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Sidney Smith

58 Cal.
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
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Decided to take the GPR to the range today. Have the place to myself. Fired 8 shots then ran out of powder. Note to self, check the horn before you leave. Still a good day. Needed the practice and the mind cleanse anyway.
 
The gun shot fine, however I was a bit rusty. Would the group have hit a deers vitals , yes, but I can do much better.
 
When you shoot, do you shoot from a position other than from the bench? Those flint locks are pesky things from standing position. Much more so than guns with faster lock / barrel dwell times.

I almost think we do ourselves a disservice (relative to our flint gun shooting) by shooting standing position with modern guns, like say a .22 target gun. With those you can break your shot as your sights are crossing in to the 10 ring and shoot a 10. With a flint gun that same point of the shot break might turn in to a 6.
 
I always shoot from a bench rest, with the gun, whether modern or muzzle loader sitting on heavy sand bags. I deer hunt from a stand and usually from a sitting position. I never take offhand shots when hunting so always sight in from a solid rest. That's how I prefer and enjoy shooting.
 
What's a GPR? Why did we start using so many acronyms? It gets confusing. I like shooting offhand and from the bench. I will use a rest when I'm hunting if there is one handy. If not I'll shoot offhand or pass up the shot. I get maybe 3 or 4 inches difference in elevation at 50 yds. between using a muzzle rest and offhand.
 
WE do use acronyms a lot and have ever since I have been on the Forum. Sometimes we spell out the acronyms, but all too often we are so familiar with the acronym that we forget to spell it out.
 
What's a GPR? Why did we start using so many acronyms? It gets confusing. I like shooting offhand and from the bench. I will use a rest when I'm hunting if there is one handy. If not I'll shoot offhand or pass up the shot. I get maybe 3 or 4 inches difference in elevation at 50 yds. between using a muzzle rest and offhand.
The Great Plains Rifle is made by Lyman and has gone by GPR since it's inception several decades ago. And yes, sometimes we get lazy and don't spell things out. The GPR is a mid priced production rifle with a slow twist for round balls and is commonly available in 45-50-54 calibers, although I have heard of smaller calibers out there. Out of the box, great shooters with pretty darn good accuracy. Available in Flint and Percussion ignition systems. ( I now have 2 of these)
 
Decided to take the GPR to the range today. Have the place to myself. Fired 8 shots then ran out of powder. Note to self, check the horn before you leave. Still a good day. Needed the practice and the mind cleanse anyway.
That mental downtime at the range is the only thing that keeps me sane. 8 or 18 or 80? Even 1 would be worth the trip for me.
Thank you for sharing that with us. I am going to pack up the recently acquired Mowrey and head to the range myself as soon as it gets light outside.
 
I totally agree that black powder smoke is a wonderful cure for stress. It's also a powerful lure to attract new ML shooters. One day at a local range, I was "exercising" a long flinter that had been neglected for too long (They sometimes sulk when that happens ...) and was just reaching for my horn to pour another charge when I realized I was the object of attention for two youngsters and their Dad, all standing safely back and watching carefully. After several minutes of questions, I asked if they'd like to shoot it and explained that they first needed Dad's permission. They did, he agreed, and for at least an hour they took turns loading and shooting --- off sandbags --- at 25 yards, and with light loads. My ol' Pennsyltucky .50 caliber is a Wolf Haga replica with a 42-inch barrel and she's a mite heavy for 10 and 12 year-old's.
By the time they had to leave, the boys were asking Dad when they could get a ML of their own and he was smiling and nodding (He took a turn shooting too!) and I was grinning myself and very relaxed too.
Shinin' times!
 
Crisco Kid:
You might also see GPH on some of the forums. That stands for Great Plains Hunter.
The GPH is just like the GPR except the barrel has fast twist, shallow rifling, made for shooting bullets while the GPR has slow twist, deep rifling made for shooting patched roundballs.
 
I thought that GPR could be Great Plains Rifle but I had to ask. I've never seen one in person but from the pictures over the years it's always looked like it was a pretty good representation of traditional rifles especially for the price. They looked better than my first HMR anyway. (Home Made Rifle).
 
I totally agree that black powder smoke is a wonderful cure for stress. It's also a powerful lure to attract new ML shooters. One day at a local range, I was "exercising" a long flinter that had been neglected for too long (They sometimes sulk when that happens ...) and was just reaching for my horn to pour another charge when I realized I was the object of attention for two youngsters and their Dad, all standing safely back and watching carefully. After several minutes of questions, I asked if they'd like to shoot it and explained that they first needed Dad's permission. They did, he agreed, and for at least an hour they took turns loading and shooting --- off sandbags --- at 25 yards, and with light loads. My ol' Pennsyltucky .50 caliber is a Wolf Haga replica with a 42-inch barrel and she's a mite heavy for 10 and 12 year-old's.
By the time they had to leave, the boys were asking Dad when they could get a ML of their own and he was smiling and nodding (He took a turn shooting too!) and I was grinning myself and very relaxed too.
Shinin' times!
I usually have a cheap Spanish made caplock 56 cal blunderbuss with me when I go to the range with my BP stuff. Has a 12” or so barrel. When the little ones express any interest in BL smoke I pull it out and immediately hear about Caption Jack. Then I set up some clay pigeons at the 7 and 25 yard berms. Have a Lee scoup measure that holds around 35 grains of powder. Load the thing with powder and a card followed by the scoup of 7-1/2 shot, add some paper wading...... cap it and the kids blast away at the clay pigeons. I won’t get much shooting done myself, but got to believe I am planting the seeds of future muzzleloader shooters (possibly even traditional). Had one father offer to buy the thing. Couldn’t sell it though. It irritates a sister-in-law of mine to no end every year when I bring it to her place on the 4th. As they say priceless. 70 grains of powder with a cotton ball on top of it makes a great noise maker.
 
Decided to take the GPR to the range today. Have the place to myself. Fired 8 shots then ran out of powder. Note to self, check the horn before you leave. Still a good day. Needed the practice and the mind cleanse anyway.
I would refer you to the post by Britsmoothy about checking your gear! We should always check our gear before an outing especially the shoes, lol.
 
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