Lyman GPR and pistol good starter kits?

[mediclimber]

I'm looking at trying my hand a building a rifle and pistol and wonder if the Lyman kits for a Great Plains Rifle and pistol would be good starters. I'd like to go 54 cal and percussion.

 

[goody]

I just started this BP stuff in Oct.My first and only gun so far was the Lymans GPR 50 cal percussion.Having never done this before, I thought it was fairly easy,but I have also spent a lot of time wood working.Someone with no wood working experience should still find it relatively easy.From what Ive learned on this forum,lymans appears to be one of the easiest kits to work with.They do give you a lot of extra wood to work with,so it does take time to get the wood and the hard wear flush.

 

[goody]

I want to build the pistol this spring,50 cal to match my rifle.

 

[Old40Rod]

Yes, and yes.

 

[Dances With Coyotes]

I think patience is the key. Leave the Dremel alone, you might be tempted to use it.

 

[Birddog6]

Both are easy assemblies, should not be any trouble if you have two hands. Basically you trim edges & put them together. Pistol can be done in 8hr, rifle in 16 hrs. (Not counting browning or bluing time)
I will warn you about the lil escutcheon plate screws. VERY fragile. Predrill the holes & put some bar soap or patch lube IN the screw holes & on the screw. (Scrape bar soap with a exacto knife blade & put a bit if it in the screw hole) PITA if ya break one of the screws off & it has been known to happen repeatedly.

Keith Lisle

 

[mediclimber]

Nope, no Dremel stuff for this child. Years ago I worked with the local restoration group and learned some about traditional wood working with the original tools. My collection went the way of the divorce so it will be a re-building experience there too. I do need some info on what to include in my basic gun makers tool kit and hope to be able to find the goodies at Brownells or a couple of traditional wood working sites. I do so love using spoke shaves, draw knifes and small wood bodied planes plus the big tools for timber framing. I helped rebuild the blacksmith shop at Johanna Furnace with traditional tools years ago and loved every minute of it. I also attended several fairs there and worked the pit saw, shave horse, and pipe boring stations with much delight. Any suggestions on a basic tool set for starters?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Buy tools as you use them.

Without knowing what you plan to do, its impossible to give you better advice.

I have "Sets" of Chisels" and "Sets" of Screwdrivers, where I have never had a need to use most of the pieces in the set. That was my mistake. Don't make the same one yourself.
What you need for basic timber framing will be much different from what you need to do joinery, and that's different from what you will need to be a cabinetmaker, or for carving gun stocks.

I can think of only a couple of molding planes, or scratch planes I might need if replicating certain schools of design for gunstocks on MLers, and I don't really need them UNLESS I want to do something like that. They, consequently, are NOT high on my "to-Buy" list.

 

[jsn]

I save money by making the tools when I need them

 

[airmansteve]

My basics would be spokeshave, small plane and scrapers. Just redid a CVA Hawken and these were the tools I used the most. Just FWIW!

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I don't understand why Lyman can't offer a LH kit?

 

[ryzman]

I'm looking at trying my hand a building a rifle and pistol and wonder if the Lyman kits for a Great Plains Rifle and pistol would be good starters. I'd like to go 54 cal and percussion.

its really important that you understand that there will be loads of sanding to get the metal parts flush with the wood. Lyman does most of the work for you but to finish the rifle and make it look good is quite a job. that being said... someone could just put the rifle together and go to the range without sanding a thing... so the amount of work you do reflects how well the rifle looks which is why it is very enjoyable for us obsessive compulsive types. so far i cant complain too much about the lyman kit. its lots of fun to build and from what i hear a very good shooter. i cant wait to make smoke!