• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Lyman GPH barrel for my GPR

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jim Fitzgibbon

40 Cal.
Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
187
Reaction score
0
I'm thinking about getting a GPH barrel for my
GPR.I still love shooting PRB & most likly will
most of the time.

My question to the GPH guy's is do mini balls
shoot good in those ballels with that much twist?

I really don,t care to shoot sabets.

Fly :idunno:
 
If I follow your question, the GPH barrels shoot very well with all-lead conicals such as the TC's and Hornady's and homecast versions like the Lyman plains bullet.. I've never thought to try hollow-based versions like true minies, which are designed to shoot at lower velocities from slow twists. It would be an interesting experiment, I'm sure.
 
Well let me ask this question to the ones that
own a GPH.What bullet do you find to be the most accurate?
Fly :yakyak:
 
By quite a margin it's the Lyman Plains Bullet with a lubed felt wad under it.

I don't know of a commercial source for the Plains Bullet, but here is the mold with a pic of the bullet. It's available in 50 cal, too. I bet with minor digging around you could find a commercial source if you don't want to cast your own.


The Hornady Great Plains bullet is very similar and available in boxes of 20 as I recall, but it's a hollow point and the base is slightly concave. In my experience it's virtually as accurate as the Lyman, but I don't want the hollow.
 
bull3540 said:
For mine it's the Lee REAL bullet with a fiber wad.

Something I don't understand about the REAL bullet
moulds.They are saying a (.557) bullet in 54 cal??

How could a guy even get a (.557)dia bullet down
a 54 cal bore?????

Fly :idunno:
 
That's the top-most band on the bullet. The other bands are slightly sub-caliber. The REAL stands for "Rifling Engraved At Loading" or some such, the idea being when you force the top band down into the muzzle you get a nice tight fit. It works, but you have to give the REAL a solid slap with the short starter to get it down past the muzzle, following which seating is normal.

Two things in my experience with the REAL:

Some kind of wad is needed under it, whether the fiber wad that bull3540 is using or the lubed felt "button" I use in order to help keep gases from going up the sides.

It's also a little "touchy" about casting. You need a real clean cast, especially that top band, for best accuracy.

Good question.
 
Brown bear you really know your stuff.I have learned so much from you.

I thank you my freind Fly :thumbsup:
 
I think I will put off buying the hunter barrel
& try the REAL bullet in this barrel.

I'm reading here & there they shoot pretty
good in slow twist barrels like my 1-60.

The only thing I wounder about are the deep
groves in the GPR.BrownBear you out there????

Fly :idunno:
 
I have had poor luck with the REAL bullets in the 1-60 twist of GPR barrels in both 50 and 54 caliber. The lightest in each weight "sorta" works when fired at higher velocities, giving groups of 3-4" at 50 yards. But the same load at 100 yards is hard to keep on the target paper. That tells me that the shorter REAL is still too long for the slow twist.

If you really want to shoot a conical from a GPR, try the LEE Improved Minie. It has a big flat nose that makes it a dandy game thumper, yet it's hollow base makes it work well in slower twist barrels (as the minie was originally designed to do). The skirt on the Improved Minie is a little thicker than the originals, allowing it to be fired over a little heavier powder charges. In my 54 I get really good groups over 80 grains of Goex 2f, while original styles often start to go south with loads over 60 grains.
 
Well Brown Bear I tryed the Lee impoved mini &
it shot horrable.BUT I bought the .533 mold instead of what they call the oversized mould
which is said to be .540.

I pretty sure the .533 bullet is just way to louse
& thats why it shoots as it does.I just don't
under stand why Lee would advertize the .540 as
over sized?

One more qustion for you,do you use a wad under
your bullets?
Fly :v
 
Fly said:
Well Brown Bear I tryed the Lee impoved mini &
it shot horrable.BUT I bought the .533 mold instead of what they call the oversized mould
which is said to be .540.

I pretty sure the .533 bullet is just way to louse
& thats why it shoots as it does.I just don't
under stand why Lee would advertize the .540 as
over sized?

One more qustion for you,do you use a wad under
your bullets?
Fly :v

I spect the .533 diameter was based on some standard somewhere for how much undersize was needed for shooting in fouled barrels or something. Idle speculation on my part, because I never tried it. I had been using the oversized version in my 58 cals and was happy with that, so I got the oversized when I bought a 54 too. You have to be a little more careful about lining them up straight when starting, but other than that no special considerations. Gotta be made from absolutely pure lead for the best results though.

I try bullets with and without the wads and let the rifle decide which works best. So far the rifles have voted for the wad.

But be clear that I'm talking about flat based bullets like the LEE REAL, Lyman Great Plains or TC Maxie.

I don't use wads with hollow-based minies. Instead of wads I'm in the habit of loading the hollow base of minies with bullet lube. Someone recommended that once and I've always done it since. Never tested without, but so much for habits.
 
Man you may really have something there by filling
the cavity with lube.I got to thinking about that & I would guess it might just make the base of
the bullet exspand more!

I might try that on the one I have cast & see if it improves them.

Fly
 
Brown Bear my freind, good news.It finally cooled
down this evening in east Okla for me to shoot
off the back deck.

I took those under sized mini balls & packed the
inside cavity with my home made wax & oil.They
shot much better.

I have been shooting this rifle with 70 gr of
Goex with PB.They shot about 3 inch low at that
charge with the mini.But I only shot two.I upped the powder to
90 gr & it shot about about right as far as how
high, but spread it out.

This tells me that worked by spreading the base
out.If I had a minie at .540 dia I think this rifle would be shooting good enough to hunt with.

Patched balls I don't think can be beat in this
barrel.I plan to do more testing, for this is fun.

But your deal about packing lube in the cavity did
make a huge differance.

Fly :thumbsup:
 
Back
Top