Lyman Plains Pistol vs. Pedersoli Kentucky Pistol?

[Kynoch]

Can anyone here offer some first-hand insight into a Pedersoli Percussion Kentucky Pistol versus a Lyman Plains Pistol?

I'd like to find a percussion pistol chambered in .54 and these look like the two best candidates?

Thanks.

[johnson1942]

no first hand experience but both come from co/s that make good stuff. i would say that you couldnt go wrong with either one. no wrong moves with either.

[mooman76]

No 1st hand insight here either but I would go with Pedersoli. Lyman does good work but their quality control has been ify lately and sometimes and their customer service little better or unsatisfactory in the way of fixes.

[C.F.Plinker]

I have the Lyman in percussion and the Pedersoli in flint. The trigger on the Pedersoli was a "two finger trigger" out of the box. Well over 10 pounds and it tool both index fingers to get it to fire using a two handed hold. I traced the problem on mine (yours could be different) to a very stiff sear spring. I had to reduce both the width and the thickness of the spring in order to get the trigger down to around 3 pounds. The Lyman uses their coil spring design and the trigger was good out of the box.

The barrel on the Pedersoli is pinned in whereas the barrel on the Lyman is held in with a wedge. The latter is much easier to remove for cleaning than is the former since a pinned barrel is not usually taken out of the stock for cleaning.

The sights on both were good. You will probably have to file the front sight down to get the point of impact where you want it after you have come up with an accurate load. This is to be expected.

If you plan on doing much work at the range with either, make or buy a range rod so you don't have to use the underbarrel rod that comes with the pistol.

All in all, I like them both equally since I was able to lighten up the trigger on the Pedersoli. Shop around. I found a factory built Pedersoli on sale for less than the cost of the Pedersoli kit gun. They are both fun guns to shoot and the only decision I have to make is whether I want to shoot percussion or flint on that particular trip to the range.

[Kynoch]

I have the Lyman in percussion and the Pedersoli in flint. The trigger on the Pedersoli was a "two finger trigger" out of the box. Well over 10 pounds and it tool both index fingers to get it to fire using a two handed hold. I traced the problem on mine (yours could be different) to a very stiff sear spring. I had to reduce both the width and the thickness of the spring in order to get the trigger down to around 3 pounds. The Lyman uses their coil spring design and the trigger was good out of the box.

The barrel on the Pedersoli is pinned in whereas the barrel on the Lyman is held in with a wedge. The latter is much easier to remove for cleaning than is the former since a pinned barrel is not usually taken out of the stock for cleaning.

The sights on both were good. You will probably have to file the front sight down to get the point of impact where you want it after you have come up with an accurate load. This is to be expected.

If you plan on doing much work at the range with either, make or buy a range rod so you don't have to use the underbarrel rod that comes with the pistol.

All in all, I like them both equally since I was able to lighten up the trigger on the Pedersoli. Shop around. I found a factory built Pedersoli on sale for less than the cost of the Pedersoli kit gun. They are both fun guns to shoot and the only decision I have to make is whether I want to shoot percussion or flint on that particular trip to the range.

Thanks for the great insight. Do both pistol feel roughly the same size/weight in hand or is one clearly bigger than the other? Thanks again.

[C.F.Plinker]

Thanks for the great insight. Do both pistol feel roughly the same size/weight in hand or is one clearly bigger than the other? Thanks again.

They are about the same.



The Pedersoli is on top and the Lyman underneath.

FWIW Both of them will pick a 2-1/2 weight but neither will pick a 3 pound trigger weight.

[Kynoch]

Thanks for the great photo, CFP...

[Reaper]

The only Pedersoli I have is a Lepage target .44. Before I got that, I shot our blackpowder fun match with the lyman plains pistol in .54 caliber. It is capable of excellent accuracy. The only limiting factor is the primitive sights. Have added the .50 caliber barrel for the Lyman.

[Odinbreaker]

I changed the sight on my Lyman to a brass narrow blade front sight. It is easy to file and get sighted inn.

[Nazgul]

I recently bought the Lyman. Have not shot it very much but have no complaints about it.

Don