Problem with a Pedersoli

[RJR]

I have a new Pedersoli Frontier Rifle in flint and am having problems getting it to shoot point of aim. When I first shot the rifle it was shooting about 10 in. right at 25 yds. off the bench. Did some checking and found that the barrel and crown weren't machined true. Barrel wasn't cut square and the crown was cut off center. I chucked it up in the lathe, indexed it and remachined the end of the barrel and crown. Shoots better but still not point of aim, about 3 in. right at 25 yds. off the bench. The barrel doesn't appear to be bent but I can't say for sure. Double checked everything again on the lathe and it all indicated just fine (all with in .0003 of being true). The load I'm useing is 60gr of FFg Goex, .495 cast ball and .015 cotton ticking. I've now got about 150 ball through it and this is the load it seems to like best so far. I've tried .490 and .498 ball and varied my charge up and down a little. Doesn't matter what I do, still shoots too far right, just larger groups. Any body got any other thoughts or ideas on it? I really don't want to change barrels seeing as it's new and I'm getting such good groups, 5 shots all touching, normally under 1.25 in. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks.

 

[tg]

Have you tried any windage adjustment with the front or rear sights? if you are getting a consistant tight group but off to the right of POI moving the rear sight to the left or the front sight to the right should bring it home.

 

[RJR]

tg, been there, done that. At 25 yards I have them both drifted in the proper direction. To bring it on center I have to drift the front sight almost to the edge of the flat and the rear about half way to the edge of the flat. I call that excessive sight correction for a rifle. Thanks for the thoughts on it though.

 

[musketman]

I had a friend that had experienced a problem somewhat like this, only the problem was with the drop of the comb on the stock, not the barrel.

Does the gun "fit" like other muzzleloaders you have shot in the past.

This could cause you to hold the gun at an awkward angle.

 

[tg]

i assumed you had tried that but had to ask,it sounds like you may have a lot of run out and it is from side to side not up and down as it should be(easier to compensate with taller/shorter sights? one might be able to bend the barrel as is done with smoothbores to get it close enough to make the final adjustment with the sights.

 

[Randy]

If the problem is runnout and it's that bad you should see it just looking at the end of the barrel. If this is a new gun I'd try calling Pedersoli or whatever distributor you bought it from, they usually try to keep their customers happy. The machine work you did may void their warranty though.
I'm not sure how hard it is to unbreech this gun but if you did you could check the bore for straightness. The old timers ran a small thread through the bore then held the gun up to the light and basically eyeballed it using the taught thread as a straight edge you can check all the way around the bore. If they found the bore not straight they bent the barrel on the benchtop using clamps and blocks to put pressure just where it was needed. a slow, tedious method but quite effective when no other tools and fancy gauges were available.
I still think Pedersoli should give you a new one. Judging from the way you describe the crown I expect the original lathe operator botched something and the barrel should have been culled.
you can contact them by e-mail at [email protected] or their website: armistoriche.it/eng/cortatti.htm
I'm curious what you find out.
Horse Dr.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Horse Doctor:
I still think Pedersoli should give you a new one. Judging from the way you describe the crown I expect the original lathe operator botched something and the barrel should have been culled. Pedersoli may not honor replacing the barrel, remember DEADDAWG machined and recrowned the barrel himself, so all factory blotches have been removed.

They (Pedersoli) would have no proof that the barrel was not up to standards other than DEADDAWG's word, some companies would still replace the barrel, let's hope that the Pedersoli Inc. is one of those better manufactors.

If Pedersoli will not replace your barrel, maybe you can rebore it?

 

[RJR]

Thanks for the replies. Pedersoli replied to my e-mail today. They told me to send them the barrel and they would check it. They said that if the barrel is not true that they would be happy to replace it and custom crown it any way I wanted and reinstall my sights on it (not factory sights). They told me that they have had on a rare occation a barrel getting bent in shipment from being jarred around even with out the box being damaged. They also said that the runout may be set wrong, that it was highly unlikely, but it was possible. I'm going to bench it on a concrete bench with a shooting vice before I do anything else. I want to make absolutely sure that it is the rifle and not me moving during the delayed ignition. I'll keep you posted.

 

[RJR]

Howdy all. Just thought I'd up date you on the latest with my Pedersoli. Had the opportunity to take my flinter into a friends shop the other day and inspect it on an inspection table and comparator. Found the barrel was bent about 12.5 in. back from the muzzle, about .025 offset due right. That figures out to 3.6 in. right at 25 yards according to AUTOCAD. We set it up on delrin blocks and pressed it .050 at the point of the bend and left it set for an hour. When we took it out the barrel appeared straight in the comparator within .001. Let it normalize until yesterday and inspected it again it moved back .011. took it to the range today and shot it to see where it was shooting, approx. 1.5 in. right at 25 yards, just under 4 in. at 50 yards. Groups are still tight as all get out. Going to try pressing it again later this week to see if it will straighten some more. Slowly but surely I'll get it shooting point of aim and shooting true all the way out to 100. If anybody has any more suggestions I'd like to hear them, but I think I've got this problem licked. By the way, the groups today were one ragged hole at 25 yards less than 1 in. in diameter and sub 2 in. at 50 yards, all 5 shot groups. Let you know further as I get it done. Take Care, Rick.

 

[scroggwe]

I've got the same rifle in .36 caliber and it always shoots consistently low at 50 yards (about 3 inches). I read somewhere that the front sight on these rifles are too tall and have to be filed down. I just can't bring myself to file on my front sight. Does anyone know if this is true? Also I can't seem to find an ideal powder charge for it. I've been shooting 45 grains of FFg. What is a normal target load for these rifles?

 

[tg]

The filing of either the front or rear sights is the age old standard of adjusting elevation on primitive sights, just go slowly and fire off a soild rest when adjusting, when you get close try it offhand to see how it lines uo that way. and you can put masking tape on the barel to protect it from a slip most folks use 3f in the smaller cals. You can make a couple of V blocks out of scrap wood to hold the gun while filing if this will raise the comfort level.

 

[scroggwe]

I finally took my .36 cal. Pedersoli Frontier Rifle to the range and filed the front sight down half-way, shooting and filing a little at a time. It shoots 2" to 3" groups now a 100 yards with 50 grains of 3Fg powder, .345 ball and .015 wonder patch. Thanks for the help, guys.