Pedersoli trade gun tips needed.

[Bryan6739]

Hello to all.  Have been reading these forums for years , finally registered. Been shooting black powder on an off for 35 yrs. Dad got me hooked at 8 yrs old shooting bench matches. Never had or shot a trade gun or fowler and i finally got one.  Got a great deal on a "new old stock" pedersoli trade gun 20 guage.  Gun unfired from 2004. Was lewis +clark commemorative edition. No different from reg gun except for silver furniture and medallion.Was wondering if anyone has one and what size roundballs and flints worked for them. I have heard lock can be tricky and some need work.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks

[Mike Brooks]

What ever you paid for it it wasn't a "deal". In general they don't work.

[Daryl]

Bryan - how about posting a picture of it?

[Bryan6739]

It is a 20 guage.  Apparently cherrys' fine guns had pedersoli make them for the 200 yr anniversary of lewis and clark expedition.  Appears to be same " indian gun " pedersoli make today.  Will put up pic when i get home later. Thanks again.

[Bryan6739]

Camera not greatest, either is operator.  !!!

[Mike Brooks]

Not a bad gun for a Pedersoli, now if the lock actually works you have something. Pedersoli makes some great cartridge and  cap guns, I have several, but they have always had a tough time making a flint gun that works.

[Bill Raby]

Not a bad gun for a Pedersoli, now if the lock actually works you have something. Pedersoli makes some great cartridge and  cap guns, I have several, but they have always had a tough time making a flint gun that works.

   I have the Brown Bess from Pedersoli and it works great. Never had any trouble with it.

[Bryan6739]

Hopefully lock functions good .  Even if i change out lock for chambers or L & R , I would still be very happy with investment.  Fit finish and overall quality of gun is pretty good. Barrel looks especially beefy. If smoothbore fever gets me bad, i will get a custom gun. Have seen many nice ones on these pages. Waiting on tracks and gamaliel orders and i will let you know if she is a keeper.

[Daryl]

There seems to be a LOT of guys up here, when getting a bit long in the tooth, switch from rifles to smoothbores as they cannot see a rear sight - AT ALL, anymore. 

"Some" say they hit more with the smoothie than they were with rifles.

The comradery in the smoothbore 'bunches of shooters' is quite noticeable compared with some groups -  they are always laughing and taunting each other, having a GREAT time, while many rifle  shooting groups are a bit on the too-serious side.  Many of our smoothbore shooters are primitive campers, others, well,  they are just primitive all over.  Of course, that happens with our rifle groups as well.  All part of rendezvous.  That sight well down the barrel on my 20 bore, is looking 'better' all the time.  A 46" or 48" Pen; smoothbore might even be better.

So- in light of this thread - get a mould, .025" to .030" smaller than the muzzle, get some .018" to .020" patches and and "CHOOT-IT", as Laundrey would say.

[bob in the woods]

I own 2  20 bores.  One prefers a .600 ball,  and the other does better with a .610. Measuring the bore size is a good start since I've found some variance in sizes between the barrel manufacturers re smoothbores.   

[Dave Patterson]

Not a bad gun for a Pedersoli, now if the lock actually works you have something...

I've only got, or ever had, one Pedersoli ("Frontier" model .54 flinter):  noticed the same.  To be fair to DP, I bought it lightly used, but in near-new condition, and apparently, all the previous owner had done with it was unpack it and light 'er off a couple times, clean it, and hang it on the wall.

Barrel shoots decent, as it arrived:  not a tack-driver, and never will be, but it'll deliver each group to same POI, and print a decent cloverleaf at 50 yds.  Good enough for what I bought it for.

The triggers I can live with, once tuned and adjusted, and once I reshaped the shoes to actually fit a human hand. 

The lock... well, the lock was pretty much just ballast as it arrived.bout 3 intense days of tuning, and it not only throws a decent (not exceptional, but decent) shower of sparks, but it's a lot faster now.  Assuming this is about as good as it's ever gonna get, I can live with it for now, but if it ever fails me again, it's gonna get an L&R RPL model.

[Daryl]

Any gun that shoots cloverleafs  (round group, all 3 touching) at 50yards will win about any match, if shot well.

[Dave Patterson]

... if shot well.

And, therein lies my personal problem:  the whole "shooting WELL" thing. 

[little joe]

Any gun that shoots cloverleafs  (round group, all 3 touching) at 50yards will win about any match, if shot well.

You are right however  that group has to be in the middle of the target most of the time to win.

[bgf]

Any gun that shoots cloverleafs  (round group, all 3 touching) at 50yards will win about any match, if shot well.

You are right however  that group has to be in the middle of the target most of the time to win.

All it takes is practice, and I need practice .

[Daryl]

Any gun that shoots cloverleafs  (round group, all 3 touching) at 50yards will win about any match, if shot well.

You are right however  that group has to be in the middle of the target most of the time to win.

Once you find a load that shoots that well, ie: cloverleafs at 50yards, simply adjusting the sights to put them in the middle is the easy part, unless it was only one-group-fluke - then the load development & learning to shoot therifle, is not finished.

[Dave Patterson]

Any gun that shoots cloverleafs  (round group, all 3 touching) at 50yards will win about any match, if shot well.

You are right however  that group has to be in the middle of the target most of the time to win.

Once you find a load that shoots that well, ie: cloverleafs at 50yards, simply adjusting the sights to put them in the middle is the easy part, unless it was only one-group-fluke - then the load development & learning to shoot therifle, is not finished.

And that right there is my problem:  I can do all that (I know:  I've seen me do it... for many years), when it "counts" in my mind... just not in competition.

[nosrettap1958]

Amazing how accurate these smoothbores are, probably winning competitions everywhere, I'll bet. 

[Mike Brooks]

Amazing how accurate these smoothbores are, probably winning competitions everywhere, I'll bet. 

I used to win quite a bit with my 28ga. in years past when I was on top of my game. Of course winning is out of the question these days no matter what I shoot.

[Lee44shootercnb]

I have two Pedersoli long guns.  The Bluefield in 50 cal and the 1861 Springfield in 58.
The Bluefield shot great out of the box once I found the load it liked.
Adjusted the sight and got good results at 50 yards.  See attached

[nosrettap1958]

Pedersoli makes excellent rifle barrels.  Whether its in black powder cartridge or muzzleloading competitions look how often they win.

[Daryl]

Pedersoli makes excellent rifle barrels.  Whether its in black powder cartridge or muzzleloading competitions look how often they win.

I'll make a point of watching for those at rendezvous.  I think the next one I see will be the first around here.  This is not said to detract from them - perhaps as you say, they are very good, but perhaps just not popular enough to be in the winner's circle, that I've noticed.

[nosrettap1958]

I agree Daryl. locally I have not seen many Pedersoli rifles winning competitions. I love their barrels but their locks and triggers, not so much.

[JCKelly]

My Pedersoli Trade gun sparked, but it ate up flints if positioned bevel down. Guess it was better bevel up, just got tired of fussing with it.

Their barrels are of a very good clean steel, low in both sulfur and phosphorus, about 0.4 % carbon and, I believe, heat treated.

[nosrettap1958]

If you look on other forums where BPC rifles are used and even here with the long range muzzleloading completion was listed Pedersoli either won or was close to winning.  You just can't deny their performance.