Pedersoli or TVM

[Tom Compton]

The original post asked Pedersoli or TVM. Short answer TVM.

IMO the 3 most important things when considering a flinter are:
1. The lock
2. The lock
3. The lock
So y’all to Matt about lock options and don’t go cheap there.

Now there have been several other sources mentioned. We don’t know the skill level of the original poster. A gun in the white is an option. I’ve handled one rifle built from a Kibler kit and it was nice but I suspect the builder was way above novice level.

Again, a direct answer to a direct question - TVM.
TC

 

[hanshi]

Between the two choices, TVM, no question. Just make sure you get it with a swamped barrel, chambers lock and your lop.

 

[jdw276]

I really like my tvm. Might want to call in another week tip curtis when he gets back from friendship. He had some unreal rifles this year. Brother bought a flinter in 50 cal. He might have in stock something you would be interested in. Worth a call and a great man to talk to.

Tvm is my recommendation.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Eric,
Nice photo and job on the gun. Now compare that to any Pedersoli or TVM's southern mountain rifle.

dave

 

[Tom Compton]

I respect Hanshi’s opinion but I recommended against swamped barrels. Let the flames begin! Those I’ve handled are too muzzle light for me and I see no need to spend even $1 more just to say I have a swamped barrel. Barrels cost more and inletting a barrel Chanel has to also. Go find some and handle them along with a similar straight barrel and decide for yourself.

I just don’t want a longrifle that swings like a shotgun, if it’s running or flying I’m probably not going to shoot at it with a single ball.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

A Lyman's Great Plains Rifle can be had in flint and a 1-60" turn. I'd look there. TVM makes good guns but the waiting list is most of a year now and they aren't as authentic as some think.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I think you have heard all the arguments regarding benefits of several options.

If you are willing to wait 9 months to a year), the TVM is the better choice since you can specify lock type, length of pull, quality of wood and swamped or straight barrel.

If you simply can't wait, then the Pedersoli is available right now.

 

[azmntman]

I respect Hanshi’s opinion but I recommended against swamped barrels. Let the flames begin! Those I’ve handled are too muzzle light for me and I see no need to spend even $1 more just to say I have a swamped barrel. Barrels cost more and inletting a barrel Chanel has to also. Go find some and handle them along with a similar straight barrel and decide for yourself.

I just don’t want a longrifle that swings like a shotgun, if it’s running or flying I’m probably not going to shoot at it with a single ball.

:metoo:

But I've never handled a swamped yet :hmm:

 

[Gene L]

I've got two TVM rifles, one with a swamped and the other with a straight barrel. Both are IMO beautiful and accurate. Of course, if you're building a kit rifle you could slim down the stock to where it pleases you, I think. Personally, I'm pretty pleased with the finished rifles.

Rice barrels, I think, offer them in only a couple of lengths.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Nothing at all wrong with the Pedersoli, really.

"Better a Pedersoli in hand than a TVM in the bush"

As the saying goes. Get out there and get shooting! They make great stuff at a good price, by no means are they a "cheapo" brand. If later on you decide you want a TVM buy one then flip the Italian gun. By the time you'll know what you want and will have developed your shooting style and preferences.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Skipping the TVM option because of the waiting list I would give Tip Curtis a call. I feel his rifles are as good if not a bit better than TVM adn he may have just what you want ready to ship.

Someone said he had a lot of finished rifles at Friendship so he probably has a good stock on hand.

 

[bender20]

No experience with either pedrisoli or Tvm but I will tell you if you don’t buy a semi-custom/custom gun and someone offers theirs to shoot turn it down. Otherwise you’ll be looking for one. Seriously I have a tc hawken with a gm barrel that is a great shooter and I really like it. Probably wouldn’t ever have to buy another muzzleloader until I shot a pecatonica river kit and then a tow kit. Now I’ve gotta have one. Don’t get me wrong the tc served its purpose. It got me into flinters and now I know I love it and can justify spending the money on one, but if you already know you’re into it I personally think you’ll just waste your time and money on the Pedersoli.

 

[Elnathan]

I respect Hanshi’s opinion but I recommended against swamped barrels. Let the flames begin! Those I’ve handled are too muzzle light for me and I see no need to spend even $1 more just to say I have a swamped barrel. Barrels cost more and inletting a barrel Chanel has to also. Go find some and handle them along with a similar straight barrel and decide for yourself.

I just don’t want a longrifle that swings like a shotgun, if it’s running or flying I’m probably not going to shoot at it with a single ball.

:metoo:

But I've never handled a swamped yet :hmm:

The featherweight barrels people like today might handle like a shotgun. Virtually every rifle made prior to 1820 (and very many after that) had a swamped barrel, though, and they certainly do not handle like shotguns.

 

[Tom Compton]

As VERY few rifles survived to be studied and many if not most of those were the high grade embellished variety, I disagree with the assertion that 90% of originals were swamped. Many generalizations are, like this one, made based on limited information then repeated oft enough to become “internet truths”.
TC

 

[timothy prouty]

GO with tvm in a 54you can down anything out there hope this helps

 

[Elnathan]

As VERY few rifles survived to be studied and many if not most of those were the high grade embellished variety, I disagree with the assertion that 90% of originals were swamped. Many generalizations are, like this one, made based on limited information then repeated oft enough to become “internet truths”.
TC

I have Dale Johnson's survey of Southern Mountain Rifle barrel profiles, and there are few if any straight barrels among them. I have Ryan Gale et al's books on trade guns and rifles, which include some barrel measurements. I have a bunch of Wallace Gusler's articles, which also detail barrel profiles. There is also the vitual museum over on ALR, which often has some barrel data. Last, but not least, I bring a set of calipers with me to gun shows and I have been taking barrel measurements of originals when and where I can - I don't have a whole lot yet, but I've measured two KY rifles from the 1780s every three inches or so, two TN mountain rifles, one from the 1790s and one from 1800-10, measured to the same detail, plus one NC rifle from the 1780s that I only measured breech, waist, and muzzle.

I also have an exact copy of an 1820s Andrew Eaby barrel sitting in the next room. If I were to show you a picture you'd swear it was straight octagon, yet it tapers from just under 1.03 at the breech down to .92 at the waist, and back up to around .96 at the muzzle. It takes calipers to show that it is swamped, yet swamped it is, proving that just because a barrel looks straight to a casual inspection doesn't mean it is straight.

I've been gathering all the detailed information on barrel profiles I can find for several years know, and I think I have most of the published data, plus the unpublished data I've collected myself on which to base my generalizations. If you have solid information to disprove my assertions, please share it.

Incidentally, the "only embellished rifles survived" chestnut is 1) silly and 2) has no bearing on barrel profile, since manufacturing methods of the period made manufacturing and inletting a straight barrel just as expensive as a swamped barrel.

 

[Tom Compton]

Again, published and unpublished data based on a VERY small part of the whole. Believe what you want.

 

[hanshi]

Swamped barrels balance so nicely that I have three of them; I also have two with straight barrels. For general use, hunting, targets, plinking, a swamped barrel is in a class of its own and can't be beat. But for a dedicated target rifle, straight barrels are better due to the muzzle heaviness. They tend to hang and lock on target.

 

[Old Timer 48]

I have 2 tvm early Lancaster's. I'm very happy with both. about a 6 month wait on both.

 

[BillinOregon]

I can't add much here except to affirm that the quality of the lock is the key to a happy relationship with a flinter.
Elnathan, congratulations on the research you have been doing on barrel profiles. You're a young man with many fine rifles ahead of you.