Cascabel

Thanks Cascabel. I'm quite impressed. Nice work. Were the parts from The Rifle Shoppe? Aye, Deacon Frye..... Most of the parts came from The Rifle Shoppe. They have very nice stuff, but are frustrating to deal with.

The Pedersoli Queen Anne is right in the mid 1600's to early 1700's time frame. That particular style is by NO means the only popular styling of the times, and actually to be STRICTLY authentic would be a screw barrel type weapon. That is the reason for it not having a full length stock. On a screw barrel type pistol, the barrel actually unscrews from the breech for loading. That bit of information is actually irrelevant for our puposes, as the piece has the correct look, and we are usually firing blank loads anyhow. The screw barrel pistols went out of fashion except for small pocket pistols before the mid 1700's The cannon barrel styling of the Queen Anne is typical of the large screw barrel pistols of the era. Those pistols that loaded from the muzzle generally did not have cannon barrel styling and had full length stocks and ramrods. >>>>>Cascabel

By the way, Shipmates..... That price of $210 for the Pedersoli Queen Anne is most EXCELLENT !!! It is one of the few production pieces that I actually feel comfortable recommending to people looking for a less expensive piece. Every one of them I have ever handled has been reliable and well made. Not custom quality by any means, but very good for a ready to use weapon, and reasonably "period" for what we do. Most of what comes from Pedersoli can be trusted to be worth having. My inside sources tell me that there is a price increase coming on Pedersoli products, so NOW is the time to jump on one of these. Beware of some of the stuff being imported from India. The quality is HIGHLY variable.... 'Nuff said !!!!! >>>>>>Cascabel

Back to ye Capt. Rob Carroll and Deacon Frye... The "Blunderbeast" that I have is one I built myself, and is kinda pricey just for the parts. I have built them for others, and have another one in the works, but again, the price scares most people away. I hate to sound like a broken record, but inexpensive and top quality simply do not exist together in the firearms world. Usually an inexpensive gun won't fall apart, it will just be frustratingly unreliable, and usually looks (putting it kindly) "inexpensive". If you want to stay on the inexpensive end of things, you would be well advised to stick to percussion cap pieces, as they require a LOT less finesse in assembly to be reasonably reliable. >>>>>> Cascabel

Back to ye, Stynky.... It would be hard to give you a price for assembling a kit for you without seeing the kit. There is way too much variation in amounts of work from one kit to another. Most generally, if it is a commonly produced piece and is available as a completed gun, then you would come out better price-wise (not necessarily quality-wise) with the factory buit item. Again, with guns as kits or factory built pieces, you get exactly what you pay for. (Repeat this 3 times EVERY day !!!!) A cheap gun, especially a flintlock will give you nothing but frustration because of poor reliability. for anything worth having as a kit, you will be paying in the neighborhood of $200 or more, and as a complete gun, considerably more. There are VERY few low-end flintlocks that I would recommend. You can pretty much trust the guns from Pedersoli to be worth having, but I cannot say much for most other "ready to use" pieces.

Nope, never worked with Ravenshear's stuff, although I never heard anything bad about his kits. Most kits have some variation in completeness and quality, depending on who makes them. You most generally get what you pay for..... >>>>>> Cascabel

Ahoy, Redhand... I generally work from selections of parts, such as those from 'Track of the Wolf', etc. They are not really "kits" as you would think of them. They include no instructions, and the parts must be hand finished from castings and hand fitted together. Don't be deceived by the pictures in the catalogs. They are quite a bit of work and not really for the inexperienced. I have sometimes assembled kits for folks also. >>>>>>Cascabel

"Anyway, I just wanted to leave a post about some non-firing weapons. I found a very realistic looking blunderbuss on ebay. It went for $8, and since I don't intend to fire a weapon at the PIP festival, I thought it would be great. It'll be easier to get on an airplane with a fake gun, too." Keep in mind when dealing with airline counter personel, you are generally talking to people that know absolutely NOTHING about firearms, and to them, if it "looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc.", then you may expect to have problems. They will treat it as if it was real, so be prepared. They require ALL guns to be tagged and in a lockable case. There is a bit of variation from one airline to another on how they interpret the rules, so call first. I work for one of the major airlines, so I am somewhat familiar with the way things are done.... >>>>Cascabel

Ahoy Stynky, Cascabel here. As to prices, for the pieces I build, they are in the $2000 range. Top quality parts are pricey, and so is my time. If I build a piece for someone, I require 50% up front, and the rest upon delivery. I know it's a bit steep, but I'm not in the gunmaking business, so I have to make it worth my while to set other things aside to build for someone. The advantages are that you have something authentic that can't be had from the local sporting goods store and is EXTREMELY reliable. I also do gunsmithing on flintlocks as needed. However, I am constantly asked to make a cheap piece functional, and usually scare people away when I tell them what is involved. ALMOST any gun can be made to work well, but it is a judgement call as to whether the amount of labor is worth it. I have done it quite a bit for folks that just had to have a paticular piece in working condition, most notably the cheap "TOWER" pistols from the 60's and 70's. These vary in quality from just about O.K., to absolute junk, depending of what factory they came from. Externally, they all look pretty much alike and ALL have bad geometry and unbalanced springs. They can also benefit greatly from a bit of re-styling. I have one myself that you have to look at twice to realize what it is.

Ahoy to ye, Shipmates... I have been involved with the use, care, building, and repair of flintlock weapons for over 30 years. In my pirate world I use a blunderbuss and several different flintlock pistols. All are live weapons and EXTREMELY reliable. (I don't own any non-functional "replicas") Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot of choices out there as far as flintlock weapons go that are of our "Golden Age of Piracy" period and also of good enough quality to be highly reliable without considerable tinkering. Most of what is available is of the very late flintlock era, which is unfortunate because the earlier period guns tend to be much more graceful in appearance. Some of my pieces are custom built by me and fairly pricey. Pictures of some of my pieces have been posted in the 'Photo Album' area titled "Cascabel's Toybox" .........Cascabel

Thanks much for the kind words, Capt. Cat and Stinky Tudor. I had a great time as usual. Most of these events are what you make of them yourself, although sometimes someone in charge "drops the ball". Most of the time the folks in charge are up to their necks in alligators without enough help, so things occasionally get fouled up. It was nice meeting new and old shipmates. >>>> Cascabel

I have been a participant at both the N.C. and Va. Blackbeard Fests for several years and will be appearing there again this year. I usually play Israel hands at the Va. event and sometimes at the N.C. event also. Both of them are a lot of fun, depending on your perspective. They both are part re-enactment, and part festival type events geared mostly towards entertainment for the public, which is the way I prefer things. Remember, entertaining the public is what keeps these things alive!!!! .......Cascabel