Lyman Great Plains Rifle not a review

[mjones1579]

Unfortunately Investarms is probably like a lot of other folks that farm out most of the work to the lowest bidder and then slap the parts together and ship em out. You may have a real Pakistani made with a file out of re-bar original. Problem is, you don't know who the sub contractor will be this week. :2 I have three of them, but the newest one is about ten years old. I do have a new barrel that the quality, as far as finish, is a far cry from the old barrels. I really should draw file it and brown it but I'm too lazy.

 

[GP1951]

My friends, that is the world we live in. I recently bought a GPR on gunbroker that had been on the dealer's shelf for some time. It had a superior walnut stock and the barrel is FINE. Lock is FINE. Trigger is without problem at this point. As the world turns, the new ones may well be manufactured by some village in China soon. BTW, this auction ended at $300.00.

 

[kelleyjk]

Haha China! If thats the case I may well go back to looking at the used gun market.

By the way I sent messages to Lyman through their contact us on their website. Twice. So far Ive gotten no response.

 

[dcahilly]

Dicks sporting goods sells the percussion for about 460.00,special order book takes about 1 week to get

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I bought a cheap Traditions version to get me by for now.

I'm going to build a nice one.


Screw Lyman.

 

[jan buck]

I bought a cheap Traditions version to get me by for now.

I'm going to build a nice one.


Screw Lyman.

for sure. had a lyman trade rifle. nice fit/finish but hang fire and miss fire was the norm. between my son and i we have 5 tc rifles.... :blah:

 

[Swampman]

I tend to think of the GPR as a semi-finished kit. It took about a week of evenings to fix all the stuff that I felt was a problem.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Hmmm. I bought my Trade in the mid-eighties...fit & finish are good, never had a hangfire, ever. Perhaps QC has slipped these days...dunno?

 

[bobman]

the first one they sent me was crappy this one seems fine and is accurate seems they have a quality control inspection problem not catching things that should be reworked

 

[Darkgael]

"I haven't had a problem with mine and just rave about it. It is amazingly accurate and trouble free. I couldn't recommend a better rifle for the money based upon my experience with the one I got. I just love it!"

Hafta agree with that. Mine is a flintlock. A wonderful shooter. Marvelously accurate.
No complaints.
Sorry to hear that others have had such bad experiences.
Pete

 

[kelleyjk]

Well for everyone following this little saga of mine, not a happy ending but an acceptable one. Ended up sending the first one back. Just not enough wood to work with tang sitting in there slanted and such, its not like Im super picky or anything. I couldve sanded down the high spots and lumps but the low spots gaps and inletting being way over done just decided to roll the dice and hope for a better one.

The replacement is quite a bit better stock profile is still pretty crude, enough wood to make that work though.

The trigger. Well thats just scary. The screw for the set trigger spring has no effect, its bottomed out and doesnt even touch the spring. Take less than 30lbs to engage the set though so again better off than before.

The rear sight. Its even more crooked than the first. Drove the roll pin out started looking at things on a flat steel block, and ya know what it aint bent afterall. The factory adjustable rear leaf is a casting. It was ground off crooked when they made it! When the blade is flush in the mount the notch and the top edge is about 2 degrees canted so is the bottom of the leaf. The "buckhorns" are even further off but they dont mean nothin anyway. The adjusting screw. It has no detent or anything just a loose fit so it just spins around freely from shot to shot. (wondered why my groups were stringing 5-6")In a word, this rear sight is craptacular.

Lest I sound like a malcontent Im relatively pleased with the stock on this one. Nothing that cant be fixed with a rasp and a little course sand paper. When they mortised out and inlet for the lock it must have gone to the stain dept and then got immediately assembled. The lock was literally glued in place by the gunky oil finish, and splinters, had to gently drive it out from the bolt hole, again that'll clean up Ok, just not great or even nice.

As for the other stuff, I'll be changing sights and trigger group out anyway. Should be halfway decent as others have noted when I get done completing the "kit".

Lyman never returned my 2 emails. I wont buy any other stuff from them I reckon. Hopefully others that are considering the "ready to shoot" GPR in its current state will find it somewhat helpful.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

If you ever hear me talking about buying a Lyman.........Knock me out.............When I wake up.........Knock me out again.

That should do it. :thumbsup:

 

[Mattole]

This thread has pretty much convinced me to steer away from Lyman for my first attempt at an assemble-build and to save for a Virginia Rifle parts kit from Pecatonica River. I would rather spend $780 and some labor for excellent stock and rifle components that can be made into a rifle I can be proud of.

 

[SmokeEater2]

Wow! Reading all these stories sure makes me glad I bought my GPR way back when I did. I'd be afraid to buy another one. It's sad to see how far down their QC has fallen.

 

[DarenN]

I bought a cheap Traditions version to get me by for now.

I'm going to build a nice one.


Screw Lyman.

the gun shop called and my GPR .54 Flint has arrived. gotta scrape together some cash so i can go pick it up.
i'll drop by the shop and have a look at it, at least. i'll keep y'all posted.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

This "non-review" review is about reviewed-out :idunno: . Sorry that you had so many problems.

My two Lyman Trade Rifles came-in first & second at the local BP club's competition last Sunday. My son beat my aggregate by four points (shooting PRB's), but since I was hurling huge chunks of hot lead (370 grain Maxi's), I came in first in the conical division. Yep, Lyman makes a really crappy rifle all right! :idunno:

Dave

 

[kelleyjk]

wow thats so awesome you must be pretty proud

Ill send you my rear sight you send me yours

deal?

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

My son uses the Lyman Peep with the STANDARD front blade (sort of like an AK or the Garrand), and I use the very primitive (not a wide sight) rear and standard front blade. I adjusted the rear sight once, when I bought the thing, with a block of pine and a hammer! Been shooting it ever since!


You'd have to pay me ( :haha: ) to mess with our sights!

Dave

 

[Bill Hall]

As I recall, back in the 70's, most of the rifles at rendezvous and shoots were C.W muskets, CVA's, T/C's, and custom built guns. But every now and then someone would show up with a Lyman Great Plains, and they held a status just under the custom guns. The CVA's were scoffed at, the T/C's were tolerated due to their quality, but the Lymans were the closest thing to a custom built gun, with more accurate styling, and the qualtiy was nearing that of T/C. You couldn't play "Mountain Man" with a T/C hawken, but you definitely could with a Lyman. They were really something back then.

After reading all these posts, I have to agree that their quality control seems to have gone south, at least from the time I remember Lyman. I do hope it gets better, since I think there is a real need, and market for, a quality, traditionally styled rifle. If I had more actual experience with Lyman rifles, I would send a note to the company. Perhaps some of you Lyman owners, especially you guys who got the lemons, should send some feedback their way. Bill

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Bill, that's a good idea!

Both of the rifles that my son and I use are less than 7 years old. They were both purchased "off-the-shelf" (fully assembled by the owners of a well-known PA black powder STORE), so we experienced NONE of the problems of miss-fits or rejects, as they had been weeded-out by the store's owners, who are both shooters and gun makers in their own right. It is quite a pleasure to take a rifle off of the shelf and inspect it for fit & finish prior to paying for it. I gladly paid a little extra for the benefit of inspection of a fully assembled unit prior to purchase, and would continue to do so.

The store is 1.75 hours away from me one way, and I've already received warranty repairs on a "while-U-wait" basis. Dixon Muzzleloading sells quite a few Lymans. If they were as badly made as some indicate here, I don't think that they'd go through the trouble of trying to warranty them.

I would recommend that anyone looking to mail-order a GPR consider paying a little more for a Dixon GPR. Just have Chuck or Gregg tell ya which side the wedge pins go in from, and you should have something that will cut a playing card in half!

Dave
NRA Distinguished Expert ML Rifle