GPR or Deerstalker

[trdixon1]

This may be repetitive, I'm new to black powder and I am needing some help picking out a gun. It will be used for hunting and shooting for fun. I live in SW Kansas where there are not many trees, so taking a 100 yard shot at a deer will be a requirement. Because of that I am considering a 54 cal. My concerns are recoil (I'm 130 LBS) and accuracy. Does the shorter barrel of the Deerstalker take away from its accuracy and will the felt recoil be that different from the GPR?

 

[Hunter66]

If you intend to be traditonal and shoot a PRB I would say 54 for 100yds. If not 50 and a conical will serve fine at 100yds. A friend of mine shoots my 54 GPR with 110gr of ffg and he isn't much bigger than you. The short barrel doesn't effect the accuracy but the shorter sight radius does. The gpr is a good bit heavier than the deerstalker to soak up more recoil but you also have to carry it. If you are not set on traditional guns you might also consider the RMC Accusporter. A very nice gun, especially the flintlock, but they have a laminated stock.

 

[ryoung14]

Hi Kansan,
Are you going to shoot PRB or conicals?

If PRB, the slow twist .54 GPR is an excellent choice and very accurate out to 100 yards. It's also a heavy gun, significantly heavier than the Deerstalker due to its long barrel. Its extra weight will make the recoil from even the heaviest PRB load easily manageable. My .54 GPR shoots PRB with excellent accuracy out to 100 yards with very little recoil.

There is also a version of the GPR with a fast twist barrel suited to conicals. It's the Great Plains Hunter (GPH). It also has a long barrel and is rather heavy. Being heavy it should recoil less than the Deerstalker firing the same conical load. The GPH has a good reputation for accuracy among most posters here, but there have been recent exceptions. I don't own a GPH yet, so can't speak from personal experience.

The Deerstalker, with its shorter barrel, would be good if you have to hunt from a blind. If you shoot conicals, the recoil will be significant, but I believe the Deerstalker comes with a recoil pad. That should help a bit. The intermediate twist rate of the Deerstalker will permit it to shoot either PRB or conicals; but because it is not optimized for either, it may take a little longer to find a load it shoots well.

Keep in mind, conicals are heavier than PRB and will give much heavier recoil for the same powder charge. They also carry their energy better out to extended range. However, the PRB usually gives best accuracy at long ranges and a .54 PRB should have plenty of energy to kill deer at 100 yards IF THE SHOT IS WELL PLACED.
Bob

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

This may be repetitive, I'm new to black powder and I am needing some help picking out a gun. It will be used for hunting and shooting for fun. I live in SW Kansas where there are not many trees, so taking a 100 yard shot at a deer will be a requirement. Because of that I am considering a 54 cal. My concerns are recoil (I'm 130 LBS) and accuracy. Does the shorter barrel of the Deerstalker take away from its accuracy and will the felt recoil be that different from the GPR?

The shorter barrel will mean you can't burn as much powder as the longer barrel, and you also have sight radius issue as mentioned before. As to the felt recoil, a PRB slow-twist rifle with a max charge will recoil less than a short-barreled carbine! Significantly less if the carbine is using a heavy Maxi-Ball!

If 100 yard shots are to be the norm, get the .54 in either the Great Plains or the Trade Rifle. The Trade Rifle is a beautiful compromise. With 80 grains of 3Fg and a tightly-patched round ball, you have a comfortable load that will take any deer that I know of.

Dave

 

[bucktales]

First, Welcome kansan.
GPR .54, IMO is the way to go. You say you are 130#? The only problem I can see, depending on your frame size, of course, is the LOP (length of pull) on a GPR is 14" and may be a tad long for a small framed person. The stock can be shortened if that is a problem.
Best bet is to find a dealer who has one and shoulder it with a coat on.

 

[zepman]

I own a deerslaker in 54 and @ 100 yards and under its a tackdriving sledgehammer.Even with the shortened barrel there us plenty of energy on targets in that range. Mine shoots round balls and conicals equally well.The GPR is really a cool rifle too I just prefer the carbine for hunting thats why I chose the "Deerstalker"............John

 

[playfarmers]

The Deerstalker is a great hunting rifle and felt recoil will be much the same in any of the Lyman rifles. The Deerstalker has a stock shaped like a shotgun stock and has a small recoil pad, that sucks up some recoil. The Trade and GPR are heavier, but have a solid brass or steal butt plate. I think what it comes down to is how much weight do you want to carry. The GPR is 9 lbs, the Trade 8 lbs, and the Deerstalker 7 lbs, And go with a .54 any day.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Kansan1,
Welcome to the sport and to the forum. I have two .54 GPRs (one percussion and one flint). Both are tack drivers out to 100 yards. The longer GPR barrels means a little more weight, but it gives you a steadier hold when shooting offhand. The longer barrel also means a longer sight radius for more accurate shooting. The extra weight will also absorb more of the recoil. To me, a heavy charge under a PRB feels like a target load out of a 20 ga. A .54 cal. ball will take any deer within your range. If you decide to shoot conicals later, you can always buy a GPH barrel. This way you can have an accurate PRB rifle and an accurate conical rifle in one. Besides, the GPR is a better looking rifle. Good luck on your choice :thumbsup: .

 

[BrownBear]

I've got a couple of GPRs and have shot a friend's Deerstalker quite a bit. I think the GPR is the more versatile rifle. I'm likely to pick up a Deerstalker in the next few months, but I'll be restricting its use to very fast shooting situations in close cover. We had a bit of that this year due to weather, and the GPR was definitely too slow to mount and swing on running shots at 20 feet. But in my experiments with the friend's Deerstalker, it will do fine for that. On the other hand, the Deerstalker is a lot harder for me to shoot accurately at longer ranges. After a few years shooting the GPR, slow deliberate shooting at small fixed targets was tough for me with the Deerstalker.

Your call which suits you better. But the differences between the two are very apparent in shooting and handling.

And I'll chime in with the others on the 54. It's a lot less barrel heavy in the GPR than the 50.

 

[Brik847]

No matter what you get, you will want the other. I would start with the longer barrel GPR for the longer sight radius if nothing else. If the GPR doesn't feel right to you, check out a Trade Rifle and boil down the issue to a choice between Trade Rifle and Deerslayer.

 

[cptleo1]

My current GPR is a .54 flint with the Lyman peep and a fiber optic front sight and I consider it the almost perfect Hawkins style hunting gun.

I am a big fan of the PRB cuz it gets the job done on deer size animals.

Recoil is also a big factor for me.

I fire maybe 6 shots a year deer hunting and shoot hundreds of shots a year plinking.

The difference in recoil PRB vs. Conical with full house loads (85gr or more) is significant.

I really don't see the need to subject my self to the pounding.

My GPR seems to like 105gr FFF the best and this load will shoot around 3-4" groups @ 100 yds and kill any deer I have ever met stone dead. This load while fairly stout is not that bad to shoot.

This same load with a conical shot off the bench is a whole different animal; it will clear your sinuses

My GPR also has a sweet spot of around 55-60 gr of fff. It will shoot under 3" @50 yds all day and I have no doubt will kill a deer @ 50yds or less.

This load is great for plinking and cheap to shoot.

The trick to happiness is to shoot, or at least handle as many guns as you can before you plunk down your hard earned cash.

Keep in mind that one ML simply is not enough, for that matter neither is 2 or 3.

Once bitten by the ML bug they just sort of multiply, so if you start off with a BRP gun, don't worry, sooner or later a conical gun will show up.

If you want to start off with a conical gun , Get one with a flat butt stock and the proper stock geometry.

Good luck

 

[trdixon1]

Bucktales

The LOP on the GPR is my issue with it. Your right it is to long for me. My only problem with the trade rifle is the brass. I really like the way the GPR looks, I'm not sure that I trust my self to shorten the stock on my own. Would any gunsmith be able to do that or would I have to find one that specializes in MLs?

 

[BrownBear]

I'd go for a smith that specializes in muzzleloaders. There are a few right ways to do it and a lot of wrong ways. It will definitely go faster and smoother for one acquainted.

If you want to see what's involved in fitting a butt plate and perhaps decide to do it yourself, check out the gun building tutorials here at the site.

 

[Mountainman56]

I am a GPR fan so you are not likely to get an unbiased opinion from me. However another good one to check out would be a T/C Renegade. 6" shorter than a GPR (although it does have a 1" barrel instead of a 15/16), a square buttstock and no brass.