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Locks

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Joined
Mar 16, 2019
Messages
25
Reaction score
7
Location
Corbin KY
Been wanting a PA/KY style flintlock but not too familiar with current offerings. Have been looking at either a Traditions or Pedersoli. Several used Traditions are on various forums in the $400 range for the Shenandoah but from what I gather they are hit or miss as to reliability. Have not found much on the quality of the Pedersoli locks. I know some will suggest something from TOTW but even their lower priced rifles are beyond what I can afford. Leaning toward the Pedersoli but afraid to buy without some first hand experience frompeople who have them. This will be a 50 for casual shooting and hunting, not competition and being HC/PC is not an issue for me.
 
I believe any inexpensive flintlock will be hit-or-miss as far as how well the lock works. I have a Pedersoli Brown Bess, with a lock that works great, but the big Musket locks are harder to screw up, in general, (from a design standpoint) as they are more direct copies of original locks. I had to do some lock tuning, which was well within my shade-tree gunsmith/mechanical aptitude capabilities.

Don't have any knowledge of the Traditions. Did build a GPR kit for a guy once, and that lock actually worked fine. As long as a rifle has a good barrel, is stocked reasonably well, and you like the looks, the lock can be dealt with one way or another. If someone does make replacement locks for the rifle you decide to buy, you are in "like flint", for some additional cost, which will be well worth it. But again, many of those locks can be "fixed", or tuned, by someone who really knows what they are doing.

I think you will be fine as long as you resign yourself ahead of time to possibly having the lock tuned/altered/fixed by a professional who knows flintlocks well, or getting a good quality replacement lock. Resign yourself to the fact that whatever you get, the lock may not work well. That additional cost can be easily covered by putting any spare change, paycheck to paycheck, in a coffee can, eating out less, picking up aluminum cans, mowing lawns, drinking less beer, staying home more, sell something, pick your poison, etc. etc.
 
I had a Pedersoli 32, 36 and 50 flinters and all 3 where reliable locks that were pretty fast on ignition. I never did a thing to them except shoot and clean.
 
There ya go, looks like Ped may be your best bet.
 
Pedersoli rifles are generally better quality than Traditions but cost more. Years ago I had major problems with a Pedersoli flint lock. The Lyman GPR flinters get good reviews and cost less than pedersoli.
 
Still thinking that on anything except a hand made rifle (and not one that Bubba made on his kitchen table) it's still the luck of the draw, as far as getting a good functional flint lock right off the bat. I suspect the Italians really enjoy their weekends, which result in some not so great Monday morning builds. But again, those locks can be fixed. An ongoing torture test for someone who is not a flint lock mechanic, or artiste to fix, (plenty of posts on this forum from people trying to trouble shoot why their flintlock is not reliable) but worth a couple of bucks to let the artiste do it.
 
I never hear anything bad about the Lyman GPR from a functionality/mechanical standpoint. Of course, it’s a heavy beast and very much tied to a single aesthetic (19th century American western fur trade) and certainly has a few small details that aren’t 100% “correct” historically, but if you just want a flintlock of some type for as cheap as possible, and looks the part, it’s hard not to recommend one.

The Pedersolis seem to be hit or miss. Lots of very satisfied owners but some vocal critics who got one made on Monday or Friday.

Nobody seems to think the Traditions guns instill much pride of ownership, but there’s at least a 3/4 chance you’ll get something that shoots. And the price is great.

Alternatively you can save a few more months, and $1100 (vs $400-800 for the Traditions/Pedersoli) opens up a lot of doors in the realm of used custom guns.
 
I think you would be better served saving some cash and buying either the Pedersoli or a Lyman. You will quickly see the quality differences if you start handling some of the different brands. While the Traditions guns usually work, they're low end and best suited to getting a 12 year old kid started into muzzleloading IMO. I built one for my grandson, and he's already talking about wanting a better rifle.
 
I can't comment on the Traditions, but I recently got a Pedersoli Frontier rifle in .50 cal from Dixie. I've put about 40 shots downrange and so far it fires pretty reliably. I think you would enjoy it. Good luck.
 
Still thinking that on anything except a hand made rifle (and not one that Bubba made on his kitchen table) it's still the luck of the draw, as far as getting a good functional flint lock right off the bat. I suspect the Italians really enjoy their weekends, which result in some not so great Monday morning builds. But again, those locks can be fixed. An ongoing torture test for someone who is not a flint lock mechanic, or artiste to fix, (plenty of posts on this forum from people trying to trouble shoot why their flintlock is not reliable) but worth a couple of bucks to let the artiste do it.

Hey man, any company from any country has their Monday and Friday lemons....I've bought some American made items(non gun related) that were garbage, and I've even bought some Chinese made stuff that I wouldn't trade for anything, and vice versa. Human beings are Human beings, doesn't matter where they hail from, Monday and Friday happens everywhere..
 

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