Lyman GPR current production quality ?

[Roundball 54]

Up until yesterday Track of the Wolf had (investarms) Lyman Great Plains in stock. I bought one (54) last week and got it yesterday. They are now out of stock. I gave my previous 50 cal Great Plains to my son in law for Christmas. The misinformation recently that Investarms was not providing rifles to Lyman anymore has been wrong. It has been assumed that Pedersoli is now Lyman’s sole supplier. I have even read and stated this myself. My rifle plainly has 2021 stamped on the barrel so it is a recent made rifle. It’s is typical Lyman/investarms quality. Everything looks good except some of the inletting is a bit too deep. Metal and wood finish is very nice.

Thanks for the updated info .

 

[user 36911]

MtnMan please give us a review of your new Gimmer when you receive it and let us know how it shoots . Thanks for the information you have provided on this .

Sure, but it will be awhile.

 

[user 36911]

Up until yesterday Track of the Wolf had (investarms) Lyman Great Plains in stock. I bought one (54) last week and got it yesterday. They are now out of stock. I gave my previous 50 cal Great Plains to my son in law for Christmas. The misinformation recently that Investarms was not providing rifles to Lyman anymore has been wrong. It has been assumed that Pedersoli is now Lyman’s sole supplier. I have even read and stated this myself. My rifle plainly has 2021 stamped on the barrel so it is a recent made rifle. It’s is typical Lyman/investarms quality. Everything looks good except some of the inletting is a bit too deep. Metal and wood finish is very nice.

No, it's not wrong. Lyman still sells the Trade Rifle and Deerstalker. They replaced the great Plains Rifle and Hunter with the Pedersoli Signature Series. So, Lyman sells Investarms and Pedersoli. If you want the Investarms Great Plains Rifle you'll have to buy the Gemmer from Muzzle-Loaders. You can also buy the old investarms Trade Rifle and DeerStalker from Muzzle-Loaders but they are called Bridger and carbine.

The deep inletting you see on your Lyman gun is what everybody is talking about when they say lousy metal to wood fit. For the last couple of years it looks like Investarms took kits and assembled them as built guns without matching the wood to metal. Maybe it's not that bad but it's close. The Muzzle-Loaders Gemmer looks much nicer in metal to wood fit.

What you bought from TOW was the last of the leftover Lyman GPR's. Jedidiah Starr has a few left too. Once they're all gone you won't see Lyman GPR's for sale anywhere. Go to the Lyman website and you won't see the GPR for sale anymore. It's replaced with the Pedersoli.

 

[Allstajacket]

I just picked up an Investarm Gemmer Hawken as my first muzzle loader, and first flintlock. I shot it for the first time this weekend and it shot great! Very satisfied with my purchase.

A friend of mine, a flintlock aficionado, disassembled and timed the lock, and helped me to get started.

 

[user 36911]

I just picked up an Investarm Gemmer Hawken as my first muzzle loader, and first flintlock. I shot it for the first time this weekend and it shot great! Very satisfied with my purchase.

A friend of mine, a flintlock aficionado, disassembled and timed the lock, and helped me to get started.

Good for you. Enjoy it.

I'm kind of picky about being PC and there never was a half stock Hawken in flintlock So, my only option is to get the caplock. Most guys don't care about being PC and flintlock Hawkens are fine. Are you going to hunt with it? .50 or .54?

 

[brazosland]

Good for you. Enjoy it.

I'm kind of picky about being PC and there never was a half stock Hawken in flintlock So, my only option is to get the caplock. Most guys don't care about being PC and flintlock Hawkens are fine. Are you going to hunt with it? .50 or .54?

Never is a big word.

But that’s a conversation for another day…

 

[user 36911]

Never is a big word.

But that’s a conversation for another day…

I've had that conversation many times over the years. Nobody has ever come up with a picture of one. I'm open minded to change my mind. Just show me a picture. ( make sure it's not a conversion)

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I picked up an Investarm's model for Christmas 2020 & absolutely LOVE it.

I used it at the Pioneer Flats Shootout all weekend long & other than changing the flint, it worked flawlessly.
I can't talk about the Pedersoli models, but, this one is still one of my favorites:

 

[brazosland]

I've had that conversation many times over the years. Nobody has ever come up with a picture of one. I'm open minded to change my mind. Just show me a picture. ( make sure it's not a conversion)

Ohhh, I know. I can’t show you a pic of one. But you can’t prove they didn’t either. How many rifles did they build? How many exist today? And half-stock rifles had been in common use for more than 30 years by 1830…so it wasn’t like they fell into a whole new design concept in the early 1830’s.

I can’t prove they did. But it’s more likely than not. But the folks on the other side of the argument sure don’t mind saying “never.”

 

[user 36911]

This isn't proof but should be given some thought.

The Hawken shop only offers the kit in caplock.

 

[springfield art]

All of the Pedersoli made lyman Great Plains rifles are labeled signature series, so yes. I actually sold this rifle. I didn’t like it. It was nice but too heavy. I’d suggest saving some money and buying the investarms Gemmer Hawken. Shoots as well or better than the Pedersoli and is the same rifle as the pre-Pedersoli Great Plains rifle.

Speaking of 'heavy', I had the barrel of my Lyman GPR shortened along with my complete re-finish and "aging" of it. I just like a shorter bbl. rifle, and also found it too heavy.

 

[Dale Lilly]

About any Hawken style rifle is toooooo heavy for this old man. If I ever get to hunt again I expect to shoot from some sort of rest. My Austen & Halleck is terrible ... but I love it. I will probably use it and shoot from a rest and that is something I have never done. Age demands some changes and I will, reluctantly, change with my body's demands. The one animal I have never had an opportunity to hunt [that I want] is a wild boar. Maybe this spring I will go for a final hunt. Oklahoma and Texas are both possible easily. So ... choices? Polecat

 

[user 36911]

Speaking of 'heavy', I had the barrel of my Lyman GPR shortened along with my complete re-finish and "aging" of it. I just like a shorter bbl. rifle, and also found it too heavy.

You'd really hate the Pedersoli version of the GPR. That barrel is really heavy compared to Investarms.

 

[brazosland]

Speaking of 'heavy', I had the barrel of my Lyman GPR shortened along with my complete re-finish and "aging" of it. I just like a shorter bbl. rifle, and also found it too heavy.

A Lyman GPR in .54 was my first muzzleloader. Hunted and carried it across Texas, the plaines states andvthe Rockies for over 20 years. Loved that gun. But after buying my first hand made gun I decided to let it go so I could continue to “upgrade.” It was hard to let it go, but I wanted a few guns that were closer to the originals. Still miss it sometimes!

Funny you talk about shortening your GPR…considered that many times.

Lately I have been looking at my Harper’s Ferry 1803 and thinking about cutting it back to an inch or so in front of the middle pipe. It would balance so much better and not really be any less functional. It’s a .54 Zoli with a US made lock. Really like it (and I had a relative on the Corps of Discovery) and it shoots great, but it’s a nose heavy SOB.

 

[Brent]

, I know. I can’t show you a pic of one. But you can’t prove they didn’t either.

By this same logic, it cannot be proved that Neanderthals did not build half stock, flintlock Hawkens as well.

If an authentic specimen does not exist and no authentic records to that effect exist, then you really have to put it in the "didn't happen" category.

 

[brazosland]

It’s amazing the lengths people will go to defend their narrative… You can’t simply say Never on this subject.

Your analogy is a straw dog. Our distant kin didn’t build rifles of any kind. But what if they did? And what if Cro-magnons had been using half stocks for 30 years? Would you still say No, No and Never?

The records are so incomplete you can’t even tell me when they built the first half stock rifle…or even what YEAR. (Do I need to type that again, for emphasis?)

We don’t even know when they built the first percussion gun. Or who made their barrels and breeches. It’s all guess work and surmises based on a pitifully small group of rifles that folks guess at based on style, and architecture.

But, By God and By Thunder!, they NEVER made a half stock flint gun!!

Sorry. But it’s just amusing to me.

 

[user 36911]

It doesn't matter when they were first built. Although there are records for that. What do you think the odds are that a flintlock half stock Hawken was made and not one of then survived? Not one was ever talked about either.

The odds are high enough for me to say never. The proof otherwise is for the unbelievers.

It was obvious by the time Hawken built the half stock rifles that percussion ignition was the future. So, that's what he built.

 

[brazosland]

Same as the odds of any of their guns surviving. In the low single digit percentages. None, I will type that again, None, of their early production guns exist.

 

[user 36911]

Everybody has the choice to own and shoot any gun they want. Those interested in PC are a minority. I'm certainly not PC about everything or I wouldn't use a ball starter.

However, I will continue to say never about a flintlock half stock Hawken until proven wrong.

I never talked to the Hawken shop about this. They might have some proof. The fact they don't sell a flintlock kit sort of tells me what they'll say.

 

[Rod Man]

About two weeks ago I found a Left hand .54 GPR perc. Investarms 1/60 Ball gun, traded my .50 flint for it. The Serial # A587645, anybody thats really into these rifles have any idea when it was made?

RM