Latest Acquisition - .58 Harper's Ferry Pistol

[Rum River]

My local gun store got this in as part of a trade. Worked out a deal where I traded $150 (my cost years ago) worth of unmentionable powder and ammunition even up.
Unfired with some handling marks and a perfect bore. The lock sparks perfectly.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Nice.

 

[Stony Broke]

Wow !! That looks like a lot of fun to get out and play with ! If I was a little younger and had that in my hand , I'd be out trying to nail a feral hog with it !!

 

[VA Hawken]

Very nice !

 

[TrapperDude]

The official gun of the MP Corps. Nice!

 

[Rum River]

I forgot to say that it's a Pedersoli.

 

[CyrusP]

You made out on that deal far as I’m concerned. Great pistol! I’ve got $200.00 worth of unmentionable powder and ammo to trade you back!

 

[Rum River]

You made out on that deal far as I’m concerned. Great pistol! I’ve got $200.00 worth of unmentionable powder and ammo to trade you back!

I'm sure you're just looking out for my best interests - right?
Lol

 

[longtoothpard]

Sweet! You really scored on that one. Have fun.

 

[toot]

I wish that they would make then in the original 54 CAL. instead of 58 CAL. I have one made in BELGIUM, in the 1960's, in the original 54, CAL. they are going NORTH of 800.00 now.

 

[Rum River]

It seems as though I should start looking for a .58 caliber flint rifle.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

How about a .58 caliber flint smooth rifle.

 

[Rum River]

How about a .58 caliber flint smooth rifle.

I'm trying to decide on that very thing. (smooth vs rifled) The pistol happens to be rifled so haven't decided what to do.

 

[Artificer]

My local gun store got this in as part of a trade. Worked out a deal where I traded $150 (my cost years ago) worth of unmentionable powder and ammunition even up.
Unfired with some handling marks and a perfect bore. The lock sparks perfectly.View attachment 115657View attachment 115658

Nice score!

Way back in the 1970's, I was trying the whole "match caliber of long gun to pistol thing." I had a NA Charleville, so got their Charleville pistol as well. I've got HUGE hands, but even so, I had to shoot the pistol using both hands. It shot pretty well, even though the trigger pull was horrible.

OK, so I bought a NA Model 1803 rifle which had the .58 caliber "minnie ball rifling" in it after long thought about that rifling for round ball usage and as my next step in the "same caliber for long gun and pistol" journey. Well, the locks on those rifles were terrible at sparking and no one seemed to know how to fix them well back then. So, I never learned how well it could or could not shoot. (Before he passed, Zonie and others had some excellent advice on how to modify the cock/hammer to get it to spark well, but that was decades after I traded that rifle in disgust.) That pretty much ended my trials of same caliber for long gun and pistol.

I don't know if Pedersoli ever made an M1803 Harpers Ferry rifle? If they did and a good round ball load could be used with it, it would be a good companion piece to your pistol, as they probably would have bored/rifled both with the same tooling.

Gus

 

[PathfinderNC]

You'll need a piece of leather to hold your flint in the jaws.
Happy shooting!

 

[Rum River]

You'll need a piece of leather to hold your flint in the jaws.
Happy shooting!

Good point. I've got leather scraps laying around for that very thing. (Old checkbook covers, etc.)
It's -16F here right now, so no range time for the undetermined future.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

I have two smoothbore now. One used to be .50 cal rifled but I smoothbored it to 20 gauge for birds and bear. I loved it so much I bought and built a Kibler .54cal/28 gauge smoothbore rifle. I listed the Kibler for sale here.