Pedersoli .54 insight 1st flintlock

I’ve owned a number of cap locks from production to building my own from TOW “kits”.
I’m looking at a 2003 (if I’m reading the proof mark right - BT)
.54 caliber 7/8” barrel Pedersoli
Browned barrel
Did Calbelas sell the Blue Ridge in this time slot or is this a frontier?
I know they are basically the same rifle.
Any insight to reliability or other concerns/praise etc would be appreciated
Regards
Glenn

I may be wrong, but I believe the Cabela's "Blue Ridge" rifles had blued barrels, and the Pedersoli "Frontiers" had browned barrels. Please correct me if I am wrong.

.54 cal 7/8" ?

Ya,
7/8 from every thing I can find on the net and confirmed by the seller...one reason I’m reaching out for feedback
Glenn

Measure it. 7/8" seems small for a .54.

As an example. TC Hawken is 15/16" for a .50 and 1" for a .54.

I owned the version with the browned barrel, whichever that is, in .50 caliber for several years. It was my first flintlock experience. Mine was a very good shooter and very reliable after I figured out how to treat it. I sold it because I upgraded to a custom gun.

As far as problems go, I didn’t experience any apart from my own flintlock learning curve. The design has a couple of odd things to it tho. One is the barrel is held to the stock by some screws that pass thru the ramrod thimbles into the bottom of the barrel. The second thing is the gun has an ante chamber that’s narrower than the rest of the bore. I’m not sure why or what purpose that was intended to serve but others might. At first this caused me problems with ignition after I’d fired a few shots consecutively. I’d start getting pan flashes despite picking the vent hole. I switched to 3f from 2f and this problem went away. It’s worth noting that I was still learning how to feed and care for a flinter at this point on my own, so it could well be that there had been a problem with my technique or whatever that I just didn‘t know about but accidentally fixed. Anyway, after this learning curve had been tackled I recall having one and only one failure to fire in many range sessions after that.

Thanks for your comments

If you look at my post Pedersoli Frontier .54 you can see my first flintlock session ever. I love the rifle and cant wait to go back out.

gabedard said:

I’ve owned a number of cap locks from production to building my own from TOW “kits”.
I’m looking at a 2003 (if I’m reading the proof mark right - BT)
.54 caliber 7/8” barrel Pedersoli
Browned barrel
Did Calbelas sell the Blue Ridge in this time slot or is this a frontier?
I know they are basically the same rifle.
Any insight to reliability or other concerns/praise etc would be appreciated
Regards
Glenn

Click to expand...

BT is 2003 Italian proof date. Cabela’s Blue Ridge has a blued barrel, so this sounds like the Frontier (since it has the browned barrel). Otherwise, they are identical. I believe the barrel is 7/8” on the .50 and .54

gabedard said:

I’ve owned a number of cap locks from production to building my own from TOW “kits”.
I’m looking at a 2003 (if I’m reading the proof mark right - BT)
.54 caliber 7/8” barrel Pedersoli
Browned barrel
Did Calbelas sell the Blue Ridge in this time slot or is this a frontier?
I know they are basically the same rifle.
Any insight to reliability or other concerns/praise etc would be appreciated
Regards
Glenn

Click to expand...

I picture would make the correct answer much more definitive.
I too think you have a Frontier, but a picture would cinch that.

MtnMan said:

Measure it. 7/8" seems small for a .54.

As an example. TC Hawken is 15/16" for a .50 and 1" for a .54.

Click to expand...

AND - the TC guns are a lot heavier than they needed to be....

Safety first when dealing with the public.

rafterob said:

.54 cal 7/8" ?

Click to expand...

Here is the barrel end on my .54 Blue Ridge. It is 7/8”

I've got a Blue Ridge in .54, and a Frontier in .45. Same rifle with the exception of blue vs. brown barrels. I've had them both for many years, like them a lot as both are very reliable and accurate. They are muzzle heavy. I replaced the front sight with a silver blade, but otherwise stock. Folks compare them unfairly to custom rifles that cost 5 to 10 times as much. Are they perfectly historically accurate down to the the last detail? Of course not. But for the money they are close enough to get a fella into the flintlock game, without being hideously out of place. I like the barrel being able to be removed by screws. Not like the originals, but just dandy for cleaning and such, and doesn't really affect the appearance of the rifle. The finish is not some secret 8th generation Appalachian Mountain family recipe, it is a production gun made to sell for a certain price. I can't say they are any less accurate or reliable than any custom guns I own, at many times the price.