Pedersoli Blue Ridge Flintlock?

j8064 · Feb 6, 2019

Today another smoke pole arrived at its new home. :party29:

Thanks to 4570inMD's mentoring, several of us Hooligans have become big BP fans. After recently building a Traditions Kentucky Flintlock from a kit, I knew I couldn't stop at "one rock gun"!

I'm very impressed with the fit and finish of the Pedersoli Blue Ridge. It's almost too pretty to shoot. If the weather cooperates, we'll test fire it and get it dirty at next Sunday's Hooligan Shoot. Range report to follow.

I'll post better pics when the rain moves out and we get some sunshine. In the meantime:

Do any of the MDS members have any experiences shooting a Blue Ridge they can share?

:shrug:

outrider58 · Feb 6, 2019

Sorry no, but she sure is purdy!

j8064 · Feb 6, 2019

outrider58 said:
Sorry no, but she sure is purdy!

Of course you know you'll get to shoot it next time you make it to the range...

SCV/SAR Patriot · Feb 6, 2019

Congratulations, it's beautiful!

I have an older Perdersoli Long Land Pattern Brown Bess but have only shot powder and wads like at Son's of the American Revolution ceremonies and carried in parades and such. I keep telling myself that I'm gonna one day "sight it in" and take it deer hunting. LOL

outrider58 · Feb 6, 2019

j8064 said:
Of course you know you'll get to shoot it next time you make it to the range...

Its coming. Wifey is getting cabin fever and wants to meet the Hooligans.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

John from MD · Feb 6, 2019

My experience with Pedersoli rifles, I have owned several and currently still have two, is that the frizzen hardness is spotty. Sometimes they are hardened correctly, others they are not and you have to do it yourself. I do not know of anyone who sells hardened replacement frizzens for Pedersolis like they do for Lyman and T/C rifles. Their lock gets better with a "fluff and buff". I would also drill out the touch hole to 1/16 " for best ignition

As for shooting, they have good rifling for round ball and are pretty accurate.

Enjoy!

Melnic · Feb 6, 2019

NICE, now I know someone who is worse (OOOORRR is it better?) than me right now in BP acquisition!

I had contemplated this particular one cause I felt it was the closest to what a colonial age hunter would have had at the time as they joined up to fight for the American War for Independence.
I agree about the drilling out of the touch hole in the vent liner. For the 2 flintlocks I have, doing that increased reliability.

Ranchero50 · Feb 6, 2019

Very nice. Pedersoli's seem expensive for what they are. Ogled a Sharps carbine up at Fort Chambers the other week. As said, almost too nice looking to shoot. Hoping to get another session in with my Enfield in a couple weeks now that some bugs have been worked out. Then probably some BP pistola's to scratch that itch.

Blacksmith101 · Feb 6, 2019

A good books on Rock Lock shooting is:

Flintlocks
A Practical Guide for their Use and Appreciation
by Eric A. Bye

http://logcabinshop.com/oc30/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=84270

Clovis · Feb 7, 2019

I've had one for sometime in .45. The biggest problem I had to get around was the patent breech on the thing. These are very narrow (about .20 caliber or smaller) and relatively long. This will cause 2F to bridge in the front of the breech and not fall through to the touch hole. 3F works better but can still bridge after several shots. To load the rifle and prevent problems I first wipe the bore with a patch with rubbing alcohol to remove all oil. Then I remove the touch hole liner and use a pipe cleaner with alcohol to clean the oil from the patent breech. Replace the touch hole liner and proceed to load after the alcohol has had a chance to evaporate.
Then load the charge of powder, and then still holding the rifle up right bring it up and run a pick into the touch hole to feel for powder. If it is not there (and it usually isn't) I rap on the left side of the breech area of the rifle 2 or 3 times and recheck with the pick and can then usually "feel" powder. When I do, I then continue to load with a bullet or patched ball. I've found that using two wonder wads over the powder will improve accuracy quite a bit and will help clean the barrel so wiping between shots is unnecessary. Then I prime with 3F. Shoot. Reload...repeat.
I don't like the small screws holding the barrel on and have found using a clamp on device with a tube to be better for cleaning as when I was removing the barrel to clean the POI seemed to change after every cleaning. Cleaning with the barrel still in the stock seems to keep the POI the same.
Oh, did not like the sights and changed them out for a set of sights that have a white bead in the front and a adjustable one in the rear.(Lyman)

Inigoes · Feb 7, 2019

Be sure to wear eye protection, if your flint chips.

Melnic · Feb 8, 2019

Clovis said:
I've had one for sometime in .45. The biggest problem I had to get around was the patent breech on the thing. These are very narrow (about .20 caliber or smaller) and relatively long. This will cause 2F to bridge in the front of the breech and not fall through to the touch hole. 3F works better but can still bridge after several shots. To load the rifle and prevent problems I first wipe the bore with a patch with rubbing alcohol to remove all oil. Then I remove the touch hole liner and use a pipe cleaner with alcohol to clean the oil from the patent breech. Replace the touch hole liner and proceed to load after the alcohol has had a chance to evaporate.
Then load the charge of powder, and then still holding the rifle up right bring it up and run a pick into the touch hole to feel for powder. If it is not there (and it usually isn't) I rap on the left side of the breech area of the rifle 2 or 3 times and recheck with the pick and can then usually "feel" powder. When I do, I then continue to load with a bullet or patched ball. I've found that using two wonder wads over the powder will improve accuracy quite a bit and will help clean the barrel so wiping between shots is unnecessary. Then I prime with 3F. Shoot. Reload...repeat.
I don't like the small screws holding the barrel on and have found using a clamp on device with a tube to be better for cleaning as when I was removing the barrel to clean the POI seemed to change after every cleaning. Cleaning with the barrel still in the stock seems to keep the POI the same.
Oh, did not like the sights and changed them out for a set of sights that have a white bead in the front and a adjustable one in the rear.(Lyman)

Although I'm sure your process yields reliability it seems rather cumbersome.
I don't have a pedersoli but in order to remove the vent liners on mine, I have to remove the lock. I only do that when done for the day and cleaning at home.

My only problems with misfires was from too wet a patch while cleaning between shots and shoving wet crud down the patent breach you speak of.
drilling out the vent hole, using 3F and not cleaning so much solved most of that. The other issue I had was my jag was WAY too big even though it was a "40 cal" muzzleloading jab.
I turned it down with a drill press and file to lik3 .340 (40 cal barrel) and put a more rounded tip on it so the cleaning patch would slide down then do its cleaning upon pulling out.

I do tamp down the butstock some after loading to get more powder into the patent breach though on my Dixie Cub (Pedersoli barrel).

Clovis · Feb 9, 2019

Melnic said:
Although I'm sure your process yields reliability it seems rather cumbersome.
I don't have a pedersoli but in order to remove the vent liners on mine, I have to remove the lock. I only do that when done for the day and cleaning at home.

My only problems with misfires was from too wet a patch while cleaning between shots and shoving wet crud down the patent breach you speak of.
drilling out the vent hole, using 3F and not cleaning so much solved most of that. The other issue I had was my jag was WAY too big even though it was a "40 cal" muzzleloading jab.
I turned it down with a drill press and file to lik3 .340 (40 cal barrel) and put a more rounded tip on it so the cleaning patch would slide down then do its cleaning upon pulling out.

I do tamp down the butstock some after loading to get more powder into the patent breach though on my Dixie Cub (Pedersoli barrel).

As you say the lock has to come off to remove the liner, but the lock will be cleaned at that time to remove the oil from it as well so no real trouble. This process is only done prior to the first load on a clean, oiled rifle.

I prefer to rap the side of the rifle with the palm of my hand instead of bumping the butt on the ground as I don't want to damage the butt plate or butt stock. I might get too enthusiastic. I have found the addition of the wonder wads over the powder does increase accuracy. I first tried one and found an improvement and thought if one is good, two must be much better, and it was. It also eliminates wiping between shots so there is no chance of crud being pushed where it doesn't belong and really saves a little time on reloading.

The OP was asking about experiences with this rifle and I was attempting to do so. I think we're all trying to do what works best for us and beyond the basics, I don't think there are any hard and fast rules for us.

Pedersoli Blue Ridge Flintlock?

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