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New Lyman Plains Pistol

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20190429_234719.jpg

Just received my .54 Plains Pistol, may get it out tomorrow to test fire it.

Looks perfect, the front sight was cast kinda lopsided but it should work.

My .534 Minies fit way too sloppy, I carefully test fitted one and it slid in and dropped out when I lowered the muzzle. No good, can't use them.

I think larger sized. 54 Minies like .538-.539 should work but I dont have any.

I have a bunch of .520 and. 526 round balls , and two boxes of .54 Plains bullets so I'll see what I can get done. I don't happen to have any .530 balls.

Hopefully the .520 balls and .15 patches make an easy loading , nice shooting combo.
 
View attachment 9118
Just received my .54 Plains Pistol, may get it out tomorrow to test fire it.

Looks perfect, the front sight was cast kinda lopsided but it should work.

My .534 Minies fit way too sloppy, I carefully test fitted one and it slid in and dropped out when I lowered the muzzle. No good, can't use them.

I think larger sized. 54 Minies like .538-.539 should work but I dont have any.

I have a bunch of .520 and. 526 round balls , and two boxes of .54 Plains bullets so I'll see what I can get done. I don't happen to have any .530 balls.

Hopefully the .520 balls and .15 patches make an easy loading , nice shooting combo.

You'll love shooting this one...very accurate, handles well. I would suggest .530s with some ticking or similar cloth from Joann's Fabrics...but .520s should work as well.
Here's a little taste.

Have fun.
 
Nice wood! You will absolutely love it, or Brit will eat his hat.

The PA bullets work very well in my .50". They will slip back down the barrel, eventually, when carried muzzle down in a holster. I found they will stay put, in my pistol, if I clean all the lube off. But I'm not sure if I would even mess with slugs in a .54". In my .50" I do like the extra weight, for a little extra punch if I have to shoot Mr.Cougar at close range. In a .54, recoil might be a bit stout with a slug over a heavy load.

Looks like you have a proper gap between the bolster and lock plate. That's important. If you don't, it can lead to stock-cracks. (with heavy loads)

You can find a nice silver front sight for it, for that touch of class. Got one on mine. My pistol is super accurate.

Enjoy!
 
Oh yeah, as you know, small balls easier to shoot well trying progressively thicker patches, than large balls which only allow one size patching.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

I'd be perfectly fine with this as a round ball shooter, I may not even mess with the Plains bullets.

I found it at muzzle-loaders . Com for $298, the .50 was backordered and I figured for round balls .54 was just as good as .50.

While I'm packing my range bag later , maybe some forgotten .530 balls might present themselves but if not I'll make do.
 
The site isn't letting me post pics, but basically , with a Musket cap nipple from ToTW the gun was awesome.

.530 balls with .15 patches were the most accurate , .520 balls were super easy to load and just a little less accurate.

Plains bullets worked ok but with 40 gr of 2f , the Plains bullet may have slightly bent the barrel wedge. The big .54 slugs may be a bit much for the gun.

30 gr of 2f makes a good, comfortable target charge.
 
Stan
Do you feel 2F is better than 3F in the 50 cal pistol? I have SWIS 3F, GEOX 3F, Pyrodex P, Triple7 3F, Pyrodex RS and Black MZ. I am talking 10" 45 cal and 9" 50 cal pistols. The SWIS I use in my Remingtons and Colts along with the GEOX. Would Triple7, Pyro P, and Black MZ work for all the single shot pistols? Not sure about loads for these yet. All are PRB except in Remingtons I do fire some 240 grn swaged SWC from Hornady. Taper the base and they load easily.
DL
 
I tried both 2f and 3f in my .50, I didn't see much of a difference, 3f burns a little cleaner.

.50 seems to live in that magic Zone where 2f, 3f, Pyrodex P and RS, 777 of both types, work pretty much equally as well. Maybe for match shooting where fractions of an inch matter, one type of powder may make the difference over another one.

I'm not familiar with Black MZ, I have a small bottle of Blackhorn that I believe needs a 209 primer to ignite. I dont know if Black MZ is made for inlines, and some side hammers get finicky with them.

I have an assortment of half used jars of Pyrodex select P, regular Pyrodex , 777 and an unopened can of this Shockey Gold stuff. Someday I need to take my scoped T/C Renegade out with the 209 adapter and burn all this stuff up with round balls and just punch paper with it.
 
Oh man I hate Jim Shockey. (no offense if you like him, or are related to him, or are him) Anyhow, I don't see much difference with powders/powder granulation, (black powders) I use 2f Swiss in mine when "out in the field", but 3f Goex shoots great at home.

The PA is a great bullet, but the .54" ball has plenty of weight. In my .50", I like the little bit extra whomp, and weight of the 240 grain PA, and recoil is still manageable with a heavy load.

I'm doubting that a heavy load cold bend or deform your wedge key, if it was bearing against it hard enough to do that, it would also be very difficult to remove and reinstall. Or you would have a large gap between the rear of the breech, and the wood. ??? There would have to be some fore and aft play in the barrel and breech. I think. ? Just a thought. But again, if I had the .54 instead of the .50", I don't think I'd bother with slugs.
 
I agree, round balls are the way to go with the .54 , plus at realistic pistol range they are plenty accurate with round balls for someone who is using it purely for target shooting.

The wedge key may have already been a little bent, I didn't remove it until after I fired it.

I dont even know who Jim Shockey is :)

I shot a tighter group one handed than with my Pedersoli Kentucky pistol.

I need to call Lyman and ask for a new front sight since this one was cast all cockeyed and crooked. It works but the sight picture is "off".

The head of this target was a two hand hold at about 22 yards , the center mass is one handed. If I didn't get sloppy with the trigger pull those flyers would be in the cluster. The pistol is certainly capable of match grade accuracy with the right patch-ball combo.
20190502_103250.jpg
 
View attachment 9118
Just received my .54 Plains Pistol, may get it out tomorrow to test fire it.

Looks perfect, the front sight was cast kinda lopsided but it should work.

My .534 Minies fit way too sloppy, I carefully test fitted one and it slid in and dropped out when I lowered the muzzle. No good, can't use them.

I think larger sized. 54 Minies like .538-.539 should work but I dont have any.

I have a bunch of .520 and. 526 round balls , and two boxes of .54 Plains bullets so I'll see what I can get done. I don't happen to have any .530 balls.

Hopefully the .520 balls and .15 patches make an easy loading , nice shooting combo.
Try .535 patched round balls. I get excellent accuracy out of mine. I carry the same ball and patch combo for my hunting rifle as well. (A .54 Lyman GPR)
 
The wedge keys are bent deliberately to to snug the barrel down into the channel.
This adjustment is common on many firearms.
Always put it back in the same direction it came out.
On rifles where there are 2 or more keys, keep track of the order they were removed.
On my GPR, if I install them on the wrong keyways, one of them will fall out, the other is so tight it wont exit the slot on the backside.
 
I agree, round balls are the way to go with the .54 , plus at realistic pistol range they are plenty accurate with round balls for someone who is using it purely for target shooting.

The wedge key may have already been a little bent, I didn't remove it until after I fired it.

I dont even know who Jim Shockey is :)

I shot a tighter group one handed than with my Pedersoli Kentucky pistol.

I need to call Lyman and ask for a new front sight since this one was cast all cockeyed and crooked. It works but the sight picture is "off".

The head of this target was a two hand hold at about 22 yards , the center mass is one handed. If I didn't get sloppy with the trigger pull those flyers would be in the cluster. The pistol is certainly capable of match grade accuracy with the right patch-ball combo.
View attachment 9230
Patched rounds balls shoot great out of my .54. This was posted some months back when I got mine. 40 meters (44 yards) with .535 ball and .015 cotton patch lubed with mink.
20181223_094212.jpg
 
.535 ball with a .015 patch? You got that down the bore :)

I tried a .530 ball with an .018 patch and I almost had to whack the starter with my palm and put some muscle on my range rod to get it down
 
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