Shooting the 32 caliber flint Pedersoli Kentucky

[dagger dog]

Santa brought me a 50 cal.Pedersoli Kentucky flinter last Christmas and have been having a hoot shooting it, but I'm still pretty green on keeping it running, swabbing between shots and after range clean up etc.

I like that rifle and it shoots true and reliable as long as I do my part. The patent breech is a pain but have chamber brushes and rods to keep it clean.

But I just pulled the trigger on a new 32 caliber version from Pedersoli, I already have 2 .45 caliber flinters, can't say the 45's are any different maintaining than the 50's.

Need some advice on keeping that squirrel gun running, bought 100 .310 balls and have several patch options any help to make this peashooter a keeper.

[Whiterabbit]

I'm in to subscribe and read about other people's experiences.

Can you tell me what I should expect to pay if I want to buy a pedersoli without waiting for a special cast boolits S&S section deal? my father in law is interested in a muzzleloader, but only a squirrel gun. So if the price is low enough, maybe it's time to gift him one soon. Then use this thread to ensure I start him off with the right balls and patches. :)

[BPJONES]

Sounds like a fun time ahead. I keep thinking about picking up a 32 caliber but have yet to do so. Likely one of these days I'll cave in to my "desires".

[waksupi]

Use Moose Milk for lube.

[dagger dog]

I'm in to subscribe and read about other people's experiences.

Can you tell me what I should expect to pay if I want to buy a pedersoli without waiting for a special cast boolits S&S section deal? my father in law is interested in a muzzleloader, but only a squirrel gun. So if the price is low enough, maybe it's time to gift him one soon. Then use this thread to ensure I start him off with the right balls and patches. :)

Whiterabbit, I plunked down $595 ,for the 32, lucked in to the 50 at $460 in a Cabelas sale. The Traditions Crockett 32can be had for $410 if you can find one, give Dixie Gun Works a call and see if they have it in a kit or already built but they are percussion half stocked, not flinters.

Waksupi, Moosemilk =1/2 Ballistol 1/2 water, saturate patch materialand let dry ?

[waksupi]

Waksupi, Moosemilk =1/2 Ballistol 1/2 water, saturate patch materialand let dry ?

Ballistol will work fine. I'm using water soluble machinist oil, mixed from 1-7, to 1-10, depending on which gun. Those ratios are only of real value for benchrest type shooting with dry patches. For off-hand competition, I shoot them wet, usually around 1-10. Also dry for hunting use.

[RP3543]

Santa brought me a 50 cal.Pedersoli Kentucky flinter last Christmas and have been having a hoot shooting it, but I'm still pretty green on keeping it running, swabbing between shots and after range clean up etc.

I like that rifle and it shoots true and reliable as long as I do my part. The patent breech is a pain but have chamber brushes and rods to keep it clean.

But I just pulled the trigger on a new 32 caliber version from Pedersoli, I already have 2 .45 caliber flinters, can't say the 45's are any different maintaining than the 50's.

Need some advice on keeping that squirrel gun running, bought 100 .310 balls and have several patch options any help to make this peashooter a keeper.

-The smaller bores get dirty quick. I use a .300 diameter ball and a thicker patch...a little less accurate but easier to load after a few shots. You can swab between shots but that's a lot easier at the range than in the woods.
-Moose milk is a great lube to use...give it a go. Straight Ballistol works good as does Mink Oil. Try them all.
-Experiment with your load. Mine prefers 28 grains of FFFg, a little less is usually better than a little more.
-Have fun!

[dondiego]

-The smaller bores get dirty quick. I use a .300 diameter ball and a thicker patch...a little less accurate but easier to load after a few shots. You can swab between shots but that's a lot easier at the range than in the woods.
-Moose milk is a great lube to use...give it a go. Straight Ballistol works good as does Mink Oil. Try them all.
-Experiment with your load. Mine prefers 28 grains of FFFg, a little less is usually better than a little more.
-Have fun!


Where did you get the .300 diameter balls? ..........or mold?

[RP3543]

Where did you get the .300 diameter balls? ..........or mold?

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/1
Part # BALL-300-X

[Dimner]

I have the same rifle. I use bore butter for my lube. The yellow kind. I started with the green kind (some kind of pine scent) but it really gunked up the barrel and made it hard to load and harder to get consistent ignitions. The yellow bore butter is a joy to use. Make sure you use .010 patches with this rifle. Thicker is a no go. Even says to on the pedersoli website for the rifle.

I commonly use mine for squirrel hunting and shooting matches with friends. I like how it takes very little powder and very little lead to get this thing shooting. I often shoot (and occasionally outshoot) my friends (they have far more flinter experience than I... still working on the flinter flinch) during our shooting matches with this little flintlock. The load I have developed is deadly accurate out to 25-50 yards. 13 grains of FFF with a .310 round ball.

It might actually be a little less than 13 grains. The way I pour my powder is using one of those brass horn valves measures that screws in on the end of the horn. I put my thumb on the end of the brass valve, invert the powder horn, depress the springed button to release the powder (being stopped by my thumb), release the springed button, upright the powder horn. Takes about 2-3 seconds. Using a loading block, I can reload and shoot twice before the other guys who are ramming 50 cal balls down their barrels. I mention this method because I think my thumb pad reduces the volume of the brass measure by probably a grain. I pour from my horn directly into my barrel. THE HORROR! After blowing into the barrel directly to push the remaining smoke out the vent hole THE DOUBLE HORROR!

I also use FFF to prime my pan. Works very well for me. English flints work best for my rifle. The cut Arkansas stone flints that Track of the Wolf sells work great for about 10 shots maybe 15, but gets sketchy fast and you cannot sharpen (knapp) them sharper for better sparks. So I stick with the hand knapped english flints.

I tried .315 round balls (actually this is what the pedersoli documentation suggests) but I could not get them to group. I'm still working on finding a good a bit longer range load around 18 to 20 grains. So far the groupings have not been great. I can tell you that a .315 ball and 20 brass valve measure (maybe 19 grains with my thumb) of FFF is around 1550fps using my chrono.

all in all I love the rifle. Only two complaints are, the screw that clamps in the flint often loosens. I probably need to add some loctite. But just a little since you have to turn the screw to change flints. I just hate when it loosens and the flint is pushed back. I use an allen wrench to tighten the screw (using the whole through it) in stead of a turnscrew. The flat head slot is far too shallow to use with any kind of torque.

Other complaint is the rear sight on mine. A very tall and deep fixed buckhorn. I'm pretty sure the buckhorn and front sight are calibrated to a 100 yard zero which is next to useless with a 32 cal flintlock in my opinion. When I squirrel hunt all shots with this are under 50 yards. Probably even under 40. So I'm looking to change the sights. I'm often shooting high with the current setup. Setup the way it is, using the buckhorn correctly, it shoots about 6.5" high at 25 yards. So i have to adjust by feel for now. Yours may have a different rear sight. The Pedersoli website shows a better looking adjustable elevation rear sight on the current model, but I'm pretty sure mine was made around 2005-7.

I use a brass blank as a ram rod in mine. Purchased off amazon for about 11 bucks shipped. I cut a slot in the end of it so I can swab the barrel when necessary. The fiberglass one was broken during the green bore butter fiasco. Set triggers are very easy to adjust and I love them. If I'm not swabbing out with just plain hot water at camp or dry swabs at the range, I remove the barrel and dump just boiled water from a tea pot down the muzzle (with my leather casting gloves on) until the vent hole pees clear water. Then I swab a couple times, pour more and repeat until clean water is only coming out. Swab clean and dry, and then apply a swab with bore butter.



Sorry for the length, I dont often get to contribute something I know about on this site since I'm a bit new to casting. :bigsmyl2:

[DrDucati]

RP, I'm concerned. What's this about shooting your friends?

[Reverend Al]

I have one of the percussion Pedersoli Kentucky Squirrel rifles in .32 calibre that I bought used, but I still haven't got it up to our local range to shoot it yet. (I've only owned that gun for about 10 years now and you can't rush these things don't you know?)

I used to shoot a lot of black powder muzzle-loaders in my younger years and with that past experience still in memory I bought a length of brass rod long enough to bottom out in the empty barrel and still leave about 3" inches above the muzzle to use as a "range rod". If you use the supplied wooden ramrod you will likely break it at some point and will need to replace it anyway. A brass range rod is much easier to load with since the weight of the brass rod helps to push the patched ball down the barrel and seat it fully onto the powder charge, and if things get a bit "sticky" in the bore from fouling you will not break a brass rod, but you WILL most likely break a wooden rod! I also bought a small, brass door knob which I will attach to one end of the range rod to make it easier to ram the patched ball down the barrel. A rounded, brass door knob gives a nice big smooth surface to push on when loading and also adds more weight to your range rod.

I plan to drill and tap the other end of the rod for the standard black powder accessory thread so that I can add a cupped brass tip for seating the patched balls, and then I can un-thread it and use it with a bore brush for cleaning the barrel. I also plan to slot the rod about 1" behind the tip. A common practice in the old days when I was shooting lots of BP was to start the ball at the muzzle with your "short starter" and then seat it with the brass range rod with a wet cleaning patch pulled through the slot in the rod. That way you are wiping the bore wet behind the patched ball all the way down the barrel and all the way back out. It leaves the bore clean without getting the powder charge wet as the breech end of the barrel where the powder charge sits below the patched ball remains dry for every shot. We never had any misfire issues with any of the guns we ever did that with and the barrel remains clean shot to shot since it is being wiped between every shot.

As always, your individual results may vary, but you might want to try the methods above to see how they work for you ...

Cheers,

Al

[rfd]

the little .32 can be a bit cantankerous with regards to fouling control. a good 3F powder such as swiss or OE can help heaps.

there are SO many things to ponder about setting up and shooting a trad ml. if yer not sure about any one component or use process, try as many as possible and let yer gun, and then you, decide what works best for ... you.

i've tried and used many many different patch lubes over the decades, from spit to the dutch dry lube (ballistol:water), and currently i prefer to use gato feo impregnated patch strips. gato feo ("ugly cat") lube is what i use to grease my bpcr bullets, but works superbly for ball patching, and will not require swabbing between shots IF you have the right patch thickness and ball diameter. it's always ready to use, right on yer patch strip, no "reactivation" required.

i cut up 1-1/2" to 2" wide x 18" long patch strips from tight yarn natural cotton or linen cloth in thicknesses from .010" to .018", and then take a small "cake" of gato feo and rub in to both sides of the strip, then use a hair drier or heat gun to force the lube into the weave. takes only a very small amount of the lube to more than get the job done. roll up the strip and yer good to go. this lube stays soft in all climates and is always ready to go, even when used for a ball board.

gato feo mix, by weight ...

1 part mutton tallow (dixie gun works)
1 part paraffin wax (gulf, get online)
1/2 part pure beeswax (lots of sources)

mix ingredients in a double boiler, pour out into a flexible bread mould or cleaned milk carton or muffin paper or whatever, then cut up into cakes for use - it's soft and cuts like a warmed knife into cold butter. love my ugly cat - the one lube that works for all my black powder needs.

[Hanshi]

I've squirrel hunted with .32s and .36s for years. I own a flintlock .32 and a flintlock .36; these tiny calibers are just plain fun to shoot. I lube with Hoppes #9 Plus BP lube. Using Hoppes I usually fire several dozen rounds at the range with the 40th load seating just as easily as the first. It may sound counter productive but a good, tight prb (lubed with Hoppes) will push the previous shots fouling down with the load. So you'll never have more than one shot worth of fouling in the bore. In my .32 I use a .311" ball and a .024" lubed mattress ticking patch. Looser combos will foul worse as will loads lubed with grease lubes. Spit even works very well allowing dozens of shots without swabbing the bore.

[dagger dog]

Reverend Al, That little ramrod is about the size of a #2 pencil, but I've got a Delrin backup.

rfd, I use that method to lube my other patched round ball rifles using TOTW Mink oil, I'll try that mutton tallow mix.

Hanshi, Never used Hoppes BP but all that's another to try.

[Hanshi]

Reverend Al, That little ramrod is about the size of a #2 pencil, but I've got a Delrin backup.

rfd, I use that method to lube my other patched round ball rifles using TOTW Mink oil, I'll try that mutton tallow mix.

Hanshi, Never used Hoppes BP but all that's another to try.



When I go into the deer woods, dagger dog, I lube with Mink Oil. If I fire and need to reload I continue to swab and lube with Mink Oil again or sometimes with patches prelubed with Hoppes.

[Ken in Iowa]

It's great to see all of the interest in the small calibers. I'm getting the urge to break out my 32 and 38 long rifles.

Thanks for the tip on powders. I think I have some Swiss already.