Muley: One good thing about the Pedersoli Frontier rifle was no pins. The barrel is held on by screws through the thimbles.
Devil: Well thats not very traditional!
Muley: How do you know that was never used? Ever see a Hatfield?
That's an issue open to question. The Hatfield rifles built by Ted Hatfield in the 1970/1980"s are said to be a close copy of rifles built by his great-great-grandfather, Moses Hatfield in the 1830's in Missouri. But I've never seen anything addressing the barrel mounting system. One article I found from 1998 said Ted build "a strikingly faithful replica of the gun his great-great-grandfather had built". But was it faithful with respect to all details, including the barrel mounting system? Did Moses use the screw mounting barrel system in the 1830's. Or was that a new innovation by Ted in the 1970's?
It's something I'd really like to know if anyone has definitive information.
Regardless, I agree with Muley. The screw mounted system beats pins by a mile. Here's the system on my Hatfield, which I believe was produced by the Missouri River Rifle Works with barrel and lock by Pedersoli.
