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Lyman in Gray, an old and trusted friend

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AeroncaTAL

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Well, here are some photos of my Lyman Great Plains Rifle. The weather here in Oregon is typical for November, which means that it turned to crud. There was a break between rain showers this afternoon, so I was able to take a few photos out in the back yard.

I’ve been working on a Lyman Great Plains Percussion in .54 since about last March. This rifle is my introduction to black powder and building any sort of firearm. What a journey this has been!

The Lyman stock is American Walnut and my stock has some nice figure in it. I found the cheek piece on the GPR to be a little too massive for my tastes, with a gradual slope to the back of the comb. So I reshaped the cheek piece to bring it more in line with pictures of Hawkens and Plains rifles that I have seen. I also sharpened the angle where the top of the comb comes down into the wrist. I had thought long and hard on what sort of decoration(s) I wanted to put on the rifle. I considered and rejected fancy carving and a lot of inlays, as they would not fit the look of a Plains rifle. I settled on a hunters star in German Silver in the cheek piece with some brass wire garnish. Since I was in a learning mode with this project, and wanted to customize it, I designed and cut my own inlay from stock German Silver.

Once the stocked was shaped and the inlay installed, I sanded with 220 grit sand paper. The walnut really did not need much more sanding than that. I debated what to seal the wood with and finally decided to try a trick I found on another discussion group, which was to use black artists oil paint. The information I had read, pointed out that the old time gun builders would seal the wood with lamp black mixed with olive oil and this is essentially the same as artists oil paint. That was good enough for me. I covered the entire stock with the paint, let it dry a bit, and then rubbed off with steel wool. The grain in the wood was really brought out with the paint. The wood was stained with two coats of Laurel Mountain Cherry stain and one coat of Laurel Mountain Honey Maple stain. I then burnished the wood with a piece of deer antler. I finished the stock with boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits in a 50/50 mixture, rubbing it on thin. I have 8 coats of oil on the stock so far.

From the start I wanted this rifle to have an antique look to it. Originally I was going to brown the metal, but after assembling it in “white”, I began to have second thoughts. I kind of liked the contrast with the stock that the “white” gave the rifle. So I posted to the group for some opinions on this. Based on the responses I got, I decided not to brown and instead try to achieve a “gray”. I left some tool marks and a few dings here and there on the furniture, and used bleach to get some minor pitting. I applied Birchwood-Casey Super Blue, and then rubbed the heck out of it with 0000 steel wool. Depending on how long I left the bluing on before rubbing back, I was able to get anywhere from almost white to a nice aged blue. I took the case color out of the lock and hammer with naval jelly. Slopped it on, and 30 seconds later rubbed it off with the steel wool. I used bleach to pit the outer surface of the lock, then used the bluing and rubbed it back. The barrel was last to do. My attempts to remove the tool marks on the barrel by draw filing seemed to put more marks in than take away, I finally resulted to using 220 grit sand paper on a hard wood block. This got most of the scratches out, and a couple of applications of bleach gave it some minor pitting. I applied two coats of Super Blue then rubbed back with the steel wool. The result was the barrel came out a bit darker than the furniture, but I liked the effect. I used naval on the screw heads to antique them then reassembled the rifle. I was done.

finish_full_right.jpg


finish_full_left.jpg


finish_lock.jpg


finish_cheek.jpg


finish_top.jpg


In building this rifle I never wanted an out of the box look to it. I wanted the rifle to have the look of something that your father or grandfather would have hanging up above the fireplace. Not an ancient heirloom from a century ago, but a well used firearm that has given years of good service, has been well taken care of and is just waiting for the next hunt. I wanted the look of an old and trusted friend. It’s not perfect, I made a few mistakes. But I think that I have achieved the look that I wanted. Now that I’m finished with it, I think that it is time to get to know this old friend.

Scott
 
Nice metal work.... I really like the grey.

Never was much of a fan of traditional bluing.

Do you have any pics of the rifle in the white as you mentioned earlier (just for comparison)?

Legion
 
That is exactly what I'm looking to do with my GPR. You certainly did an excellent job sir! Great workmanship! :hatsoff:
 
That is one beautiful rifle. I really like the gray, it is very apealing.
 
That is the best looking GPR lock treatment I have seen, it really does away with the "out of the box" look. It looks like a custom lock. Excellent work! :hatsoff:
 
That eight point star to the cheekpiece is really a nice touch to it. Kudos.
 
Hello Scott,
Were you able to remove all the stamped in wording on the barrel?
What you have done to the Lyman GPR, is letting others know, that they can have a fine classic, almost custom rifle, without dropping $1000+ dollars.
Fine job!
Best Regards
Old Ford
 
Old Ford,
No, I didn't remove the wording, left it as is. I probably could have with a lot more elbow grease. :(
Thanks for the comments, this has been fun and given me a taste for more...
Scott
 
Old40Rod said:
That is the best looking GPR lock treatment I have seen, it really does away with the "out of the box" look. It looks like a custom lock. Excellent work! :hatsoff:
The lock was probably the easiest part of all the metal work. I didn't bother with tool marking on the face since the steel was too hard to file. The naval jelly took the case color off in no time, an application of blue, rub off and done. Probably 5 minutes. :)
Scott
 
Gary said:
That eight point star to the cheekpiece is really a nice touch to it. Kudos.
Thanks Gary,
I thought a star was appropriate. I'm a Land Surveyor, and the hunter's star is nothing but a compass rose.
Scott
 
Hey, Scott - very nice touch, all the way around. I used to be a land surveyor, too, but that was a long time ago now. Did that for 8 years, loved it. Ready to get licensed here in NY and then the bottom fell out of the business in our county.

My oldest .50 has lost all of its bluing over the 25+ years since I made it from a kit, and Ballistol has given it a beatiful gray patina. A lot of mottled patches, though, but that only seems to add to the whole persona. I need to restock the gun, I never liked the factory stock. I've got some cherry I want to use...

Very nicely done. Thank you for sharing your artwork!
 
Tim Clark said:
My oldest .50 has lost all of its bluing over the 25+ years since I made it from a kit, and Ballistol has given it a beatiful gray patina. A lot of mottled patches, though, but that only seems to add to the whole persona. I need to restock the gun, I never liked the factory stock. I've got some cherry I want to use...

Very nicely done. Thank you for sharing your artwork!

Tim, sounds like what your .50 has become is the effect that I was trying to acheive. :grin:
Scott
 
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