1805 Harpers Ferry

[moose30273]

Folks in my search for a "Horse Pistol" I picked this up. Pedersoli Harpers Ferry flintlock in .58 cal. It seems to be a good solid gun. However, I am somewhat disappointed in the quality of some of the hardware. My first Pedersoli and I guess I just expected more at least based on the price of some of their stuff. We will see how it goes when I get it stripped for a good detail cleaning. I was told it was an "early" gun so maybe they have perfected their fit and finish. Anyway, it looks a little different as it was a San Jacinto Battle commemorative. It is rifled and has a rear sight. Anyone have any input on shooting one of these or advice? Thanks Moose

 

[JJB22]

I have one of those pistols. A few things- don't go scrubbing the barrel too much (nothing too abrasive) or the finish will go with the elbow grease. I shoot a 570 ball with 40 grains and a .015 patch out of mine and it hits a bit left with most any load. Mine does not have a rear sight so I would think you could get windage correct with yours. The rod tip that comes with the gun is not on there all that well so I would refrain from pulling anything with the stock rod. Mine likes short flints- hits high on the frizzen but fire fine non the same. All in all a fun pistol to shoot. Good luck with and tell us how it make smoke.

 

[nkbj]

Mine had a light hammer spring. That's a bit disconcerting in a hand cannon. A very nice lady in Italy sent me a new spring for free. It still needs the short flints. Mr. Rich Pierce came to the rescue.
That's just about as good as it gets.

 

[aap2]

I bought one from Cherry's when they were still fairly cheap a while back; it's a fun plinker and mine likes 35 grains of FFg and RB. Pedersoli's fit and finish on the HF pistols is variable; all are serviceable and some are much better than others. The lock geometry is less than ideal and the hammer can be modified; but you can skip this and just use a flint length that works....I'm glad to see that someone else shoots a BP commemorative; people cringe when I shoot my Colt 1972 Robert E. Lee Commemorative Navy revolver..these things were made to be shot.

 

[moose30273]

Messed with it a while this morning. The barrel is one solid chunk. The stock is OK. But what stank and will be replaced were the screws. Most had a very shallow uneven depth slot. The top of the screws were grooved (sorta coudoury). Anyone know was the grooved screw top was an org feature? Even using the correct screwdriver I slipped out of the slot and marred the tops of several. I'm being nitpicky, all in all it seems to be a good solid piece. As for shooting commoraives and such, "why own it if you can't shoot it".

 

[aap2]

Hey Moose-I know what you mean about the screw slots; I don't know if the originals were made that way, but mine had shallow slots that no screwdriver in the world would fit. Fixing screw slots is easy; mount the screw in a vise (padded) and deepen the slot carefully with a hacksaw with a fine blade. I bought a special screw slot file from Brownells (it's very thin) and it's perfect for this job or for fixing slots that have been damaged. That file was expensive, but worth it. Enjoy your HF pistol.

 

[Zoar]

THE biggest problem with this pistol is that it eats flints! The angle of striking the flint to the frizzen is horrible. After just a few shots your flint is junk with this poorly designed hammer/flint-strike!

 

[aap2]

Zoar-yes, the lock geometry is pretty bad. It's easy to hacksaw the hammer throat in the front, bend the jaw down and weld where you made the cut. I did this on my first HF pistol and it made a big difference. I'm surprized that Pedersoli never fixed this or that some enterprizing person doesn't sell a replacement hammer for the HF pistol.

 

[moose30273]

The pistol came with a too long flint. I found 1 good one here at the house that is short enough to work. After I polished up the frizzen pivot points and such I got pretty good sparks. Hopefully I can put some balls through it in the morning. We shall see.

 

[Zoar]

aap---Yes that geometry is utterly atrocious and from my experimenting length of flint or size of flint will not matter, the rock crusher HF will just smash the flint and within a few hammer falls you'll be sparkless or near sparkless. I need to find a selection of hammers and find what will work to replace this POS hammer on this gun. As I posted in the past I emailed Pedersoli on this and they act like--'Gee, no one else has this problem, it sounds like you do not know how to put the flint in the jaws...' What???? Everyone I know who actually shoots this HF (and not have it on their mantel collecting dust) agrees the hammer geometry is awful and it is a flint crusher and after a few shots it will not throw reliable sparks.

 

[Zoar]

Hey Moose you last posted on the 19th and said you were going to try to shoot it that day... did you get out? Have a lot of luck. How long did that flint last?

 

[moose30273]

No, no range trip yet. Work and stuff seem to be getting in the way of the important things.

 

[Wes/Tex]

The basic problem with all the HF type guns is that the original is obviously a "basher" type to start with and then the current makers didn't account for shrinkage when new molds were made from original parts. It just made a marginal lock style worse.

 

[Zoar]

Hahahahaaaaaa.

So true.

 

[Steve Blancard]

There may be a simple solution to the lock geometry problem on these replicas. If you look at photos of original 1805s and compare them to the Pedersoli version, it is quite apparent that the original cock is designed with the proper angle.

TRS offers exact reproduction parts for the 1805 HF pistol. These need to be final finished, but that should allow them to be fitted to the Pedersoli tumbler without a problem. This TRS cock should correct the problem. Here is their parts list:
TRS HF 1805 pistol parts

 

[Zoar]

Interesting. You may have done my homework for me. I have one order with TRS that is several months overdo but I will call them about the hammer and IF it is in stock I will order it ASAP!

Thank you!

 

[Steve Blancard]

I don't have one of these pistols yet, in part because of the lock geometry issue. It has been discussed before. The TRS solution just came to mind. Let us know if they have the cocks availale and how it works out for you. If it is indeed a simple solution, I may just have to get one of these to go with my Harpers Ferry 1816 muskets :grin:

i just checked TOTW, and they list the cock as being in stock:
TOTW 1805 HF Parts

 

[Wes/Tex]

Might also add that simply substituting parts may not work. TOW used to have a long article on their site pointing out how different the modern and original parts vary. Even more of a problem was the actual heating of modern parts that also defeated the quick switch of parts. They made a big issue of how the copies of original parts they sold couldn't be swapped out as-is. Didn't see any of that info last time I looked at their site. Perhaps they can provide it if you ask. There was at least one guy who had an article about using original parts but it was a bit of a job re-hardening parts and plates and moving screw holes, etc. Good luck with your search.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Changing the hammer won't correct poor lock geometry. You may change the angle of the flint to the frizzen but the arc of the hammer remains unchanged, in other words, a basher is still a basher. To really correct that would require relocating the hammer pivot point more upward and to the rear so that the cock is slicing downward along the face of the frizzen.
Those pistols along with the 1803 rifle are the most handsome and graceful arms any military ever sported but the locks are a very poor design. The pistol is still used as the insignia of the army's military police branch.