gpr 54. cal

Ok history buffs and reenactors,is the lyman great plains rifle somewhat accurate,for the 1835-1840 time period?

Don't know what you mean by somewhat. My answer would be no. Although I have two and like them. But I am not a history buff.

They look pretty much like a Hawken from 50 feet away, at least a lot closer than some guns that are called Hawkens, and they generally shoot better than most guns that are called Hawkens. They are not precisely correct but at the typical Rendezvous you won't have to apologize or make excuses for a GPR.

IMO, the GPR is a pretty good example of a light Plains Rifle.

There were a lot of people making rifles for use on the Plains besides Hawken and generally speaking, most of these rifles were fairly heavy, large caliber percussion half-stocked guns.
The Plains rifles often used two barrel wedges to hold the barrel in the stock.
They usually had iron furniture with quite a bit of curvature to the butt plate and Walnut stocks.

After we get away from the "Hawken didn't look like that" and all of the other things that made the Hawken unique we are left with a description that comes fairly close to the GPR.

Like CoyoteJoe says, you wouldn't have a problem with most of the folks at a rendezvous unless you walked around claiming your rifle is exactly the same as the ones used by the Mountain Men.
zonie

"IMO, the GPR is a pretty good example of a light Plains Rifle."

I bet that's why Lyman calls it a Great Plains Rifle rather than a Hawken. Makes sense to me.

And yes, it's hard not to like them for carrying and shooting and knocking around. Kinda the same way I picture them being used by the average Joe making his life on the plains.

Not Hawkens, not meant to be, and not named as one.

But dang, they're sure sweet!

I have to agree with Joe, Zonie and Brown Bear. TOTALLY!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

Thanks everyone for your replies,coyote Joe hit what I was looking for on the head.

Does anyone know the person or people behind designing the Lyman GP ? For such a popular gun it would be good to know how it came about.

can 58 cal barrels in 15/16 for the GPR be purchased :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

I guess they were available many years ago, and might still be floating around. But far as I can tell, today the manufacturers are worried about the liability and potential for problems with overloads if they put a 58 cal hole in a 15/16 barrel for any rifle. There are 1" drop-in 58's floating around for Renegades and such, but none for the Lyman as far as I know.

Wish it were otherwise, and would love to hear about a 58 dropin for the GPR, but I'm not holding my breath.