Hi, the temp outside was 50F so I went out and shot my new Pietta Paterson. Well, she ain't a virgin anymore, and she ain't an 1851 right out of the box. I shot 30rds two hands from 25yds at my steel targets. The Paterson shoots ~8" high. and grouped ~4". Part of my shooting accuracy problem is the heavy trigger pull, it is 8+lbs. Another problem I ran into was that the cylinder would bind against the barrel right after the first shot, the remaining four shots required me to help turn the cylinder as I cocked. A gap of 0.003" is too tight with the barrel not having a forcing cone. On removal of the barrel a uniform lead splash can be seen on the rear end of the barrel. Even after one cylinder, removal of the barrel from the arbor was difficult because fouling is blown up inside the barrel arbor hole. I needed to lube that part with spit to continue shooting.
This is a photo of my loading area:
This is a photo of my first five shots, I was aiming at the bottom of the steel gong. Two to the left the remaining three centered:
This a scooby like photo after finishing the shoot:
The heavy hammer pull may be contributing to the very heavy trigger pull. However, I did see a video where the hammer would blow back and am now concerned that lightening the hammer spring would enance hammer blow-back. That video:
I already broke off the brass arbor button that was JB Weld to the arbor since it is known to be too short. Whether adding a arbor extension screw or adding a forcing cone worthwhile is still being considered. I'm certain that with enough work, a good trigger pull could be achieved and that the revolver could be sighted in to have poi=poa.
In any event, shooting the Paterson was fun and as Mike and scooby said "it is what it is".
Worst case this Pietta Patterson stays stock and added to my living room display.
I caution anyone considering the Patterson for a shooting BP revolver to think hard about that decision, very hard.
Edit: BTW, my first two shots were to the left until I settled down. I think that the Texas 9" barrel Paterson with with the long sight radius has the potential (getting the trigger pull reasonable) for being an extremely accurate BP revolver.
Regards,
Richard