I recently acquired a Pedersoli Kentuckian, .45 cal flintlock rifle. It was built from a kit, but not by me.

It was loaded with no ram rod included. I built myself a ram rod out of a birch dowel and to my surprise there was no lead ball in the barrel, just two pyrodex or whatever solid pellets. I managed to get as much of the pellets out that I could and then put a charge of 50 grains 2F powder, a lubed patch and paper towel ball to hopefully burn out the residue without hurting anything or anyone, namely me.

The gun sparked but barely. It seems every flintlock I ever buy is a cheap one that has about 1/4 the spark of a BIC lighter and takes a few strikes to touch off.

Well after I shot it, I thoroughly cleaned the gun and somewhere along the line lost the little black flint. I installed an amber colored flint and after a few minor adjustments had the most beautiful shower of sparks flowing. It sparked like a high dollar custom lock.

Are Pedersoli's known for quality or at least for having hard frizzens? This was quite a surprise and a welcome one at that!

Bear Hunter, Pedersoli's flint locks are not considered top of the line, but can usually be made to spark properly and a high-quality amber flint like the one you installed is very helpful Consider asking about the Pedersolis over at muzzleloadingforum.com.

I would say, Flinchlock and pellets seem to be the problem!

I am going to say reading comprehension is the problem. I stated that after I took care of some initial issues that my new to me gun is showering sparks like a high dollar lock. I asked if that was typical of Pedersoli's or did I get lucky.

I know some mass produced flintlocks are notorious for soft Frizzens. I am perfectly happy with mine.