About 4 years ago I decided to take the plunge into black powder and after a lot of shopping around settled on the percussion GPR in .50. I had to do a few minor tweaks when the gun arrived (mostly getting the pins to seat right) but it was otherwise good to go out of the box. I did end up using the adjustable rear sight -- on my todo list is to put the basic one back on and modify the front sight as necessary.
At the time I received a lot of invaluable advice from members of this forum and from my father-in-law. Beyond general usage ideas such as measuring powder by volume rather than weight were very new and somewhat scary to me. Coming from a world of modern firearms I was entirely too focused on precision.
Over the next few years I was able to shoot and hunt with it some in between various health issues. This year I finally had a chance to see a deer in the woods with it and am currently enjoying the results.
For those who may be interested here is some of my feedback in no particular order and with the understanding that no two guns (even of the same make/model) are the same:
--Lately I've found that 98gr (by volume) of Pyrodex RS to be the sweet spot for anything 100 yards or less (haven't really shot it beyond 100).
--I settled on a 175gr ball with a lubed patch. This doesn't make loading time particularly fast, especially with the tightness of a newish barrel, but again for hunting purposes that isn't much of a concern.
--I use both CCI and Remington caps and have yet to have a problem with either or be able to tell a difference between.
--After 100+ rounds I am still using the stock nipple and have never had a failure to fire. I think an almost anal retentive approach to cleaning it and the chamber combined with always putting a cap through it before going out (stick a patch in the barrel, fire with just a cap to make sure the patch comes out) goes a long way with that. Additionally I'm sure I got somewhat lucky with my nipple, this seems to be one particular area where there is a lot of discrepancy between owners.
--I've found this gun to be extremely accurate and consistent out to 100 yards. When shooting correctly on a range I will regularly touch shots.
--When one of your pins pops out in the woods and you fail to notice I've found a good ziptie to be an inelegant but effective workaround.
--While I immediately bought a separate ramrod to use I've often ended up using my hickory one that came with it for loading and cleaning. It sure doesn't look like new anymore but it's held up surprisingly well.
--The set trigger is wonderful. Before this gun I had never really used set triggers and my accuracy dramatically increased once I started to.
--While I love a good peep sight I feel the buckhorns are probably the best open sights ever invented, especially for target acquisition and quick shots.
--I do the majority of my hunting in the NC woods. Along those lines there are a few negatives for this gun. It is *not* a light rifle and if you spend a day walking around with it you will probably begin to feel the weight. It is also not particularly easy to wield in the woods. I think the shorter Hawkens definitely have an advantage in this regard.
I've heard there's been some QA issues with the GPRs lately and that's a shame if it's true. When put together right they really are quite impressive.
Anyway, I wanted to share my experiences to date. Happy to answer any questions I can and a big thank you again to the members of this forum for all of the help you gave me when I was starting out.
At the time I received a lot of invaluable advice from members of this forum and from my father-in-law. Beyond general usage ideas such as measuring powder by volume rather than weight were very new and somewhat scary to me. Coming from a world of modern firearms I was entirely too focused on precision.
Over the next few years I was able to shoot and hunt with it some in between various health issues. This year I finally had a chance to see a deer in the woods with it and am currently enjoying the results.
For those who may be interested here is some of my feedback in no particular order and with the understanding that no two guns (even of the same make/model) are the same:
--Lately I've found that 98gr (by volume) of Pyrodex RS to be the sweet spot for anything 100 yards or less (haven't really shot it beyond 100).
--I settled on a 175gr ball with a lubed patch. This doesn't make loading time particularly fast, especially with the tightness of a newish barrel, but again for hunting purposes that isn't much of a concern.
--I use both CCI and Remington caps and have yet to have a problem with either or be able to tell a difference between.
--After 100+ rounds I am still using the stock nipple and have never had a failure to fire. I think an almost anal retentive approach to cleaning it and the chamber combined with always putting a cap through it before going out (stick a patch in the barrel, fire with just a cap to make sure the patch comes out) goes a long way with that. Additionally I'm sure I got somewhat lucky with my nipple, this seems to be one particular area where there is a lot of discrepancy between owners.
--I've found this gun to be extremely accurate and consistent out to 100 yards. When shooting correctly on a range I will regularly touch shots.
--When one of your pins pops out in the woods and you fail to notice I've found a good ziptie to be an inelegant but effective workaround.
--While I immediately bought a separate ramrod to use I've often ended up using my hickory one that came with it for loading and cleaning. It sure doesn't look like new anymore but it's held up surprisingly well.
--The set trigger is wonderful. Before this gun I had never really used set triggers and my accuracy dramatically increased once I started to.
--While I love a good peep sight I feel the buckhorns are probably the best open sights ever invented, especially for target acquisition and quick shots.
--I do the majority of my hunting in the NC woods. Along those lines there are a few negatives for this gun. It is *not* a light rifle and if you spend a day walking around with it you will probably begin to feel the weight. It is also not particularly easy to wield in the woods. I think the shorter Hawkens definitely have an advantage in this regard.
I've heard there's been some QA issues with the GPRs lately and that's a shame if it's true. When put together right they really are quite impressive.
Anyway, I wanted to share my experiences to date. Happy to answer any questions I can and a big thank you again to the members of this forum for all of the help you gave me when I was starting out.
