old Va. that I have hunted with for 10 years. I have no complaints with the rifle. I went to the shop and told Matt that I wanted a .54 Tennessee rifle and he advised me that that stock would be very comfortable in that caliber. I would give them a call and talk to them, they are very helpful.

 

[stubshaft]

You can buy a well made flintlock with quality parts and a reliable lock or you can buy Pedersoli.

 

[smoothshooter]

One of the advantages of a swamped barrel is that it makes for a lighter gun that hangs on target from field positions a lot like a heavier rifle. Having your cake and eating it too, so to speak.

A straight-barrelled rifle puts more weight between your hands where it does the least good, IMHO.

 

[Eric Krewson]

No Dave, I didn't say that, I said someone with no building experience at all would be stumped by the kit I put together.

I should have said someone who went in completely cold, and had never done anything crafty would be stumped by my kit. They would probably be stumped by a TC or CVA kit as well.

We often see some abominably bad work done by newbies on this site, I did some of the same myself when I first started out.

My point is; Kibler kits are incredible, but we shouldn't tell folk they can just slap them together because everything is so perfectly shaped and inletted.

I bought my kit for $800 shipped from someone who I suspect thought they would just slap it together and found out it was a bit more involved than that.

Pretty nice for $800;

I teach bow making an found that folk who have never held a rasp or a drawknife are absolutely lost when it comes to making a bow. I suspect if they tried to build a rifle, even from a kit as refined as a Kibler, they would be lost as well.