50 cal Lyman GPR target loads

[Grandpa C]

Two months ago, I was invited to a local rendezvous. One of the particapants invited my to a practice shoot two weeks later, two weeks after the practice shoot, using one of her guns, I particapated in a local shoot, two weeks after that, I bought my very own brand new lefthanded Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 50 cal. Now, I would like to find the best powder-ball combo for target shooting. I will be shooting mostly 25 and 50 yards. Any help would be greatly appreciated :thanks:

 

[NORD]

Well my 50 caliber GPR likes 60 grains of Swiss Black powder with a 50 caliber felt cookie, .0012 thick patch smuthered in mink oil and a speer swaged .490 ball stuffed in the[url] top...in[/url] that order. I can keep two inch groups at 100 yards on a calm day. Keep in mind I shot about 500 rounds through it before the barrel broke in. Your muzzleloader might take a totally different load...I tried several different loads before I was comfortable and settled on the load I currently use.

Good luck!

 

[Brawdhead]

Well my 50 caliber GPR likes 60 grains of Swiss Black powder with a 50 caliber felt cookie, .0012 thick patch smuthered in mink oil and a speer swaged .490 ball stuffed in the[url] top...in[/url] that order.

Greetings, NORD!
Can you educate a pilgrim here?
What's a "speer swaged" ball? And what
does the wool over the powder do for you?

Like Grandpa C., I am also still trying to
determine the best load method(s) for my .50 GPR.

Dan

 

[Rebel]

Speer is a name brand Like Hornady, of rd balls taht are swaged instead of cast. They are round with no sprue like yu get when casting, so they can be loaded any way, and you don't have to worry about the sprue being up. The wool wad helps to prevent patches from burning. Usually not necessary with light target loads. My GPR .50 cal shot good with 50=90 grs of Pyrodex RS. You will just have to experiment and see what load works best for you. Mine also liked .495 rd balls better than .490's.

 

[Brawdhead]

The wool wad helps to prevent patches from burning. Usually not necessary with light target loads.

Ah, I see. Thanks. But it does beg my next
pilgrim question: "Why do I want to prevent
the patches from burning?"

There's less trash in my field for me to clean
up when the patches smolder away to nothing.
Unless burning patches contributes to my
fouling problem or interferes with the
ballistics, I'm hesistant to buy wads.

My GPR .50 cal shot good with 50=90 grs of Pyrodex RS. You will just have to experiment and see what load works best for you. Mine also liked .495 rd balls better than .490's.

I think I might try .495s then, but I'll have
to get some thinner patches than what I've
been using with .490s. I don't think
there's a ramrod in existence that would be
strong enough to get a .495 ball and lubed
.015 patch into my .50 GPR after a few rounds
of Goex have tarred it up.

I've been considering carrying a wooden mallet
to coax my short starter down when it gets
ornery (oh, and maybe make a longer short
starter, too).

Dan

 

[Rebel]

If the .490's are a tight fit in your bore then stick with them. All rifle are different, even to of the same model. Mine did good with the .495 ball and Wal-Mart pillow ticking which runs about .017-.018. As for the burning patch question, you don't want the patch to burh through before the ball exits the barrel or you are getting blowby, and your accuracy will most likely suffer. Also in dry woods, a smoldering patch can start a nasty fire. And you can make your own wads with a wad punch and some old felt hats from a thrift store like Goodwill. Then dip them in some melted Crisco to lube them. :front:

 

[jbarclay]

I am currently using 60 grs of 3f black, a CVA precut .015 pillow ticking patch lubed with "Moose Milk" and a Hornady .495 ball. The Moose Milk seems to swab the bore with the next load. I have used .490 balls as well with good results. I have fired about 200 rds thru mine so far.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

Target? 80g GoexFFF with a self cut patch and a .490 Hornaday ball. Let me know if this does not work. Also let me know if it does not kill any animal in North America.

 

[Grandpa C]

Thanks for all the suggestions, does anyone use Pyrodex if not why?? Have finally gotten together everything I need to sightin and work on different loads, and now the weatherman is calling for 3 days of rain :cry:

 

[hobbles]

evenin Grandpa C
I use Pyrodex RS in mine, If I use any thing hotter and over 50 grains I smoke my patches,, Don't know why, it just does

 

[Slamfire]

Black powders are easier to ignite than Pyrodox. Pyrodox is cleaner, but harder to clean afterwards. I don't quite understand that, but it is true in my rifles. Pyrodox costs nearly twice as much as black powders too, although it is easier to find. You can find blackpowder sellers on the net, and if you buy enough the hazardous materials charge amortizes quite well. :winking:

 

[2172]

I'm using a .49 cast-by-me round ball, .015 pillow ticking heavily lubed with wonder lube, and 40gr fffg at 25 and 50 yds, 60 gr at 100 yds...seems to be[url] working..in[/url] my lefthanded flint .50 GPR ..Hank

 

Pyrodox costs nearly twice as much as black powders

It's just vice versa here. Real black $25.00/lb, Pyrodex $14.00/lb.

Sam Fadala recommends in his "Blackpowder Handbook" 60grain of Pyrodex P for target loads, but my GPR .50 likes 40grains with a .490 ball (I used Hornady swaged and National Bullet cast - no difference observed)and 0.015 patches, lubed with Hoppes #9 Blackpowder lubricant.

 

[Rebel]

Same around here. I can get Pyrodex for around $12 and real black is about $17 now. I used it in all my caplocks for years and never had any complaints. I didn't notice it being any harder to clean up after shooting either. And i could shoot all day without wiping the bore. But it don't work well in flinters without a bit of real black powder under it to get it to ignite.

 

[Brawdhead]

Thanks for all the suggestions, does anyone use Pyrodex if not why??

Not tried it, but I do use Triple 7 on
occasion. Performance thus far has
*seemed* comparable volume for volume
to the FFFg I usually use.

But then, I haven't done a great deal
of quantitative analysis on them and have
never tried BP and 777 on the same day
at the same range. Since I have a lot
more BP on hand than I do 777, it's
what I'll mostly be shooting for the
forseeable future, and so that's what
I practice with.

At this point, I think I need to keep
focused on consistency before I can do
much experimentation, so I'm sticking
with the BP.

The main advantages of the Triple 7
for me are that I can buy it locally,
it seems to foul the barrel only a
quarter as fast as BP, and my wife
doesn't worry so much about having
a pound of it in the house.

The main advantages to me for BP
are that it's cheaper (and with a
bunch already on hand, I'm not in
any hurry to switch to something
else) and it just "feels right" to
be shooting it. 777 just doesn't
give me that big friendly grey
smokecloud.

Dan B-E

 

[ryoung14]

30 gr. of Pyrodex P, a Hornady .490 RB and a .010 prelubed Wonder Patch is a target load that ALL of my .50 TCs love, sidelock and in***e. One hole accurate (at 25 yd.) and easy loading all afternoon with no swabbing. Patches, after firing, look good enough to be re-used.

Tried the same, except Speer .535 RB, in my .54 GPR and it was nothing special. Seem to recall the patches were cut or burnt. If I pursue it further, I'll try .015 patches and another 10 grs. of Pyrodex P. My GPR always seems to do best with full power loads.
Bob

 

[Shooey]

Hi Granpa!

My .50 GPR (Ol' Joe) likes 90 to 95 grains of 2F Goex. I use a .490 ball and blue striped ticking. Lube is Crisco. If I get it up to 100 or 110 grains the group opens up.

My gun is new so it hasn't broken in yet. I get a cut patch every now and then but it's not real bad.

With this group I get 1 1/2 to 2 inch groups at 50 yards shooting off a bench.

Keep experimenting!
:front:
-Shooey

 

[Grandpa C]

Well, it looks like the soonest I will get to try out my new GPR will be next tuesday, rain forcast all weekend :cry: I will try it with 40 grs pyro, 490 ball, and .15 prelubed patch I will let you all know how it goes :front:

 

[revehuntsman]

I shoot a slightly larger ball in my GPR than what you're talking about -- .58 round on top of 80 gr FFF. But I can't stress enough the difference using an overpowder wad made. At 50 yards I went from three shot groups that had no constancy (some in the black, some out) to three shot groups that were dead on bulls eyes! I went with the overpowder wad after I found most of my patches had burned through. You might try yours with and without the overpowder wads and see if it makes a differnce. JUst my two cents worth.
Good shooting.

 

Here's my system to make up loads (you can't take this to a 'vous they will suffocate you with gummi-bears!)

In the wedding section of a Wal-Mart crafts department, you can find plastic-tubes filled with soapy water and an o-shaped device to produce bubbles. 1 pack is 48 tubes ~$9.50.

Pour the soap into one container (good stuff to clean the smokepole - why waste it?), clean the tubes with water, cut the stem with the O. Now you have dandy tubes with a nice, easy removable plug. One tube holds up to 80 grains Pyrodex P.

I filled ten tubes with 40, 50, 60, and 70 grains, and 8 with 80 grains. After finding out that my GPR .50 liked 40 grains most, I loaded up 10 each 35, 40, 45 grains (40 again to have the same weather conditions to compare).

And, to load up the smoke pole on the range in windy conditions with this gadgets is waaaay easier than to handle a powder measure. And safe, too! :m2c: