Pedersoli single set trigger issues

[Mark-II]

On the verge of sending a brand new pedersoli 1885 back for warranty work a second time I may as well ask some advice here to see if anyone has any ideas.

Long story short, the trigger on this rifle swings loose on its pivot. It is completely disconnected from any internal relationship with any other part of the mechanism.

It's has happened twice now, within 5 minutes of unboxing the rifle and testing the trigger mechanism (dry fire, if you will, but without dropping the hammer hard), both in the unset and set condition.

The first time the rifle was returned from being fixed the hammer could not be de-cocked and the trigger was frozen in place until the set screw for the set trigger adjustment was tweaked a turn or two. After that, a couple tries of the action, as described above, and something must have come loose inside again.

Assuming there isn't a manufacturing defect of some sort, just what the heck is so out of adjustment in there that the trigger no longer engages with anything inside?

I'm not about to pull apart the rifle, which would probably void warranty. Just wondering if anyone might point me in the direction of enlightenment regarding Pedersoli's interpretation of a single set trigger on an 1885 high wall replica...

[Ramar]

Mark pull it apart; "nothing ventured nothing gained". A schematic came with rifle, study it and do a Utube search on disassemble the Ped. 1885. I haven't found a video on the Pedersoli only on the late Browning 1885. Good luck....
Ramar

[Tatume]

That doesn't sound like an adjustment issue to me, more like something is broken. I'd send it back and follow up with a phone call. They should pay the freight too.

[sharpsguy]

Good luck with that...

[kokomokid]

I have put a set trigger (sst) in a Winchester and would like to see a photo of your lower tang. Not many parts on a Winchester but everything has to be correct. LB

[Mark-II]

I'm not going to disassemble the thing and jeopardize warranty, so I can't get photos of any merit.

Borrowing a single shot rifle book and studying the mechanism I can see what has happened, twice.

The knock off has plainly somehow rotated towards the rear, out from underneath the sear, and now rides loose in the action between upper tang and the top of the lobe on the sear.

Obviously the smith who worked on it simply removed the lower tang, reset the knock off in its arrangement with the trigger, and put the whole works back together.

I could do this myself, of course, but there is obviously an underlying fault with the action to allow the knock off to slip past the sear in the first place.

Rifle is boxed up and awaiting RMA. The dealer does have a good warranty, and does cover the freight, fortunately. It's just very frustrating.

I was thinking of buying a second hand Uberti in 38-55, but it has a less than desirable crescent butt.

There's not much else out there for an 1885 38-55 rifle. Pedersoli was the absolute top end of my price range.

[bigted]

that "less then desirable crescent" is a thing of beauty in my opinion. that curve is to be tucked ON your upper arm NOT in your shoulder. bit different way to shoot if you have not done so before ... however ... you will find that a properly 'shouldered' crescent plate will allow far more recoil with less felt recoil then the flat shotgun type "in" the shoulder. fear not the snazzy crescent ... embrace it if your length of pull is so that you can get by with the fairly short usual LOP.

[NSB]

The Pedersoli 1885 trigger is unlike any other trigger on any other gun. It was designed just for the Pedersoli. I had two of these guns, both defective as received. I ended up sending both back and got my money back eventually. There is only one repair center in all of North America and the gentleman who does the work is a highly skilled gunsmith. He worked with Pedersoli on designing the trigger in the 1885. I'm not convinced that the design actually worked as planned in the real world. As he told me, there is very little adjustment in the trigger and any time it's not working properly, it needs to be returned to him for examination and repair. I've had seven Pedersoli rifles and the only ones that worked and could be counted on to work were the Sharps models. I also had two of their new lever guns, the 86/71 model in 45-70 and both of those were defective and could not be repaired. I ended up getting a full refund on those also and purchased a Winchester 1886 which has had no problems. Pedersoli makes very nice looking guns but they are poorly designed and function terribly. They should limit their production to the Sharps models and quit trying to make something else without doing the development and testing needed to validate the design before flooding the market with poor quality products. They are slow to answer emails about quality, get very defensive, and have a poor network for repair in the U.S. If you want a good 1885, get one of the Winchester or Browning Miroku made guns. The BPCR is probably one of the best 1885s ever produced. EVER.

[Steve H]

Had my High Wall looked at today for this problem and according to the U.S. warranty service tech, the factory took too much wood out behind the trigger assy. and this allows the Mid Lever, item #21 to rotate too far going past the sear into a non functional position where the trigger just flops around.
His fix is to put a wood screw into the butt stock behind the mid lever to stop it from rotating too far.
The trigger assy. has to be removed to reset the mid lever to its proper position as well.

P.S. I have nothing but praise for the fast help I have received from Gloria in Italy!