A few ?'s regarding my new 54 GPR

[hou5ton]

Keep in mind this is my first BP ... but I've been reading this forum for quite a while ... just got a few followup questions and/or comments ...

1. Regarding cleaning, ... I have read here about cleaning with water, and all the different stuff people add to it ... I tried that once, and then the other time used the Butch's Bore Shine that came with the gun ... As long as the last patch comes out white, does it really matter which one I use? After the last patch is white, I run one patch down the barrel with that NL1000 butter bore lube or whatever you call it.

2. Regarding the pins that hold in the barrel ... they were loose, so I "curved" them a little bit as instructed, but I'm not sure how tight they should be. Should I be able to push them in with my hand, or should I have to "tap" them in with my pliers or whatever? Also, I notice when properly installed, they just barely come to the end of the plate on the other side of the stock. Hmmmmm,... being a farm boy, I would probably have made them longer, drilled a hole in the end, and put a cotter pin or piece of bailing wire in it for safe keeping. :grin:

3. As best I could tell, I think the bore is .545 from groove to groove. So, I'm guessing my .530 balls and .015 lubed patches are what I'm supposed to be shooting. I know it's plenty tight goin' down.

4. I thought I might use the fixed rear sight and file the front one, so took out the adjustable one that came on it and went to put in the fixed one, and it's so loose in the groove that you can just slide it back and forth with your fingers ... or actually, just tip the gun and it would probably slide a little. What's up with that? I know usually they are tapered a few thousand's and wedge in from the right side. I thought that would probably be the same on a BP Lyman. The adjustable one fits fine and secure.

thanks.

 

[thehorn]

I'll try to answer a couple of your questions and leave the rest for others to answer.

2. Barrel wedges: you did right to bend them to affect a tighter fit. I find that a tight fit requiring a final soft rap with a plastic mallet to seat the wedge works best. Try to avoid hitting them with a hard metal object like pliers to keep them from marring.

4. If the gun is new (under warranty), contact Lyman about a replacement. If the replacement sight is loose also, then you're dealing with an enlarged dovetail. I've remedied this situation by building up the sight base with a heavy coat of lead solder, letting it harden, then slipping it into the dove tail. If too tight, remove some of the solder by rubbing on a flat of wet/dry sandpaper, then try again.

Good luck with your new piece.

 

[vautrain]

I had the same problem with the fixed rear sight on my GPR, and I remedied it by using a hole punch to tighten the dovetail on the barrel. I haven't had a chance to do a final sighting in of my rifle, but once I do, I'll use the hole punch again to "lock" the fixed rear sight in place, though it's pretty tight right now.

 

[Leatherbark]

You could tighten down the adjustable sight thus making it a fixed one..........Or take a center punch and peen the bottom of the dovetail with numerous punch holes and do the same on the bottom of the fixed sight.......Then smear some locktite over both ends and tap it in......The punch holes will displace metal upwards...Also you might tap the top of the dovetail downwards a little to tighten things up..................Bob