Pedersoli Flint lock and stock opinions sought. Trade Musket specificially.

[perldog007]

On 'paper' this trade musket is pretty much everything I'm looking for in a smooth bore Black Powder. I would be happy with a .54 smooth bore with an ugly plain stock, 30" bbl and functional cap lock. We do like the aesthetics of the Pedersoli Trade musket.
Is this stock grain correct? We have been evaluating dead wood to cut into blanks and seeing natural curves that would support absorbing recoil and using a butt plate to grind coffee... Being an amateur bowyer with a cool looking self bow in my arsenal, this grain in the stock looks like curtains for this weapons system the first time we go smashy with the butt.

Thoughts?

Also, how do the Pedersoli locks stand up to say the American made Siler type?

Is this hard to convert to cap lock with Pedersoli Parts?

If you owned a shooter like this where would you send it to have hardware for a sling mounted?

Maybe the blue collar idiots like me need to pester Lynn Thompson over at cold steel to mold us up a stock and wrangle up some locks and barrels? There is one plastic flint lock rifle made for the PA season. Maybe a smoothie?
To me if the lock was serviceable and the stock grain followed the curve this would be a no brainer at the price. Been very happy with my less than top quality Pietta revolvers.
*ETA Currently our loafing smooth bore is the ubiquitous Mossberg 500. Which will also be my inline muzzle loader if I'm ever so inclined. The 28" vented rib bbl with no choke tube is a favorite. Good to about 20 yards with #6 or about 60 yards on deer sized game with slugs in mine own gumby hands..
Looking for something with more cowbell...

 

[midland man]

wow! I like this one, I wished I could get it in 12g

 

[perldog007]

wow! I like this one, I wished I could get it in 12g

My cartridge gun is a 12. I like it but have always thought I could get by with a 20. I do like it, but at that price we can find a hand made specimen for not too much more if we keep a sharp watch on the gunbroker and so forth.

 

[Panzerschwein]

This is a 20 gauge weapon, not .54 caliber.

 

[perldog007]

This is a 20 gauge weapon, not .54 caliber.

Right on, my preference for the territory I'm headed to would be a .54 smooth bore. But we've always had a sneaking suspicion that our modern 12 pump could have been a 20 all along with no ill effects. At work it was a 12 pump so goes Rome and all that. Now for my 'Golden' years I'm growing an appreciation for implements of historical import
The obvious draw with the Pedersoli is price, it's on the rack, quality is pretty much known pros and cons. With a nice custom gun we could have a .32" .54 with the exact barrel and stock profile desired, prolly interchangeable siler flint and cap locks, have a carbon fiber rod 3d printed for field use.. but it wouldn't get done for a grand and change.
Just me being me, I'm more comfortable with a mass produced weapon in the hills. I've fallen down a mild slope or two attempting athleticism. It's a comfort knowing your infantry Moisin Nagant won't lower in value and will land near you so as to make a nice crutch until you walk it off
Just like in PA, beautiful and very rugged country. All of my tools get a bit dinged up. My 1860 Pietta is almost 'real'. I do really like your new Flinter. That looks like as good a way to learn that art as I've seen. And it's looks like a well made rifle that could stand a weekend in the hills.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Right on, my preference for the territory I'm headed to would be a .54 smooth bore. But we've always had a sneaking suspicion that our modern 12 pump could have been a 20 all along with no ill effects. At work it was a 12 pump so goes Rome and all that. Now for my 'Golden' years I'm growing an appreciation for implements of historical import
The obvious draw with the Pedersoli is price, it's on the rack, quality is pretty much known pros and cons. With a nice custom gun we could have a .32" .54 with the exact barrel and stock profile desired, prolly interchangeable siler flint and cap locks, have a carbon fiber rod 3d printed for field use.. but it wouldn't get done for a grand and change.
Just me being me, I'm more comfortable with a mass produced weapon in the hills. I've fallen down a mild slope or two attempting athleticism. It's a comfort knowing your infantry Moisin Nagant won't lower in value and will land near you so as to make a nice crutch until you walk it off
Just like in PA, beautiful and very rugged country. All of my tools get a bit dinged up. My 1860 Pietta is almost 'real'. I do really like your new Flinter. That looks like as good a way to learn that art as I've seen. And it's looks like a well made rifle that could stand a weekend in the hills.

Thank you. So you want a smoothbore .54 flintlock?

 

[whughett]

Well not many people use a butt stock to go "smashy", straight grain is only a liability if twisting or lateral forces are applied parallel to the grain. Recoil is a straight push.

 

[perldog007]

Yes, in perfect world there would be a mass producted .54 smooth bore flint lock with a plain jane tough stock on the rack at finer sporting goods stores all over. However a .62 would be dandy as well throwing a bit larger shot pattern. To get the exact flint lock I want looks to be about three grand to do it right. Then I could get a flint/cap lock with a nice short swamped barrel and a 'war club' stock that uses a natural bend in the stock wood. But we really don't require all that.
I do understand that most contemporary rifles are not made to be clubs if needed, but old military rifles that could deliver some blunt force have always been favorite companions in the hinterlands. We always endeavor not to drop our rifle or do three stooges style assaults on trees, however... the old infantry rifles are a comfort in that regard.
At the end of the day giving up on a war club stock wouldn't be the worst thing, or getting a bigger bore. The change cold soak up that extra lead and powder for starters, Maybe get another toy or two.
ETA - This from Sitting Fox is very close to my dream toy, er um I mean serious sustenance gathering tool, ahem and all that there ...

.54 smooth, under seven pounds, and not much more than the Pedersoli in the O.P. need to research this shop...

 

[Panzerschwein]

Yes, in perfect world there would be a mass producted .54 smooth bore flint lock with a plain jane tough stock on the rack at finer sporting goods stores all over. However a .62 would be dandy as well throwing a bit larger shot pattern. To get the exact flint lock I want looks to be about three grand to do it right. Then I could get a flint/cap lock with a nice short swamped barrel and a 'war club' stock that uses a natural bend in the stock wood. But we really don't require all that.
I do understand that most contemporary rifles are not made to be clubs if needed, but old military rifles that could deliver some blunt force have always been favorite companions in the hinterlands. We always endeavor not to drop our rifle or do three stooges style assaults on trees, however... the old infantry rifles are a comfort in that regard.
At the end of the day giving up on a war club stock wouldn't be the worst thing, or getting a bigger bore. The change cold soak up that extra lead and powder for starters, Maybe get another toy or two.
ETA - This from Sitting Fox is very close to my dream toy, er um I mean serious sustenance gathering tool, ahem and all that there ...

.54 smooth, under seven pounds, and not much more than the Pedersoli in the O.P. need to research this shop...

DO IT. IT IS YOUR DESTINY!!!

Or just get the Pedersoli Indian trade musket and use milder 20 gauge charges.

 

[perldog007]

DO IT. IT IS YOUR DESTINY!!!

Or just get the Pedersoli Indian trade musket and use milder 20 gauge charges.

Wait, there's more! They also do a stock and kit for the 'smooth rifle' popular with the landed gentry and respectable tradesmen like my carpenter forbears from Appalachian Virginia.
My BP revolvers are replacing my cartridge revolvers. That's the way it is because of where I live now. I desire guns that I can operate but will have little 'street' value if some hop head accidentally acquires my stuff. My small pile of Pietta replicas does that nicely.
My 30/30, shotgun, and wife's .22 are not on the chopping block. So a long arm is not at all practical, just something we want. A cheaper factory flinter rifle or pistol would be a less expensive entry point.
Unfortunately some random person from Kansas inspired me to read up on smooth bores. The thing I enjoy most about my BP revolvers is the ability to tailor a load. The 230 gr ball from a .54 at musket velocity will expand horrifically according to my reading. Hovey Smith, my man, put a 20 gauge charge in his 16" .54 cal 'blunderbuss' and it threw a very nice pattern. Turkey and goose and swan and squirrel. He nigh nailed a deer with a roundball.
Here in 'not richistan' we can on occasion go to four figures for a toy, like my inflatable kayak. Or spend a few dollars on a project, we built the cheapest Bolger drawn Gloucester Gull light dory, just a shade more than a good flint lock kit.
I really like the Italian and Spanish BP makers. With Pedersoli wanting near four figures for anything flint, it just makes sense to me to consider an upgrade. Normally I'd go with the factory gun for a small savings, but the 'small batch' guns actually look more robust to me. The grain on Sitting Fox's "Virginia Smooth Rifle" shown looks right for a powderless coup de grace in a pinch.
I guess everybody else is just an expert surgical shot, but we've seen white tail finished off with the butt plate of an Lee Enfield more than once. A whole family of cheapskates that don't like messing up their buck knives either.. and they swore by that Enfield. A frugal practice from leaner days perhaps.
Not something I ever plan on doing. I'll load another round, sharpen a stick, use my Kukri, and about seven thousand other things before smashing anything with my rifle butt. It's just nice to know the gun was made to withstand that, especially when you spend that kind of money.
If your wife can go on Cabela's and see a five hundred dollar flint lock rifle, then by Gaia that's the price!
So I've got a sales job to do here, I'm needing to scour the interwebs and talk to some local guru types. We do seem to be on the right track.
Sitting Fox offers this for 1250 'in the white' A Virginia smooth rifle in 28, 24, or 20 gauge. Done for about 1450, probably the way I want it for 16-18. That would be with a siler and buying the caplock as well.

 

[perldog007]

Oh in 20 gauge? this beauty for two hundred more than the

Pedersoli? Sorry Uncle Dave! This baby could possibly draw me away from a 28 gauge....

 

[perldog007]

wow! I like this one, I wished I could get it in 12g

The Pedersoli shotguns from Dixie get good reviews whether percussion or flint. BUT! When I turn 65 and no longer have to buy hunting licenses in some places I want one of these! At age 65 I'll be the camp cook and it will be like my younger days when I didn't tote a rifle and wore a Super Blackhawk. "You that good of a shot son?" ; "No Sir, I'm just too sorry to carry a rifle up and down this hill " So in my senior years this will be my "self defense' deer gun! ( I only shot one sickly buck in self defense with that Ruger, I tried to blow ciggy smoke and yelling at four paces but when it put it's head down my decision was firm!, besides I was reading a good book when the ruffian stole up on me.)
A 20" 12 gauge, that looks about right for any deer that won't leave me alone while I'm reading at midday! And perhaps a bit easier to tote than a longer bbl? All the makers seem to offer a big bore of some sort, but this baby...

*Too, also, as well, the last buck, a wounded eight pointer in my woodlot, did challenge us and put his head down until he heard the hammer spring back on my model 25. The one I nailed with the Ruger took the clicking as a signal to paw the dirt and seal his fate. Maybe a nice crisp lock will make firing unnecessary in that situation?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have one, and NO the Pedersoli lock is not on par with the American locks, and as far as the gun is concerned, it is sort of a copy of a NW Trade gun. Pedersoli ramrods are notorious to be junk, and the quality control on my particular one was poor, with improperly attached ramrod thimbles. (imho) You would do much better to get a Sitting Fox Canoe Gun in the white, http://sittingfoxmuzzleloaders.com/k-6e/. A lot easier to tote in the field, better quality parts, and they are fun to shoot.

LD

 

[perldog007]

I have one, and NO the Pedersoli lock is not on par with the American locks, and as far as the gun is concerned, it is sort of a copy of a NW Trade gun. Pedersoli ramrods are notorious to be junk, and the quality control on my particular one was poor, with improperly attached ramrod thimbles. (imho) You would do much better to get a Sitting Fox Canoe Gun in the white, http://sittingfoxmuzzleloaders.com/k-6e/. A lot easier to tote in the field, better quality parts, and they are fun to shoot.

LD

Interestingly enough I've sent the gent an inquiry on a canoe gun with a .54 bore and Siler lock. If that's not do-able I'd be happy with one in the white in .62 with the L&R lock. Then we have to sell it to the boss... nothing is simple is it? The smooth rifle is also a candidate but that 24" bbl is appealing.