Lyman 54Cal Flintlock Garbage

[eaglesnester]

I just bought a Lyman Great Planes 54 Cal flintlock in the Hunter. It was pure garbage. Just as soon as I opened the box I could see that the lock was a huge problem as the geomerty was off. The flint when properly placed in the cock, hit the frizzen midway down on the frizzen instead of on the upper one third. The resultent spark produced was weak and inconsistant. I could only sometimes get a good spark but only after fiddling with the flint mounting in the cock and then get good spark only one time. I also noticed that the touch hole liner was too small. The position though seemed to be ok in relation to the pan. I boxed er up and sent it back this morning. I then ordered a Thompson Center Fire Precusion Hawken in 50 cal. Wanted a 54 but could not get one as I live in Canada. Nobody seems to sell the 54 up here. I was sorry to send back The Lymen as the stock was very nice and it seemed to be well balanced and fit me quite well. I have a Traditions 50 Cal flint lock and it performs flawless. Never fails to fire. I must have one of the newer ones as I have read many complaints on the Traditions locks.

Cheers & Tighter Groups: Eaglesnester

 

[RADeO]

Sad to read of your difficulty with the Lyman rifle. Did you call Lyman and ask them to replace the rifle prior to ordering the T/C? I am sure they would have made an effort to get a properly-functioning rifle into your hands.

 

[reddog]

I would have fooled with that lyman till hell froze over before buying a tc. Shouldn't have to do that to a new rifle, but that is the way it is sometimes in the production rifle world. TC makes as good a production rifle as any one out there, but their stocks don't fit me worth a diddley durn! Lyman would have helped you get it right.

 

[Dave K]

Well, I don't know what to say, but did you try to turn the flint over? I own some drill bits to make a vent hole larger.....if the function of the gun demands it. The vent may be just right as it came. Hard to fault a gun and or gun company without telling them your perceived problems for them to correct.

 

[Stumpkiller]

That is a shame. I've seen some nice Lymans Great Plains. Not sure about the Hunter version.

Hope it was a fluke.

 

[jethro224]

Sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with your GPH. I've always been happy with GPRs. Great shooters.

You are correct that the Lyman flint lock geometry leaves something to be desired. They are a little fiddly and finicky about how you set the flint to get good sparks but once you figure it out they work pretty good. Just before I sold mine, I figured out that a thick flint leather with a double layer on the bottom allowed me to get a better stroke length on the frizzen and still keep a good angle of flint to frizzen.

Most flint GPR shooters I have heard from, myself included, have good results by drilling out the touch hole to 1/16th".

Good luck with the T/C capper.

 

[rhwestfall]

shame you didn't give it a chance. These are pretty good guns. Vent hole is a simple/cheap swap out with some of the aftermarket ones (like RMC), and with just a little playing around (which in my opinion is why we do this stuff or we would all shoot *-lines) it is a reliable gun. I have a GPH (and a GPR barrel), and find is quite accurate & reliable.

Sorry you didn't.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

It a shame, for productions flintlocks, the Lyman is one of the better. As for the touch hole, if coned properly from the inside, a small one is good. I've seen some guys out there with 15 caliber touch holes that spat more fire out the touch hole than the muzzle.

Traditions are even more hit or miss. Although some of their models have better lock geometry than TC or Lyman. If they only spent a little more time on quality control, fit and finish etc.

I am hearing and reading more complaints about Lyman's guns, although still not common. Although I have never seen one that I would say is such a reject. I would still reccommend a Lyman when it comes to flintlocks if some one is considering a production gun.

All that being said, I have written to Lyman about a two things over the past four years, one having to do with quality of a non-muzzleloading item and another making a suggestion for them to offer a flintlock plains pistol (Now legal for deer in PA) I didn't even get a form letter response.

 

[Billnpatti]

I hate to hear of your dissatisfaction with you Lyman GPH. I have a Lyman flintlock GPR that is a fine shooting gun. I did have to fiddle with the flint until I found how to make it work. Now, I have no problems at all with it. In fact, it is one of my favorite rifles......and I have a safe full of black powder guns, both production and custom. It is very appealing aesthetically, fits me like a glove and is a tack driver once I found what load it likes. All of that fiddling finding what flint and how it is postioned and what powder charge, which patch and which lube it likes was all part of the fun of having it. Such is the fun of having a muzzleloading gun of any kind. If I didn't enjoy all of these aspects of shooting a traditional flintlock rifle, I'd just buy, pardon the expression, an inline :barf: , Ugh!! Nasty thought!!!

Oh well, this is water under the bridge. I hope you are happy with your T/C. They are really good shooting guns, I have two of them, but they just are not as traditional looking as I like. ?Some are a little too flashy and others are too modern looking. Still, they are good guns and I hope you like yours.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Have to agree with Bob. If you were using those sawn flints that come with the Lyman, that could be part of your problem. Knapped flints work great. I also had some problem with the way the flint hit the frizzen. I had it bevel up, which I was used to. I turned it over, bevel down, and she sparks like crazy! I also had a lot of flash in the pan until I drilled the touch hole open to 5/64". Now she is 99% reliable. Just as good as any cap gun. All of these issues have been covered in this forum. For what you are paying for that T/C, you could likely have had your Lyman GPH, plus a Lyman Trade Rifle! I have a .54 T/C Hawkens percussion, but I'll take my .54 GPR flinter anyday. Too bad you didn't ask here first :shake:

 

[Zoar]

I really like my Lyman 54 cal flintlock and I found the hand knapped flints like from Tom Fuller work far better than the chunk of countertop you get with Lyman's rifles. :grin:

Yes I also wish they would offer some pistols. Although I would favor a dragoon and a pocket pistol. TOW and Dixie have the Kentucky sewed up in my opinion so a different gun on the market would be my preference rather than just a competitive model by another provider.

My 54 cal Lyman flint sparkis every time as long as I put the right flint in properly and I never had to do anything with the vent hole. She is more reliable than the cap guns I own.

 

[caionneach]

Maybe I was just fortunate when I bought my .54 cal Lyman GPR flinter. I have had no trouble out of mine other than the usual newbie type problems adjusting to shooting a rock-lock.

I really like mine. I am considering removing the bluing and giving it a browned finish.

 

[StewartLeach]

'nester:

A few months ago I acquired a left hand flint Lyman Great Plains Rifle, and found I had to do a good bit of fiddling and tinkering with the lock to get it to perform to my satisfaction.

The pan cover of the frizzen did not come close to mating with the pan. I had to do a lot of stoning (mess with the cheap part first!) on the forward part of the pan cover to get the thing to rotate down and to the rear to a nice clean line of spotting agent all around the contact. Surely had the frizzen on and off the lock twenty times.

Fitting the pan cover changed the angle of the frizzen's striking surface. It now has a more pronounced lean to the rear. A bevel up #5 flint from Track wrapped in very thin leather now strikes about 2/3 of the way up from the bottom. Sparks well, getting 40 plus shots from a flint. Horizontal chatter marks are now a thing of the past.

The jaws of the cock are smooth on the inside! That's really dumb! These are cast parts, manufacturer could have easily cast in some grooves or ridges. I cut four shallow cross wise grooves on each jaw with a Dremel cut off wheel. Flints now stay put.

Inside the lock I did the usual polishing, and did some mods to the tumbler to get a single position sear. See Peter Alexander's book on this. Also shortened the sear notch on the tumbler to same width as sear nore. Lubricated with MolySlide grease.

Final action was to polish the inside of the pan with an abraisve loaded felt bob in the Dremel. Wipes clean now with one stroke of the rag. Actually, I wipe the pan with the raggedy end of my patch strip, the end with the holes.

All this took 3.5-4 hours, most of it for frizzen fitting. Fortunately I enjoy tinkering. The manufacturer has to avoid this kind of hand fitting to make a profit.

Vent openings seem to be consistently too small on factory flintlocks. I use numbered drills to progressively open up the hole until ignition is consistent. Final drill is usually a 51 or 50 size. I also use the Dremel and a round bit to countersink the slot down to where it joins the hole. A cone shaped Dremel bit opens up the inside a little, and a good slap urges the 3Fg over toward the outside.

Good luck with your TC. The locks on TC and Lyman rifles are so much alike inside and out I wonder if they aren't manufactured by the same subcontractor..........

Regards,

White Fox, in the Peolpes Republic of Boulder