Shooting my Pedersoli Frontier

[F.G. Ford]

Seriously, If I am working with a new gun, I will post my target at 13 paces ( yeah, that is right 13 ) Then I will establish a load, and form that will put each bullet in the same hole.
I'm not worried about elevation, we will worry about that in a moment.
What you want is absolute form, and windage correction to be perfect.
Once that is bang on, push back to 25 yards, set your sights to be high or low as required, the push back to 50, 75, or 100 yds.
Now you are having fun.
All the best!
Fred

 

[dikman]

Thanks guys. One of the problems with this BP game is that there are so many potential variables - but then, if I didn't want a challenge I'd just shoot modern cartridge guns (boring).

I'm feeling that I may have figured out the patch/lube that works best (.018 cotton, slightly wet with the oil/water mix, swabbing between shots with the same mix). I'm using .490 balls, but I also have .495 which I may try later. As mentioned before, my last 8 shots for the day were all within a 6" circle, so I figure the barrels not a banana (should have expected that from a banana-bender :blah: That's a Queenslander to you furriners).

Might not be a bad idea to try at 25 metres, I guess (I shouldn't rule out trying anything. This was also suggested at the club on Saturday).

 

[dikman]

Update: been out a couple of times, with similar results (as in somewhere on the target). Decided to go to my local pistol range today (I was the only one there) but it's a bit of a pest with a longrifle, as the benches are set up for pistols and my ramrod keeps hitting the roof if I shoot under cover!!
Anyhow, 70 gns. 2f, .495 balls and slightly thicker patches. Better, but still a long way to go. Swabbing between shots, with a pretty damp patch, and slightly wet patches, using the 10:1 cutting oil mix. The larger ball seems better and it definitely likes wet patches.

Also, the sights are w-a-a-a-y off, hitting low and to the right. I've already filed the front sight half-way down and need to keep going (I won't have much left at this rate!).

The range is in a small quarry, up in the hills, and it was very quiet up there today - except for me! I wear ear muffs, but I'll bet it sounded impressive every time it went off! :haha: .

 

[dikman]

Went out again Saturday, feeling confidant that I was making progress - Ha!! Balls were flying all over the place - except where I wanted them to go!

I got one of the experienced members to try it, and he also was very puzzled. In the end he dug out some .490 balls and some of his patches. Finally got a group, of sorts! Tried my .495 balls with his patches and it still grouped and seemed closer to the point-of-aim. Changed to my canvas wax-impregnated patches (I'd been using drill material soaked in water soluble oil)and it still grouped - not brilliant, but it was still a group.

So, we examined my patch material a bit closer. He had some pillow ticking that he'd imported from TOW, and it's definitely different to the ticking we get here, it has a much tighter weave, so I can forget about using the ticking that I bought locally. His patches that I was using this time, though, were actually sailcloth, a light canvas that is very tightly woven, so I'm off to try and get some.

It has just been rammed home to me (pardon the pun) just how critical patch selection can be, I never imagined it could cause one to miss the target completely at 50 yards!

 

[Alden]

Closeups of the three materials would be cool!

 

[bigmike]

I went through 4 cabelas blue ridge .54 cal. flintlocks with the brown barrel. All of them had tight spots in the barrel. they were right over the tennons that are fastened to the barrel when you run a tight patch down the barrel you would feel the tight spots, but you had to go slow. tried to contact pedersoli, which was no help. just told me to send it back to cabelas. I gave up and got my money back. the cabelas blue ridges now have blued barrels. they may have better barrels,i don't know.

 

[dikman]

Sorry mate, too much trouble to get photos of them (too lazy!). I tried to get the patch material that was mentioned (he called it sailcloth) but to no avail. I ended up at a place specialising in canvas products, and while the chap there was very helpful the closest we could find was a couple of thou. thicker (so I bought some anyway and have soaked it in my wax lube mix). The weave is pretty tight, so it should work.

I mentioned before that I didn't think this rifle had been shot much, as the sights had never been adjusted and the frizzen barely had any scratch marks on it. I decided to check the crown, and it did feel just a tad sharpish, so I did the polishing thing to smooth it down. It could also mean that the barrel needs a few more rounds through it to break it in.

Mike, I haven't noticed any particular tight spots while cleaning it, so I don't think that's an issue.

This will NOT get the better of me......

 

[kurts]

have you tried any other lube with no wax in it, pure neatsfoot oil or olive oil. Wax does not sound good to me.

 

[Alden]

If you were here I'd give you a pint of 2-1/2 year old sweet oil...

 

[dikman]

I started off with wax (actually Gatafeo's #1, which has been used by others so it's not as if it's something new), then switched to water-soluble cutting oil (used by other club members) and have now gone full circle back to the wax, which does make loading easier.

Alden, sounds like it should be quite - er - matured :wink: .

 

[jrooks]

Hey man. I have a Pedersoli Blue Ridge myself (54 caliber). I couldn't hit the broadside of barn with it at first. However, after a few hundred shots, it seems as if the rifle really broke in and now I get awesome accuracy with it.

 

[dikman]

Yeah, I've been wondering whether that might be part of the problem. Even though I bought it used, I don't think it had been fired much at all. A previous outing was good at 25 metres, but started opening up at 50 metres. A club member gave me some JB Bore paste and suggested polishing the bore, so I ran that through with some 0000 steel wool, then followed up with some paste on a leather patch followed by some solvent on a flannel patch. I also smoothed out the crown, as when we compared it to his Pedersoli Tryon the crown felt much sharper on mine.

My last outing was looking better (at 50 metres) but then I ran out of the heavy waxed patches. I tried some with cutting oil lube, but that was worse, thinner patches were no better so I've just made up another batch of wax patches for next time. I've also got another .490 mold coming, as I need to make sure that the out-of-round balls aren't a problem.

 

[Critter Getter]

dikman, it's been awhile now since your last post and I was hoping you had an update for me? Any new knews? Greg.