Toying with the GPR

[hawkchucker]

OK I have a wounderful GPR that i was planning on playing with to Get some skills up. and was just woundering that if there is a place to order a fullstock for it? I was also planning on adding the TOW steel patch box to it and a RPL lock switch, and brownign all metal.

So is thier any place for the stock? I really dont think that I am up to trying one from scratch.

 

I know they sell a fullstock replacement for the T/C Hawken at Track of the Wolf, but I'm not sure if they have the same for the Lyman guns... That's where I'd start.

 

[Birddog6]

If it is wonderful, leave it alone.......... :: Buy a Lyman kit from www.midsouthshooterssupply.com and build another one & play with that & experiment. To me the lock change is a waste of $ as the lock with it works fine once you learn the lock. (I have over 5000 shots from my GPR & it is all original)
I suggest you enjoy it for what it is & not put allot of $ into it. You can put $800 in it & it is still a $300 rifle.
If you really have the want for a fancier one, buy the parts & start building one...we will help you as we have hundreds before.

:thumbsup:

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

If it is wonderful, leave it alone.......... :: Buy a Lyman kit from www.midsouthshooterssupply.com and build another one & play with that & experiment. To me the lock change is a waste of $ as the lock with it works fine once you learn the lock. (I have over 5000 shots from my GPR & it is all original)
I suggest you enjoy it for what it is & not put allot of $ into it. You can put $800 in it & it is still a $300 rifle.
If you really have the want for a fancier one, buy the parts & start building one...we will help you as we have hundreds before.

:thumbsup:

Gotta agree with that. They Lyman GPR is a fine gun just as it is. Please "don't fix what ain't broke" as the saying goes. You will end up with something that might be worse, and probably NOT even worth as much as you could've sold it for to begin with. If you're really dissatisfied with it, I'm sure someone on the forum would gladly pay you right now for it (like it is); and then you could start buying parts for that "better rifle".

I'm really not trying to sound like some kind of "clever bum", but you really ought to set down and look at this thing from a practical viewpoint. I think if you do, you'd quickly see that your proposed changes to make it better are just going to cost you money and really not gain you much--if anything at all...

I'm only just trying to keep you from doing the same thing I did about 20yrs ago--which was that I ruined a good, dependable & reasonably accurate, solid working rifle. I ended up with basically a box of junk parts when I was done; AND I was also about $300 poorer than when I got "my brilliant idea". $300 was worth a whole lot more 20 years ago too. PLEASE, save your money and the worries that will follow.

Saving a fellow muzzleloader from grief is one of those things that we ALL should be doing more of. It's got various names and the one I prefer is called "friendship". Despite not knowing you or never meeting you (and most likely never will), we share a bond through our hobby of muzzleloading. And that is why we can call each other by the term "friend".

Safe shooting, my friend!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Zonie]

I rather like the idea of keeping the GPR you have and buying another GPR kit just for the parts.
Just ballparking, the parts for a rifle, bought individually would cost about $370 plus the price of the wood.
If you could get the Lyman Kit for $270 that would pay for $100 of the woods price, so..lets see: $270+$130 (a guess)+$50 says you would have about $450 in it.
I haven't seen anything that says buying a replacement lock would be worth the money, so, if I was doing this, I'd use the Lyman lock.

I think if you contact Dick Greensides at Pecatonica River (815-968-1995), he would sell you a roughed out Hawken Fullstock with the barrel channel and ramrod hole drilled for the price of the wood plus about $48.
You would have to talk to him to explain exactly what you want to do and stress that you don't want the 98% inlet stock he can supply. His 98% stock is cut for a 1 inch barrel and a different lock. If your GPR parts gun has a 15/16 (.937) barrel, that's what you would want him to cut.
I'm sure he cannot inlet the wood for the Lyman lock, so you would have to do that.
You could then finish the barrel tang, lock, trigger, buttplate inletting and fitting and have a good Hawken Full Stock Style Rifle.

Although the breech plug is installed and the sight dovetails are cut on the barrel, if you get the Flintlock, your toughest challenge will be locating the barrel keys in the new stock.

Would it sell for the amount of money it would cost you? Probably not, but unless your doing this just to sell it, that's a moot point.

Would you be proud of your new creation? If you take your time and ask for help here on the Forum when you need it, you bet your bippy you'll be proud of it.

I've come to realize that each of us have different desires, whether it is with your choice of a spouse or your guns if it's what makes you happy, then go for it!

 

[CrackStock]

Hawk,

When you are done, you will have about $550 in a $350 rifle.

However, you will have what you want and you will have learned some things in the process.

I carved up a used Deer Stalker that I got at a very reasonable price. My son used it for YHEC shooting and now it is a handy gun for the deer stand. I will likely give it to my brother in a few years so his kids can learn to shoot beside him. He shoots a T/C Renegade that I gave him years ago.

As Zonie says, the major replacement stock supplier is PR and their regular T/C stock would not work properly. Give them a call and outline your project. They are good people to work with.

CS

 

[hawkchucker]

I do understand the issue of tinkering with a good gun, but I did get gigged on a woodswalk for not having any spare parts for my lock. Hence the reason to try the L&R. I would have the parts to get my 10 points back.

The patchbox, well I saw in TOW cat a nice steel box and thought that I would mount it flush, and drill out several holes under for my jag,patch puller and bullet puller.

The browning, well I would have to finnish the box so what the hell, lets do it all.

I really dont plan on ever selling it it was just being done for practice, and for fun.So I do understand it will allways be a $300 gun.

Thanks for all the input, I gots lots to think of!!!!

 

[Birddog6]

Well, you still may not be any better off... I have owned 2 L&R locks. Both gave me fits for 2 years before I finally go L&R to admit theyhad a factory defect & even at Tthat, they wanted me to BUY the parts to fix them. Well, I finally convinced them to swap me out the parts but I can tell ya, I was one ****** off feller for two year trying to get those locks to work....... Since that time I have used almost all Siler locks.

So buying the RPL may not do you any better service, I would buy a Lyman kit for parts first. Then you have parts for ALL of it and possibly a interchangable barrel of a dif caliber ? :hmm: Spare lock, spare barrel of dif. cal, spare RR, stock to whittle on..... hmmmmmmmm.....

 

[canyonman]

Just call it personalition, then you can tell the grandchildren that you customized it. ::

Larry

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

hawkchucker,

Please don't think that I was trying to sound bossy or tell you what to do with your time and money. It's your rifle and it's your heart's desire to do something with as you see fit.

It doesn't matter that many of us have went down that path... we might never have gained that experience, had we chosen to be content with what we had. I'm sure others could chime in on that... there are some things that you just have to learn without a teacher and on your own. Otherwise it's just "a chimp smoking cigars". Do you really think the chimp likes the nasty smelling weed or does he want the bananas for copying what someone else does... that might be a difficult analogy to work though, but I think you''ll probably come to understand it later on.

Have fun and be safe! That's all that I want you to do. Just come back in a few months and let us see some pics. of what you've done. I think it will be pretty neat and I was once known as "Dr. Frakkenstein of the muzzleloaders" to a lot of people. I guess I had some really "different" ideas that I tried to carry out. Didn't ever amount to much, but boy was it fun!
Enjoy!

Safe Shooting,
WV_Hillbilly

 

[2172]

Hawkchucker...I installed that patchbox in my GPR..I like to keep a spare flint and leather in my patch boxes...saves bother if I'm on the firing line and something screws up.
Since I'm not a re-enactor, I figured, it's my gun, I can do as I darn please...Hank

 

[hawkchucker]

No offence was taken. I truly understand where everyone is coming from. My son actually put Dubs on his escort wagon, so I know what it is like. I just really wanted to tinker. I did order another GPR in kit form and really will build it with the box and brown. I just wanted to ply.

I did break down and order another lock from Lyman. The reason also for the L&R is I cant figure out how to "tune" the Lyman one. I like to Jewell all my reg. bolt action rifles for oil. and was planning to Jewell the plate on the lock, but just too many parts to really play with. :thanks:

 

You get out what you put into a GPR kit. Here's a picture of mine, built back in the early 1980's:

Recontoured the stock a bit, added the grease hole. The only stain applied is that which is on the ramrod. Used Dixie Gun Works browning solution and hot humid Louisiana night to get most of the metal fininsh. I used a book by Hanson titled "The Plains Rifle" for my guide.

Just :m2c: