Pedersoli Locks

[Old Ford2]

Could anybody recommend or give an honest opinion of the Pedesoli locks.
Particularly the Indian Trade Gun Lock ( LOTT )

[Dphariss]

It may need a lot of work
I have one for repair right now  I normally don't do things like this.
Its been used and has quit sparking.
The frizzen in made from the wrong alloy near as I can tell. It will not make carbon steel sparks even on the grinder after being hardened with Kasenite probably a chrome bearing tool steel or 4140.
I hardened and tempered the mainspring and rearched the frizzen spring this helped but even after a dose of Kasenite it only makes a few dull red sparks.
So I need to replace the frizzen or at least the frizzen face. May cut the whole face off and weld on a face of 1095. The fence is close to the frizzen face and I would have to remove most of it to put on a new face by the conventional method anyway.

Dan

[northmn]

What do they cost as compared to the proven ones like the Chambers?

DP

[Captchee]

  Cant say I have worked on one of their trade guns but I have worked on  some of their other rifles .
 I would have to say the most common one I work on is the Blue ridge  that Cabalas sells 
  I have not ran into  any real issues with the frizzens past being way to hard  . 
 Maybe to this point I been lucky though and they only needed  to be re tempered .
 Biggest issue I run into is  the tumblers break .  Some of the locks also have a cheep piece of thin , soft steel as a tumbler bridle. This  gets bent just alittle and it allows the  fly to jam  the sear . Thus the  locks  act like they are catching the ½ cock 

COST ??
  They cost as much as any  quality lock .
 Same with all the parts .
 A couple years back I  had a blue ridge come in that needed a new barrel  and lock . The whole thing was junk .
 Customer wanted it fixed though . So I started pricing .
 Pedersoli  put me in contact with their US  repair service  which sent me a complete price listing for  the Pedersoli line .
 There wasn’t one part on there that was not either equal to   or greater then the cost of  replacing  a  custom part .
 In fact  if you ran down the price list . To build a cheep blue ridge  from  parts would run you  over 1100.00 USD

Now my price list is old and from 2004    and I know  this isn’t for your  trade gun . But maybe it will give you a ball park
  The barrel for the Blue ridge was  325.00
Stock was 325.00
Tumbler was 35.00
 Frizzen = 45.00

 Lock complete at that time was 115.00

  Again these prices are  6 years old so take them for what they are worth .

[beleg2]

I have no direct experience but a friend had a Pedersoli CUB, it never works correctly and he finally change the lock for another USA made (I do not remember the maker).
He had had a chat (via email) with one of the bevel bros. and he told my friend that this Pedersoli lock would never work. something on geometry or materials.

But, Pedersoli caplocks works just fine.

JMHO
Hope this helps.
Martin

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I had a Kentucky flintlock.  It was indeed fast, and reasonably reliable although not as reliable as my Chambers.

I seem to remember it ate flints.  Misfired after a dozen or so firings, chip a new edge on the flint and it was good to go another dozen. 

As noted, the replacement parts for Pedersoli were outlandish.  When my muzzle crown wore out I looked into a replacement barrel and they wanted over $200 for a straight octagon barrel at a time when swamped barrels didn't run that much.

[smylee grouch]

I have had rather poor luck with Pedersoli locks, non-sparkable frizzens, soft and non hardenable tumblers mainly. Frusterating and scarry at times.      Gary

[RobertS]

I built a Pedersoli Cub in flint, from a DGW pre-assembled kit about 25 years ago, my first BP rifle.  It seemed to eat flints and was not a consistent sparker, though I had fun with it anyway.  I finally ended up converting it to a Pedersoli percussion lock when my sons got old enough to shoot it, as they would get frustrated with the flintlock not firing reliably.  So far, I have no complaints with the caplock, and I always wondered whether the problem with the flintlock may have been the operator (me). 

[Dan'l 1946]

What do they cost as compared to the proven ones like the Chambers?

DP

$245.00

[J.D.]

IMHO, Rather than spend an inordinate amount of money for a poorly designed lock, I would buy a Davis tradegun lock. Davis locks work, and the Davis lock is recommended to replace the poorly designed Pedersoli LOTT lock.

Moreover, should you need replacement parts, parts for the Davis lock are readily available, at a very reasonable price, compared to the Ped lock.

God bless

[Mike Brooks]

I wouldn't put a pedersoli lock on a gun.

[tuffy]

Normally you get what you pay for, but that just ain't so with anything that Pedersoli makes. They have successfully hoodwinked most of the black powder community into believing that they are among the best, when in reality they are on a level with juker.     Just my 2 cents worth.

[Old Ford2]

To All, thank you for well received information.
Best Regards
Old Ford

[J.D.]

Dang tuffy, why don't you tell us what you really think. 

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I have a Pedersoli KY rifle that was my first flintlock. Eats flints and factory ugly.  I have been thinking about stripping it down, slendarizing it, finding a new lock for it and making a brass patchbox....... all as learning experience and to hopefully make it look better    unfortunately it still has the heavy straight barrel.... so it is unlikely to become a favorite shooter no matter what I do.

What would you suggest as a replacement lock.... perhaps a small siler.....the lock on it is pretty small.  Any other suggestions?... short of firewood?

[rich pierce]

L&R may have some replacement locks for this.

[J.D.]

Why not rework the lock yourself? Will you be out anything if you mess it up?

Working on these cheap locks can be a real learning experience, so go for it.

I'm not personally familiar with the lock on the Ped Kentucky, but generally speaking,
IMHO, the only real problem with reworking Ped locks, that I am aware of, is not knowing the composition of the steel in the internals...in the event you decide they need heat treating.

In my limited experience with Pedersoli locks, in general, the geometry is pretty decent on most of them. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

In my experience, if this lock is a flintlock, the frizzens are case hardened mild steel. Pack hardening works wonders on these cheap frizzens. As an alternative, there may be a frizzen, made of through hardening steel, that can be used to replace the  original, if you decide to go that route.

New springs can be made or the old ones arched to increase/decrease tension, and the fits of the internals tightened by welding and redrilling holes,  inserting bushings, or making oversize screws.  

Again, if you should happen to mess it up, just buy a replacement from L&R, or check the fit of a Chambers Late Ketland or one of Davis' offerings, though they may need some modification to fit properly.

Tracks catalog has life size photos of the products they sell. Lay your lock over the photos to get an idea of which lock might be a good match, being aware that the location of the sear extension and the center of the pan are critical dimensions in lock replacement.

Good luck and God bless

[rich pierce]

The Lott lock may be a completely different animal than current Pedersoli locks.  As Dan mentioned above, the frizzen alloy seems odd according to the spark test and re-soling it or welding on a new face may be the best approach.

[bob in the woods]

Wasn't L & R selling drop in replacements for these at one time?
Otherwise, I'd just see about getting a gunmakers lock, in the small siler size,  and making one.

[Dphariss]

Track has a trade gun lock that will replace the Lott with a little inletting.

Dan

[Dan'l 1946]

J.D., I don't think that he has the Pedersoli lock yet. And paying almost $90.00 extra for an inferior lock that then has to be rebuilt strikes me as as very wasteful, particularly in these troubled economic times. And if the Pedersoli is successfully reworked, if that is even possible, it still won't be as good as one of Jim Chamber's locks.

[J.D.]

J.D., I don't think that he has the Pedersoli lock yet. And paying almost $90.00 extra for an inferior lock that then has to be rebuilt strikes me as as very wasteful, particularly in these troubled economic times. And if the Pedersoli is successfully reworked, if that is even possible, it still won't be as good as one of Jim Chamber's locks.

Agreed, for some reason, I got the idea the Ped lock was going to replace an existing lock.

Former post aside, I would not buy a Ped lock to put on a new gun. IMHO, they are waaaaaayyy over priced, especially for the poor quality, not to mention the lack of available parts.

IMHO, I certainly would stick with a tried and true Chambers or Davis. Davis makes the lock recommended as a replacement for the Ped LOTT lock, so if I were to build a piece that requires a lock similar to the LOTT, IMHO, the Davis trade gun lock is the much better option.

God bless