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Thread: More fantastic work from Mr. Larry Flees!

  1. #11
    Lou Lou Lou is offline
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    Gadget
    A new repro SMith? Or an original? I always recommend the originals. As they cost about the same as a repro and are far better.
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
    Tammany Regt-42nd NYVI

  2. #12
    Eggman's Avatar
    Eggman is offline Banned
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    A most fascinating thread, technically and philosophically. All of us old timers have faced the dilemma of "what do you do??" when unexpected gremlins show up from a recent gun purchase. Solutions generally involve various of cans of worms.

  3. #13
    MR. GADGET's Avatar
    MR. GADGET is offline Moderator
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lou Lou Lou View Post
    Gadget
    A new repro SMith? Or an original? I always recommend the originals. As they cost about the same as a repro and are far better.
    Mine was new repop.

    Yep if I found a deal then on an original it would be different. But they should know what it takes to roll out a new repop only to need a bunch of work to make it right.
    MR. GADGET
    NRA LIFE BENEFACTOR MEMBER
    Rowan Artillery
    N-SSA National Provost Guard

    Just remember!
    When a pot needs stirring, someone needs to do it...

  4. #14
    Lou Lou Lou is offline
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    Agreed, that?s why I recommend originals. Repro tumblers need to be reshaped. Flash channels have to be lined because of casting not being forged solid. Cheaper to buy original and get it shooting
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
    Tammany Regt-42nd NYVI

  5. #15
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    I'm probably going to buy a nice original Smith from a teammate as soon as I scrape the pennies together, but it's going to cost $2100.

    I got the repro Smith for $1195, shipped. Cost another $265 to have it fixed, so total cost was $1460. Definitely getting up there into original territory.

    Hard to find nice-looking original Smiths for less than $2K though.

    There is a very fine one on Gunbroker right now with a buy-now price of $2500:

    https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875721027

    Here is a pretty good looking one for buy-now of $1800:

    https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875721015

    Steve
    Steve Sheldon
    Commander
    4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
    NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor

  6. #16
    Eggman's Avatar
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    Well my Pietta Smith is a tack driver. It took years before I got it this way. Here's my take on this Smith quest.
    Forget the original unless you are also a collector. The Pietta will do everything you want it to do if you understand ----------
    the Pietta has very shallow rifling that fouls quickly. This is THE problem with the Pietta Smith. The fouling is a combination of black powder fouling and leading from commonly used long, shallow groove bullets scraping off too much lead as they travel down the barrel.
    This is solved by a combination of low friction bullet and gobs of lube. You need a bullet with HUGE grease grooves.
    Here is the bullet (Lee .50 320).
    Good luck.
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    Last edited by Eggman; 08-06-2020 at 12:25 PM.

  7. #17
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    I agree the grooves in my Pietta Smith look very shallow compared to say, my Sharps.

    Steve
    Steve Sheldon
    Commander
    4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
    NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor

  8. #18
    Eggman's Avatar
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    Some of the folks reading this may not be all that familiar with this type of bullet. They evolved out of the muzzleloading craze of the 70s. A large portion of the guns those days came from Italy. And like the Pietta, they were invariably shallow rifled. Nearly everybody buying these guns wanted to use them hunting, and did not like the slow loading patched round ball. Thus came these bullets -- the top ring (here about .515) grabs the rifling all by itself while the rest of the bullet aligns nicely with the bore. When well greased they load nicely in the front stuffers. They also load nicely in the Pietta Smith.

  9. #19
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    Have reread this thread. There's no doubt in my mind that once the population of Pietta Smith shooters have read it they will soon be soaring with the eagles!

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