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Lyman GPR Flint - Quality?

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J

jambuster

40 Cal
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I have a Percussion GPR that is 3 years old that I have only shot a few times. This gun is functional and shoots OK . It probably isn't broken in yet and seems to do a little better every outing . So either I am getting better or the barrel is wearing in as it should.

Well I have the urge to get a Lyman GPR flint kit and build one. I would like to be reasonably assured that I was going to get a good/reliable hunting rifle . Have any of you guys built a GPR Flint gun recently and what were your thoughts. I have read a few threads that suggest some of the guns sold don't have the flash hole properly located and the frizzen pan my not be tight against the barrel. Is this a Lyman problem or a builder problem.
 
Be happy, you are getting better because barrels don’t wear in. If it was soft enough to wear in then it would wear out in a few hundred shots. Modern steel will last for many thousands of shots.
Lyman kits are of modest quality so you have to judge them one at a time.
 
It all depends on what a person considers "wearing it in" means.

I agree with Phil that a barrel will last for thousands of shots but I think there is something that qualify's for the term, "wearing it in".

As a new barrel comes from the factory, the edges or outside corners of the rifling is left almost razor sharp. In this condition, the sharp edges will often cut the patch if the shooter is using a patched round ball. Those small cuts in the patch can cause problems with accuracy.

Although the barrel steel is strong and tough, firing shots thru it will cause the cloth patch to wear those sharp edges on the rifling off making them dull. Once dulled, the rifling won't cut the patches and the accuracy of the gun will improve.

This is why, when I'm building a new muzzleloader, I always spend at least a half hour running a cleaning jag with steel wool wrapped around it, up and down the bore of the new barrel. I've found that by doing this along with using some fine 320 or 400 grit sandpaper to dull up the sharp edges at the crown of the muzzle, my new guns will shoot up to their full accuracy potential right off the bat. :)
 
Zonie is right on the mark. I too have "smoothed" the fresh cut rifling with steel wool wrapped around a ramrod. Last rifle had a Getz barrel Did the steel wool treatment. First shot was a "10x". After that, my shooting skills started to deteriorate back to normal. Your results may vary.
 
Hi Jambuster, I can't testify to the quality of newer kits as I built my GPR flintlock about ten yrs ago. Being my first Blackpowder gun, I don't have a reference as,to quality, but my rifle seems to be a good un . It is far more accurate than I am. All components seemed to be of good quality, lock, stock, and barrel.
P.S. maybe folks will answer your question in your post title and leave off telling you how to break in your barrel before your post wanders too far from its original intent.
Dave
 
I’ll throw in my 2 penny’s worth, all though my experience with a GPR Flintlock was a factory made rifle.
My first flintlock was a GPR I bought back in 2008. I bought it off the classifieds here on this Forum, the gun had only been fired 4 - 5 times previously.

My experience was that the lands were extremely sharp and cut my patching material, after scouring the bore with Butchs bore shine and steel wool 100 or so strokes ... I think I did this twice before the cutting of patches stopped. Along with 100 or so shots fired the gun settled down and groups started too tighten
As too the touch hole, mine the location was ok, it was just too small, causing misfires.
After drilling out the touch hole ( don’t recall the size bit) the gun functioned properly.

My gun liked 100 grns loads ffg or 85-90 of fffg.
Pillow Ticking patch (.018) , spit lube and a .530 ball.

The quality of Lyman it seems has dropped off over the past several years as far as fit and finish on their factory made guns, however on a kit much of that is up too the builder.

Another thing was it shot extremely low from the factory which required quite a bit of filing on the front site to get it regulated.
 
Similar to above, I like to cut a small piece of burgundy scotchbrite, oil it and scour the bore with about 30 passes to knock the micro burs off a new barrel. No matter the quality of the barrel, it always seems to load easier after. Make sure to thumb polish the crown with some 220/320/400. That helps ‘wear in’ your barrel as well and eases loading.
 
Bob McBride said:
Similar to above, I like to cut a small piece of burgundy scotchbrite, oil it and scour the bore with about 30 passes to knock the micro burs off a new barrel. No matter the quality of the barrel, it always seems to load easier after. Make sure to thumb polish the crown with some 220/320/400. That helps ‘wear in’ your barrel as well and eases loading.
Click to expand...

I did this after watching your Black Powder TV about this. My barrel, a Douglas, now loads even easier and I’ve noticed works even better with mink’s oil lubricant. Great idea!

My two Lyman GPRs I bought in 2016 or so (both since sold) had downright rough bore that would shred patches and leave fuzz from cleaning patches up and down the bores. The scotchbrite treatment would have been a MUST for them (wish I’d known about it at the time).
 
I've got a .50 cal flint GPR, .54 cal Flint Trade Rifle, .54 Flint Deerstalker, 40 year old .54 Percussion Cabelas (Investarms) Hawken Sporter, and 30+ year old .50 cal Cabelas Percussion Hawken.

None needed twiddling or tampering with breaking in the bore beyond shooting PRB's.

Of all, the Trade Rifle is my favorite, and accurate enough to justify a globe front sight & peep rear, especially with my improved trigger pull.

I much prefer the .54 cal guns, and the 1:48" barrels on any of them, but in both .50 & .54 they are easy to work up accurate loads; the 1:60" .50 cal GPR is a major pain-in-the-a$$ to work up a good load for, and doesn't see as much range time as the others.
 
smo said:
I’ll throw in my 2 penny’s worth, all though my experience with a GPR Flintlock was a factory made rifle.
My first flintlock was a GPR I bought back in 2008. I bought it off the classifieds here on this Forum, the gun had only been fired 4 - 5 times previously.

My experience was that the lands were extremely sharp and cut my patching material, after scouring the bore with Butchs bore shine and steel wool 100 or so strokes ... I think I did this twice before the cutting of patches stopped. Along with 100 or so shots fired the gun settled down and groups started too tighten
As too the touch hole, mine the location was ok, it was just too small, causing misfires.
After drilling out the touch hole ( don’t recall the size bit) the gun functioned properly.

My gun liked 100 grns loads ffg or 85-90 of fffg.
Pillow Ticking patch (.018) , spit lube and a .530 ball.

The quality of Lyman it seems has dropped off over the past several years as far as fit and finish on their factory made guns, however on a kit much of that is up too the builder.

Another thing was it shot extremely low from the factory which required quite a bit of filing on the front site to get it regulated.
Click to expand...
As for that touch hole - all Lyman/Investarms touch holes seem to be made with artificially small holes. I've drilled out all of mine to .067" with a #51 drill bit. Coning or chamfering the inner end of the liner also speeds up ignition significantly.
 
My first Flintlock was/ is my My Lyman GPR. For a factory gun it's of very good quality. Mind, mine was bought new probably 25 years ago so I can't speak of the newer ones. While I wouldn't say it's lock is on par with my Siler on my flint Lancaster kit gun, it's still a very good lock. Almost as quick as my Siler and quicker than the L&R on my other kit gun.
 

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