Traditions "pioneer" pistol

[zodd]

Just received my pioneer pistol a few weeks ago and thought I'd let you all know my impressions of it.Am new to BP so bear that in mind.Overall the finish is quite good, the barrel is deeply and evenly blued with no maching marks and the lockplate is colour case hardenened (?) with discreet,light engraving.The stock is rather well shaped and finished, though the wood it is made from is fairly ordinary and it has a satin/oiled finish.There are a few light machining marks on the wedge plate and screws but nothing too bad.The hammer fall ,nipple alignment is bang on, though the two nipple wrenchs I have don't fit( will have to order one specially), doesn't seem to be much room around the nipple.It has a seperate ramrod (does not attach to pistol)with aluminium fittings for jag etc.The ramrod does not look or feel very substantial, so I made a seperate rangerod with fittings.The lock was very tight when I got it and the trigger pull veeeery heavy.There is a small adjustment screw on the tumbler to lighten the sear engagement( whicn I carefully did)and now the trigger pull is much better and the lock is working in.The action of the lock is not too scratchy and will get smoother with use ( or a little judicious tinkering).I've been using 20 gr FFFG, .440 hand cast rb and patches made out of an old cotton sheet( don't know how thick).Can start the ball with reasonable thumb pressure.The front and rear sight are dovetailed into the barrel and were bang on for 25 meters out of the box and give a reasonable sight picture.It is very nicely balanced and shoots straight as a die (can consistently hit the 9,10 rings on the 25mtr duelling target).I guess it would be classed as a 'Duelling' style pistol,I don't know if it is based on any actual,historical gun.Iam very pleased with it and now (with my seconds at the ready)Iam just waiting for someone to impune my honor!!!so be carefull how you reply does anyone else have experience/info with the "pioneer " pistol--best rgards zodd

 

[Slake]

Not I. But congrats to ya. I'm green with envy, I've not gone into the pistol category, yet. Still chompin on the bit. It sounds like you've got it though

 

[marwat06]

Thanks for the review. I am in the market for a new pistol ... soon as my wife approves. I have to spend my "fun money" on a gun cabinet first “before I buy anything else”. Was wondering about the Traditions Models.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

It looks like a full stock model of a plains pistol and I think not only do they look good I bet they shot good and you confirmed that. They are around here in kit form for less than $100 and from what I can tell the raw parts are finished better than the Lyman I built a while back.

I have to ask though and don't take this wrong, you must shoot centerfire pistol quite a bit to shoot as good as you do?

I am happy to see these good results an hope Traditions will keep selling traditional guns.

Do you have a pic of the gun to share with us? I would like to see one that isn't in a catolog.

 

[bwhoffman]

I dont think one has to be well versed in the center fire handgun arena to accurately shoot BP pistols. One needs to know the concepts of gun control,how to have repeatability of the load, sight picture and grip, just to name a few.
I too had excellent results out of the box with my traditions trapper. Yes, I have shot a bunch in another lifetime and became an accuracy freak with varmint guns, did shoot some handgun, not making me an expert by any means. I just understand how to get my guns to group.

My $.02

Brett

 

[Pittsburghunter]

I agree with what you said Brett but he said it is his first bp gun and I find his shooting to be exellent. I would say he got his experience somewhere and that's why I asked the question.

I in no way made a derogatory remark I hope.

I was complementing him on his shooting.

 

[zodd]

Dear Pittsburghhunter- yep shoot a lot of ISSF matches ( in Australia target shooting is the Only reason you may get a pistol license( not for self defence, hunting, can only be used on a sanctioned range, there are also quite stringent participation requirements to keep your license-for each type of gun you possess you must participate in at least 4 official matches--use it or lose it)If you owned an air pistol, a rimfire pistol, a centerfire pistol and a black powder pistol you would have to shoot a minimum of 24 official matchs per year.Shoot a lot of Sport pistol(.22cal , 30 shots slow fire, 30 shots on turning target, 25 mtrs)Centerfire (as above) Standard pistol(25 mts,20 shots in 5 shot strings on turning targets, for each time of 10 seconds, 8 seconds and 4 seconds for a total of 60 shots, allso shoot a bit of Free pistol( 60 shots precision,.22cal in 2 hrs over 50 meters.I am a reasonable shot ( in my previous post maybe we interpret consistently a bit different :grin:
Will get "she who must be obeyed" to take a photo and post it soon---best regards-zodd

 

[bwhoffman]

nuthin bad implied, just reading and typing away!
sounds like zood has the fundamentals down solid!

Brett

 

[oldmaster]

I also own one of these pistol's and am very happy with it. When I received it, it had 3/4 inch of metal, curly, shavings in the barrel but after a good cleaning, she shoots just fine.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Glad to hear of your results. I've not seen one "in-the-pelt" but in photos I thought it one of the best looking replicas being made, certainly the best in its' price range. Glad to hear that it also shoots. :grin: