GPR cleaning ?

[brudford]

I hear alot about wedge pin problems with the Lyman GPR. Too tight to loose,won't fit right !
Bend this and bend that ! Can't you just clean the bore and gun without taking the wedge pins out and removing the barrel ? These things are
bound to get loose over time just from shooting.
I have a Traditions Crockett and never remove the wedge pin and never remove the barrel to clean it.

 

[gjkershul]

Except for changing the barrel- I have left hand .50 cal percussion and flintlock barrel and a LH .54 GP Hunter- I try not to remove the barrel. I find the old Civil War practice of pouring boiling water, or in the field just water, down the barrel and flushing until I get a reasoably clean patch, followed by a liberal application of Breakfree sufficient to protect the firearm.
Hooray for the Supreme Court of the United States! :thumbsup:

 

[longcruise]

I hear alot about wedge pin problems with the Lyman GPR.

Any wedge pin problems with the GPR are very quickly and easily solved. If they are too tight you check for a bend in the pin and straighten or open the under lugs up slightly to make them a bit larger.

The simplest way to handle the wedge pins in a gpr is to do it as you build it. When you are ready to make the final wedge pin adjustment after the entire kit is complete, you install one pin at a time and check for a snug fit of the barrel to the stock with no play and for a not too tight a fit as you slide the pin in. Make sure your pin is perfectly flat and if it is loose, tap the center of the underlug very lightly with a ball peen hammer. Tap once and try. Keep doing that till you get the fit I described above. Then put that pin aside and fit the other pin the same way. That should solve all of your pin problems for a long long time.


Look carefully at the pins you will see that one is a miniscule amount longer than the other. That's the rear pin.

Can't you just clean the bore and gun without taking the wedge pins out and removing the barrel ? These things are
bound to get loose over time just from shooting.

Once you adjust your pins as above, they will need no adjusting for a good long time as long as they are always replaced the same with the front in front and the rear in the rear. If and when they do loosen you already know the five minute solution to loose pins

These gprs are much easier to clean by removing the barrel.

 

[rkite]

I have had my GPR for 15+ years and have only had the barrel off twice after hunting in the rain. To clean I swab/scrub the barrel with 2 or 3 patches soaked with Hopps #9 black powder solvent running the patches up and down the bore several times. Then I run 1 or 2 dry patches up and down the bore till they come out dry. If the gun is not going to be shot for a while I run 1 patch with a light coat of oil. If storing over time I leave the gun muzzle up. If shooting again soon like the next day I store the gun muzzle down to let the excess oil run out.

 

[jtmattison]

I always remove the barrels from my GPR's for cleaning. Adjusting the wedge pins is a simple operation so if they were to loosen it wouldn't be hard to fix.
IMO the only way to thoroughly clean the barrel is to remove it to allow easier access to the breech area.

HD

 

[Semisane]

I remove mine every time to clean it also.

 

[BrownBear]

I hear alot about wedge pin problems with the Lyman GPR. Too tight to loose,won't fit right !
Bend this and bend that ! Can't you just clean the bore and gun without taking the wedge pins out and removing the barrel ? These things are
bound to get loose over time just from shooting.
I have a Traditions Crockett and never remove the wedge pin and never remove the barrel to clean it.

I've tried cleaning both of mine without removing the pins and barrel, but I find it darned hard to do that without getting a little water under the barrel, and meanwhile fouling showly builds up down out of sight in the area of the breech. Maybe I'm more clumsy than most folks, but I ended up with the beginnings of rust on the bottom of the barrels.

The whole wedge pin problem is WAY overstated. Folks here have told you how to make the small adjustments needed if a problem develops, but you'll only have to do that once in the life of the rifle in my experience.

My 54 factory build has not developed any problems in years of use, and I'm taking the barrel out of the stock at least once a week. I didn't do a good enough job in adjusting the pins in the 50 I built, and I had to go back and readjust them. It took about 5 minutes including time out to go refill my coffee cup, and it's never been a problem since.

 

[shmrck1]

Bo,
As almost all have stated,wedge pins are
a very solevable problem. I fail to see why you
would not want to remove the barrel in order to clean it.I will assure you is makes the job
a lot easier IMHO
snake-eyes :hmm: