Shooting the Pedersoli
 

It's been raining ever since I got back to PA on Monday. While I was down south my buddy got a CVA Wolf and put a scope on it and wanted to sight it in. So I told him I would tag along and bring the Pedersoli Frontier Rifle along.
The rifle shot very well. The first 2 PRBs shot at 25 yds were touching but 2" to the left. Knocking the front sight a bit to the left put me right in the bull with the next 2 using 80 gr of Goex FFg.
Then with the target out to 100 yards shooting alongside the Wolf, and adjusting the loads I ended up shooting about a 5-6" group.
I ended up shooting 100 gr of Goex FFFg, a .015" patch and .495" ball. It was fun shooting it but the sights are horrible for shooting any distance. These old eyes can barely see the front sight in the narrow slot in the rear. I think I may have solved that issue though after cleaning by applying a thin white line on the rear in line with the notch and putting white on just the tip of the front sight. Next outing will show how it works out. And I will have to check the load at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards.
All in all I fired about 30 balls through it and only had one fail to fire because the flash hole got plugged. I called RMC today and have one of their flash holes on the way. I did modify the existing one by opening the flash hole to .050" and putting a bit of a "funnel" on the outside with a 7/64" bit.

Bronko, I feel your pain with respect to those sights. I have the same problem with my Pedersoli Hatfield.

Is your rear sight the same as mine?

Semi,

I have the same rifle in .32 percussion only mine was called the "Blue Ridge Rifle" back when I purchased it and it has the same Buckhorn style fixed rear sights you've shown. They're kind of a pain for guys like us who's vision isn't what it used to be.

BPS

Mine is going to get a hacksaw & file job. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I find it helpful to have a little more width in the rear sight notch. And I favor a square notch.

Yeah mine looks like that. But I'm going to try this (see pics). It worked well for me with my T/Cs. I got a little sloppy with the white line but if it works I can redo it. It's only white fingernail polish and comes off easily with remover and a Q-tip.
And before you guys say anything - I prefer bright red but the white shows up better on the sights!

Semi - why not just open up the notch a bit and leave the "buckhorns" alone? Then you can use them when shooting way out yonder!!!

Yeah, that's an option, and I may do it that way just for the "cool look" factor.

I don't expect to ever use the buckhorns for sighting, nor do I expect to shoot anything way out yonder with a little .45 ball.

I find I do better using the same sight picture for all shots (i.e. the top of the front sight aligned with the top of the rear sight) and adjust my hold on the target animal to place the shot where I want it.

I'm getting an average of 1,900 fps with a 75 grain load of GOEX FFFg. With the zero set at 75 yards it shoots only about 3.5 inches low at 100. Holding about an inch and a half below a squirrel's or rabbit's eye at 50 yards should put it in the center of its head.

I doubt I'll ever hunt deer with this .45 and round balls. If I ever do it will be with a 50 yard limit.

WOW!! does that thing loose its punch fast. But the shot placement is the key. I have a friend that has killed deer for years with his .45 caliber Traditions Shenandoah (I think that is what model he has. His rifle is over thirty five years old). And he's never had a problem killing deer with it.

Now to the buckhorn sights. After years of those fat T/C sights, I found I really like the buckhorn sight. For some reason I can focus in them. But each find their own favorite sight (actually mine is a scope) and stick with that.

Holy mackerel Semi. Looking at that chart I bet at 150 yards the ball would bounce off..lol. Sure looses steam in a hurry.
If my white line doesn't work, I may widen the rear sight notch slightly. I just have to be careful not to go below the existing height because it's perfect.

If you plan on hunting with it. The white paint will disappear in certain lighting.

No it won't Muley. I've used this method for many years on my T/C's and it never disappeared.
Now maybe with a spotlight behind me it might. But I don't hunt like that!! :poke:

Hey guys. I opened up the notch from what it was (about .035") to about .050". What a world of difference! I can see a little light on either side of the notch now when the front sight is aligned. I think this should be a major improvement. Next outing will see.

I speak from experience, but if you always want to say i'm wrong. So, be it.

Everyones eyes are different Pete. Like you, white tends to fade for me as well in some lighting situations. Red doesn't show up for me worth diddly squat either. Some were gifted with excellent color vision. I wasn't one of those folks.

So am I Muley. Like I said I've used this method for years under all hunting conditions from bright sun to heavily overcast and dark timber and never ever once had it disappear on me. Could be, if you tried it you used something other than what I use which is white fingernail polish. Or, like SH54 said, maybe your eyes are different. And just because I disagree with you is NOT saying you're wrong. Don't be so sensitive old boy. I would think your skin is thicker than that at your age.

I believe they sell a fiber optic/ glow in the dark paint you can use of sights. I'll see if i can find it.

Jon - I have that in the fluorescent yellow. Exact same stuff. But I find that it doesn't show up as well as the white. White Out correction paint works too but it doesn't hold up.
BTW your patch lube/bore polish worked nicely. My bore looks better than brand new.
BTW one more thing I forgot to mention regarding shooting this rifle. With the 39" barrel and me at 5'9" it seemed like I was going to need a step stool to load it! The longest barrel I've ever loaded previously was a couple of my 32" GM barrels on my Hawkens and Renegades.

Funny you should mention-

I stumbled into a Pedersoli Plainsman.

Was all excited until I realized my range rod was a foot short!!




slight PSA- after a few email exchanges with Pedersoli Tech, my inbox has been absolutely bombarded, 3-6 per day, with scams/spams/viruses, for a few months now.

LMAO!!!! Sheesh that thing would be a bit on the interesting side for ME to load comfortably. I didn't even think of that when you told us you ordered it. Dang thing is nearly as tall as you :D

I didn't catch this yesterday.

Need to do the same as front blade,pretty beefy, more than fills the rear notch when sighting.

What size file did you use? Needle?

I have a set of small files all different shapes. I used the flat file that measured .050" thick and just carefully went straight down the existing notch.
But if your front sight is thicker you may want to see if you can find a file that is .062" or so.

:cool2:


Been on the list for weeks now...thanks for the reminder.
Broke out the needle file set earlier, opened things up a bit; I guess Pedersoli liked to allow for user customization!