A bit of time with the GPR

[Tasbay]

Have spent a bit of time with my Lyman GPR of late. It still tends to blow patches when it wants but have the accuracy pretty well down to my liking. The group is at 50 yards, 3 shots two through centre over a sandbag with home cast .495 balls, toy caps and 85 grains of some black stuff I made in the shed. The Deer and Pig were at about 65yds and I also shot another Pig same day that was ranged at 110yds so was pretty happy with that shot. I have got over what this rifle does to patches and have to say it`s becoming one of my favourites. All my 50cals shoot the same load well but this one rifle does horrid things to the patches, with a 2nd layer of old bedsheet on top of the Ticking patch the patches could be shot again but it`s hard to load so will just shoot as is.

 

[Stykbow]

Those GPR’s tend to be killers. Congrats on the kills.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Blown patches bug me even if the rifle is shooting well and yours most definitely is. Your barrel might need the scotch bright treatment to smooth it out a little or a close inspection of the crown.

Most of the time I find the crown of my rifles to be a little too sharp and it is cutting the patch on loading. I have one rifle that will turn a .012 ticking patch to fluff but I could reshoot every .018 pocket drill patch I put through it.

 

[longcruise]

Blown patches bug me even if the rifle is shooting well and yours most definitely is. Your barrel might need the scotch bright treatment to smooth it out a little or a close inspection of the crown.

Most of the time I find the crown of my rifles to be a little too sharp and it is cutting the patch on loading. I have one rifle that will turn a .012 ticking patch to fluff but I could reshoot every .018 pocket drill patch I put through it.

I'm in that camp as well. Having had a relationship with four GPRs I'll say that they all needed crown and bore smoothing.

 

[Codgernam]

View attachment 333818View attachment 333819View attachment 333820
Have spent a bit of time with my Lyman GPR of late. It still tends to blow patches when it wants but have the accuracy pretty well down to my liking. The group is at 50 yards, 3 shots two through centre over a sandbag with home cast .495 balls, toy caps and 85 grains of some black stuff I made in the shed. The Deer and Pig were at about 65yds and I also shot another Pig same day that was ranged at 110yds so was pretty happy with that shot. I have got over what this rifle does to patches and have to say it`s becoming one of my favourites. All my 50cals shoot the same load well but this one rifle does horrid things to the patches, with a 2nd layer of old bedsheet on top of the Ticking patch the patches could be shot again but it`s hard to load so will just shoot as is.

View attachment 333818View attachment 333819View attachment 333820
Have spent a bit of time with my Lyman GPR of late. It still tends to blow patches when it wants but have the accuracy pretty well down to my liking. The group is at 50 yards, 3 shots two through centre over a sandbag with home cast .495 balls, toy caps and 85 grains of some black stuff I made in the shed. The Deer and Pig were at about 65yds and I also shot another Pig same day that was ranged at 110yds so was pretty happy with that shot. I have got over what this rifle does to patches and have to say it`s becoming one of my favourites. All my 50cals shoot the same load well but this one rifle does horrid things to the patches, with a 2nd layer of old bedsheet on top of the Ticking patch the patches could be shot again but it`s hard to load so will just shoot as is.

I have a .54 . Splendid rifle . Use a .15 pillow ticking .
Great photos , good article !

 

[Antelope Pete]

Nice. The deer is cool. My new Leman rifle with a Colerain barrel does the same thing with the first patch or more with some material. My experience with 2 different ticks, .015 and .018 has not been good. It looks like the weave is not real tight when looked through at a light.
I haven't got mine shooting that good yet but then again the conditions have been bad.

 

[Tasbay]

Blown patches bug me even if the rifle is shooting well and yours most definitely is. Your barrel might need the scotch bright treatment to smooth it out a little or a close inspection of the crown.

Most of the time I find the crown of my rifles to be a little too sharp and it is cutting the patch on loading. I have one rifle that will turn a .012 ticking patch to fluff but I could reshoot every .018 pocket drill patch I put through it.

Eric, believe me it`s had the Scotch bright treatment (actually fine emery paper) and the Crown has been done. Unless I ram down a load that needs hammering it will destroy the patches. It bugged me but it is what it is and that's how this one shoots. If it was blowing patches and spraying balls, then I`d be hammering down those loads.

 

[flatcreek]

I have Rice radius grove that was blowing .022 pillow ticking. I went to .023 canvas duck (coarse weave) and it was very hard to load, but they stayed together. I then tried some 10oz denim .021 ( fine tight weave) and it loaded much better and they stayed together. What I'm saying is the weave of the material is as important as the thickness.

 

[SgtMaj65]

When I first got my .50 GPR, I got blown and shredded ticking patches, and the crown was sharp as blazes. Used fine grit sandpaper to smooth a bit and several hundred round balls later it’s a shooter and nice, uniform patches.

 

[ETipp]

View attachment 333818View attachment 333819View attachment 333820
Have spent a bit of time with my Lyman GPR of late. It still tends to blow patches when it wants but have the accuracy pretty well down to my liking. The group is at 50 yards, 3 shots two through centre over a sandbag with home cast .495 balls, toy caps and 85 grains of some black stuff I made in the shed. The Deer and Pig were at about 65yds and I also shot another Pig same day that was ranged at 110yds so was pretty happy with that shot. I have got over what this rifle does to patches and have to say it`s becoming one of my favourites. All my 50cals shoot the same load well but this one rifle does horrid things to the patches, with a 2nd layer of old bedsheet on top of the Ticking patch the patches could be shot again but it`s hard to load so will just shoot as is.

Good on you. Those are fine kills. Congrats.

I love my .54 GPR but haven’t killed anything with it yet. It’s on my to do list.

 

[ETipp]

I’m not understanding why anyone would want to crown the muzzle when coning takes care of that plus no more need in a short starter.

Perhaps I got lucky with my GPR but it never did destroy shooting patches. It did cut a couple of cleaning patches so I took some bore paste to it. No problem now.

It is not coned but it’s certainly something I plan on doing. Either way no shooting patches have ever been damaged. They look as if they could be reused. That’s with 90 grains of 3F, which is the maximum load.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Should of never, ever sold my .54 GPR.

Young and dumb I guess. Now they’re essentially collector’s items.

 

[ETipp]

Should of never, ever sold my .54 GPR.

Young and dumb I guess. Now they’re essentially collector’s items.

They still pop up for sale every now and then. I payed too much for mine but I wanted one big time so I jumped on it right away. Glad I did because I really like my .54 GPR. Solid, looks great, no goofy brass and is very accurate.

 

[pwbsmokey]

View attachment 333818View attachment 333819View attachment 333820
Have spent a bit of time with my Lyman GPR of late. It still tends to blow patches when it wants but have the accuracy pretty well down to my liking. The group is at 50 yards, 3 shots two through centre over a sandbag with home cast .495 balls, toy caps and 85 grains of some black stuff I made in the shed. The Deer and Pig were at about 65yds and I also shot another Pig same day that was ranged at 110yds so was pretty happy with that shot. I have got over what this rifle does to patches and have to say it`s becoming one of my favourites. All my 50cals shoot the same load well but this one rifle does horrid things to the patches, with a 2nd layer of old bedsheet on top of the Ticking patch the patches could be shot again but it`s hard to load so will just shoot as is.

 

[pwbsmokey]

Try a .490 ball

 

[Tasbay]

Try a .490 ball

Have already tried the .490 ball, no good. This rifle has the loosest bore of any of my .50cals. What's a tight fit on any of my others is lose in the GPR. Thanks for the suggestion.