Hi All,
I'm the happy new owner of a Perdersoli Lightning and thought I would give a short review of the rifle now that I've had it to the range a couple of times.
These are Pedersoli's reproduction of the Colt Lighting. Mine is the 20" Round Barrel Standard model in .45 Colt, purchased from Doc Rowland's out in NB.
You can read up on the improvements that Perdersoli made to the original design on their site so I won't go into those, except to say that they work and work very well. This gun's action is smooth, fast and reliable. I've put over 300 rounds through the gun so far and haven't had a single misfeed.
Fit and finish on the gun is wonderful. It has a very deep blue on the barrel and receiver. The wood is a European hardwood of some sort with a nice stain that isn't too shiny but seems very durable. It makes for an attractive combination and more "western" than the fancy walnut grade stocks. I haven't got a picture yet but it looks exactly as advertised.
I've only had it on a 25 yard range so I can't really judge the accuracy in rifle terms, but at 25 yards, it pounds the bullets into the 10 ring with almost boring consistency. I'm confident that with the right load it will be good out to 100 yards for steel plate shooting. Hopefully it will warm up enough this weekend that I can try it on the outdoor range and see. At 25 yards it shoots about 4" high, so its probably dead centre at 100 yards. Doc says he'll send me a taller front sight if I want to bring the POA more in line with the Cowboy action ranges.
The gun points very naturally and is very quick on target. The sights are true to the original design, which is good and bad. Good if you like the original sights, bad if you are getting a little older like me and you have trouble with iron sights. I'll be changing those out soon but again, for Cowboy Action shooting its just not that critical. I think natural pointing, like a shotgun, is more important.
The improvements to the loading gate that Pedersoli has made make it much easier to load than other Lightnings. None of the issues that some other Lightnings have with cartridges getting jammed in behind the loading gate.
It has a great trigger. Just a little take up slack and then a nice crisp break. I haven't measured it but its not much heavier than my tuned Ruger Bisley with its spring kit.
The action is smooth, reliable and powerful. It clears the empties straight up and back. I shoot long guns left handed so I much prefer a straight up ejection path to a right side or angled ejection. The action is very, very fast and the improvements Pedersoli has made apear to have completely eliminated the weaknesses the original design is reported to have.
Summary, I'm really, really pleased. I bought the gun for Cowboy Action and my principle concerns are reliability, smoothness of the action, quick handling and natural pointing. So far the gun is exceeding my expectations on all fronts! This gun is fun and perfect for CAS.
Cheers,
Martin
I'm the happy new owner of a Perdersoli Lightning and thought I would give a short review of the rifle now that I've had it to the range a couple of times.
These are Pedersoli's reproduction of the Colt Lighting. Mine is the 20" Round Barrel Standard model in .45 Colt, purchased from Doc Rowland's out in NB.
You can read up on the improvements that Perdersoli made to the original design on their site so I won't go into those, except to say that they work and work very well. This gun's action is smooth, fast and reliable. I've put over 300 rounds through the gun so far and haven't had a single misfeed.
Fit and finish on the gun is wonderful. It has a very deep blue on the barrel and receiver. The wood is a European hardwood of some sort with a nice stain that isn't too shiny but seems very durable. It makes for an attractive combination and more "western" than the fancy walnut grade stocks. I haven't got a picture yet but it looks exactly as advertised.
I've only had it on a 25 yard range so I can't really judge the accuracy in rifle terms, but at 25 yards, it pounds the bullets into the 10 ring with almost boring consistency. I'm confident that with the right load it will be good out to 100 yards for steel plate shooting. Hopefully it will warm up enough this weekend that I can try it on the outdoor range and see. At 25 yards it shoots about 4" high, so its probably dead centre at 100 yards. Doc says he'll send me a taller front sight if I want to bring the POA more in line with the Cowboy action ranges.
The gun points very naturally and is very quick on target. The sights are true to the original design, which is good and bad. Good if you like the original sights, bad if you are getting a little older like me and you have trouble with iron sights. I'll be changing those out soon but again, for Cowboy Action shooting its just not that critical. I think natural pointing, like a shotgun, is more important.
The improvements to the loading gate that Pedersoli has made make it much easier to load than other Lightnings. None of the issues that some other Lightnings have with cartridges getting jammed in behind the loading gate.
It has a great trigger. Just a little take up slack and then a nice crisp break. I haven't measured it but its not much heavier than my tuned Ruger Bisley with its spring kit.
The action is smooth, reliable and powerful. It clears the empties straight up and back. I shoot long guns left handed so I much prefer a straight up ejection path to a right side or angled ejection. The action is very, very fast and the improvements Pedersoli has made apear to have completely eliminated the weaknesses the original design is reported to have.
Summary, I'm really, really pleased. I bought the gun for Cowboy Action and my principle concerns are reliability, smoothness of the action, quick handling and natural pointing. So far the gun is exceeding my expectations on all fronts! This gun is fun and perfect for CAS.
Cheers,
Martin
