Newbie needs help

[jlb43]

I am brand new to black powder shooting and recently purchased a Pedersoli Kentucky pistol. My question is simple (I hope). How do I remove the barrel for cleaning? The book that came with the gun rambles on about wedges or with and without breech plugs and black powder rifles, but has nothing specific as to this model gun. If anyone has one of these guns and can help me I would appreciate it. I do not want to screw something up. The dealer says he can't help and Pedersoli has not as yet responded to my email.

[Doc Hoy]

Welcome to the forum.

First of all, your intention to proceed carefully is good.

These pistols generally come apart in one or the other of two ways.

1. You will find a brass wedge fitted into some escutcheon plates (pretty little brass plates about an inch long) in the stock of the pistol. The wedge (There is generally only one) is about half of the way between the lock and the muzzle and it passes through the stock from one side to the other. Sometimes the wedge will come out by simple finger pressure but more often you will need to use a tool. Your tool should be made of something soft so as not to mark the finish of the pistol or the wedge.

Take the ramrod out of the pistol, push the wedge out of the stock and you should be able to separate the barrel from the stock. I believe that this pistol is designed so that you do not need to remove any screws to take it apart but you will know that when you get the wedge out.

If the barrel can not be removed easily with the wedge out, you may need to carefully remove the screw which is installed at the back of the barrel. It is a large screw that goes down through the stock. It is easily visible near the area of the pistol where the breach end of the barrel meets the hilt of the stock.

2. Instead of a wedge that holds the barrel in place, some pistols (and I think this is one of them) has either one or two steel pins which fit into holes drilled crosswise in the stock. These pins are generally somewhere around and eighth to three sixteenths inch in diameter. It is a little difficult to find these pins because in most cases the holes in the stock are not dressed very well. They are there and you will easily see them. They are just not as obvious as the wedge and escutcheon arrangement.

Once you find the pin(s) drive them out carefully with a drift.

If you have to remove screws, be careful which type of screw driver you select. It should be a good quality screw driver that is hollow ground to reduce the chance of slipping out of the slot. It should fit the slot well.

Some folks will respond to this thread saying that you do not need to take the pistol apart to clean it. I am not one of those folks. I don't shoot single shot anything any longer but when I did I was a bit peculiar about getting the breach plug out of my pistols and rifles. I personally think you can't propely clean a single shot rifle or pistol unless you remove the breach plug but I think I may be in the minority in holding that opinion.

Others will wade in and correct any mistakes I have made in my description.

Tnx and good luck

[sltm1]

Good reply Doc. Couple more things, chances are that it has a "hooked breech", so when removing the barrel, tip the front up to disengage the hook from its seat. Finally, make sure the hammer in the cocked position so that it doesn't bind on the nipple when removing.

[Doc Hoy]

SLTM +1

[mykeal]

I don't have one of those pistols, so I'm just throwing this out as a possibility. The CVA Kentucky pistol has neither wedges nor pins holding the barrel in place. The tang screw (the long one that goes through the stock from top to bottom just behind the breech) and either one or two screws through the end cap on the stock at the muzzle are what holds it to the stock. There might also be a screw through one of the ramrod thimbles on the bottom side.

[PetahW]

You might want to await a reply from the maker.

Especially regarding trying to remove a breechplug, which requires special tools on many BP arms - and in fact would void any warranty of some manufacturers (like T/C), although I don't know if it voids any warranty your pistol may have.

.

[darkgael]

Contrary though it may be. I am one of those people who will tell you that you don't need to take the gun apart to clean it. In fact, driving those little pins out and in again every time you clean the gun cannot be good for the wood around the pin. It is wood after all, not a metal bushing, which is essentially what a wedge assembly is.
The best instruction that I have gotten about cleaning a BP gun without dismantling it in a possibly injurious way was from the fellow who made the flintlock fowler that I shoot.
The first step is to coat the outside of the gun, all of the wood with Min-wax paste finishing wax. Let it dry. Then clean the gun. When done, buff the wax off. It has protected the gun and you get a polish on the wood each time. Pull the lock if you have to but leave those pins alone - if that's what you have in fact.
I was told a long time ago that I had to dismantle my BP revolver every time I shot it - take every thing off and out and clean. Reassemble.
Not.
I don't do that. It's been years. every now and then I'll pull something to see if corrosion has somehow snuck in. It has not. the gun is as clean now as it was when I bought it.
As for plains pistols, if people can take those pins out and put them in repeatedly for years and not loosen or otherwise damage the fit, more power to them. But....it's not necessary.
Pete

[Doc Hoy]

Pay attention to what Mykeal and Darkgeal are saying. They are experts.

I don't shoot single shot weapons any longer so my knowledge is a bit dated.

I had a colonial pistol that came apart with a tang screw as Mykeal describes. I had a Kentucky with wedge and a hooked breach as SLTM reported. I also had a dueling pistol with a wedge and a tang screw. (Breach plug was the tang)


I also had a Kentucky rifle with the pins and it was clear to me it was going to loosen up with repeated dismantlings. I only had it for a little while before I sold off all of my single shot stuff.

I agree with Darkgeal that messing with the breachplug is no fun. I had a Hawken which I simply could not remove the plug. I asked my neighbor, a Navy Seal if his armourer could get it out. He said, "Of course!" Not so. The barrel came back with the breach plug still solidly in place and an embarrased note from the gunner saying he thought the breach plug was machined as part of the barrel. He was kidding of course, but the outcome remains the same.