Pecatonica 'Dueling Pistol' target practice

[PathfinderNC]

It was a beautiful Autumn day here and I decided to shoot my Pecatonica "Dueling Pistol" for a while out on the side yard. (I think it still needs a little sight adjustment to the left) It is a .45 caliber with 9" GM barrel. The lock is a small Siler. The trigger pull is very light. It seems to favor a .440 prb with 25 grains 3f and spit patch.
I was really just plinking but nicely surprised at how I could get so many in the 10 ring at ten+ yards, resting it on a wood block.
My last shot was off-hand at a small x ring I drew on the side. Came about an inch off- center, and I quit while I was ahead!
I am not a pistol shooter by any means, but I do like to try

 

[waarp8nt]

Nice looking pistol and it appears to be a shooter!

 

[Notchy Bob]

Your pistol is beautiful, and it's a shooter, for sure! That's an impressive target.

Notchy Bob

 

[SwanShot]

It was a beautiful Autumn day here and I decided to shoot my Pecatonica "Dueling Pistol" for a while out on the side yard. (I think it still needs a little sight adjustment to the left) It is a .45 caliber with 9" GM barrel. The lock is a small Siler. The trigger pull is very light. It seems to favor a .440 prb with 25 grains 3f and spit patch.
I was really just plinking but nicely surprised at how I could get so many in the 10 ring at ten+ yards, resting it on a wood block.
My last shot was off-hand at a small x ring I drew on the side. Came about an inch off- center, and I quit while I was ahead!
I am not a pistol shooter by any means, but I do like to try

Remind me, in case i forget, to never fight a duel with you.

 

[Dutch7]

Nice, I have a pair of pistols on my bench right now. Honestly they are just a pile of parts and I keep moving them to work on something else… someday I’ll be ready to punch holes

 

[Colonial Boy]

Up there with the best!!

 

[PathfinderNC]

Remind me, in case i forget, to never fight a duel with you.

Well, maybe with swords at fifty paces

 

[PathfinderNC]

There are a few things I found that I really like about pistol shooting; the first is the challenge- for someone new to pistol shooting it seems just as much of a challenge ( maybe more for me) than shooting longrifles.
The second is that I am left eye dominant but shoot long guns right-handed, so aiming may be a bit easier with the pistol.
Another benefit is portability. I put everything including the pistol in a small plastic bucket and away we go!
Last but not least is cleaning the piece. The lock took the standard treatment as ever but the 9” barrel is a breeze to do.
Black powder guns ( particularly flintlocks to me) are so thrilling and engaging to shoot, be it rifle, smoothbore or pistol. Love this sport!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Nice target. Beautiful pistol. Couldn't see, does it have a rear sight? Am I wrong..........duelers did not have rear sights as they were considered unfair.?

 

[granth]

That pistol's a beaut.

 

[pab1]

Nice @PathfinderNC!

 

[PathfinderNC]

Thanks @granth and @pab1 !

 

[toot]

nice shooting.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Nice shooting Bob. Frank, British dueling pistols virtually all had rear sights. Here is an original pair of Robert Wogdon pistols that I own. You can see the rear sights.

For a deep dive into these pistols, go here:
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=73057.0
dave

 

[PathfinderNC]

Hi,
Nice shooting Bob. Frank, British dueling pistols virtually all had rear sights. Here is an original pair of Robert Wogdon pistols that I own. You can see the rear sights.

For a deep dive into these pistols, go here:
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=73057.0
dave

Hi Dave- I was looking at your Wogdon as a guide for the grips on this one I made ( not that anyone could tell ). Beauties indeed.
The one I have made does have a rear sight but it might not be visible in the picture above. Here is how it's set above the touch hole.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Bob,
You did a nice job on that pistol. It is really hard to build a British dueler because none of the commercially made locks are small enough or the right shape to get the profiles right.

dave

 

[BigAl52]

Your shooting is as good as your building. Both are first class in my book. That pistol is way cool also. Nice job Pathfinder

 

[Notchy Bob]

Hi,
Nice shooting Bob. Frank, British dueling pistols virtually all had rear sights. Here is an original pair of Robert Wogdon pistols that I own. You can see the rear sights.

For a deep dive into these pistols, go here:
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=73057.0
dave

I always enjoy @dave_person 's comments and excellent photography. The Wogdons are beauties!

I know very little about flintlock pistols, and discussions such as this one are very informative. I did not realize the British duelers had such flat-sided grips. The rear sights on those originals are also interesting. I see they are placed on the tang, to increase the sighting radius, but it looks like a just a broad, shallow, crescent-shaped scoop instead of a notch. Maybe not the best sight for precision shooting, but probably pretty quick to acquire. Maybe that's the intention (?).

I don't want to be a pain, but would it be possible to show a photo of the "sight picture" you would see with that set-up? If it's too much trouble, there's no need, but I would be curious.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[PathfinderNC]

Hi Bob,
You did a nice job on that pistol. It is really hard to build a British dueler because none of the commercially made locks are small enough or the right shape to get the profiles right.

dave

Dave, thank you for your compliment- It is very reassuring!
I have been thinking over your earlier critique about the lock moldings while looking over this one and am going to give this area even more attention going forward. I think I have a better idea now.
There is a smaller lock which I have only seen photos of called the “Little Becky” lock I think . It is a bit smaller than this Siler. I am guessing it’s the smallest commercially produced one out there?
As time goes on I am considering another pistol build and I should post photos as I go along to see what and where needs attention.
Thank you again,
Bob

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
You very welcome Bob.

Hi Notchy,
Those pistols are of Wogdon's style. He and John Twigg made that flat sided handle popular during the 1770s. Wogdon stuck with it throughout his career and so did his partner, John Barton. They added checkering later. Other makers favored round cane-like handles or handles with oval cross sections. Those became very popular when checkering really took off. I don't have a photo looking down the sights but here is one showing the view down the rear sight with the standing breech removed from the stock.

The wide "U" was popular during the 1770s. Later, the "U" narrowed or was changed to a wide "V" notch. The purpose was to aid quick aim and snap shooting. The general convention was taking deliberate slow aim was frowned upon. However, let me clear up some things up about dueling, in Britain anyway. Dueling was illegal and the participants really did not care about any rules except those which the antagonists and their seconds all agreed upon. If the antagonists hated each other enough, they did not shy away from taking long slow deadly aim. The only convention that mattered was that after the duel, the action report of the event, written and signed by both seconds, agreed the event was fair. That was all that mattered and those reports were circulated informally among the parties involved and their friends, and some found their way into locally published society gossip columns. However, dueling was illegal so those reports generally were kept just amongst those directly concerned and disappeared in time. These "Code Duellos" that folks bring up every time dueling is discussed were just compilations of practices commonly observed during duels and then written up and published by an author seeking to make a name for himself or some money. When someone writes that a practice was not permitted by the "Code Duello" I think of the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when Keith Richards brings out the "Pirate Code According To Morgan and Bartholomew" and everyone is impressed until later when so many violate the "Code" because "Arg, they are more like guidelines ya know."

dave