,Hi all , I thought I'd wade in with a few impressions of my first flintlock rifle and it might help someone make up their mind one way or t'other about purchasing a GPR .
Living in the north of BC Canada the only way to purchase is online , there wasn't a GPR in stock locally that could be handled and inspected .
I ended up buying the gun from LeBaron's as they had the best price [ some $140 cheaper than elsewhere ] but they only had .50 cal .
The gun duly arrived and I have to say that I was a little dissapointed with the finish .The barrel final machining/polishing is irregular and the sanding of the wooden stock is not to a very high standard with uneven patches and a hollow area on the forend .The forend cap was slightly loose .
I have treated the stock with beeswax based application and it is beginning to show some nice colour and has a pleasing feel although the wood is quite plain .
The sights were miles out and the gun shot at least twelve inches low at 25 yds even with the rear sight elevated to it's maximum . There is an adjusting screw but no means to lock it in position and it backed off during shooting and the spring was lost which made the backsight useless.
I then fitted the primitive backsight which I find gives a much better sight picture .However the dovetail was a very poor fit and had to be shimmed . I ended up having to file most of the front sight away in order to be able to get the gun to fire to point of aim .
The gun was an irregular firer and there were many flashes in the pan and failures to set off the priming charge .
Sparking was poor but I have since rehardened the frizzen and it is very much better now .
In order to improve ignition ,I now blow through my fist down the barrel after firing [ I do wait some time to make sure all the powder has burnt ] and watch the touch hole , a healthy ejection of smoke lets me know that the touchhole is clear , if I don't see this , then I clean out the hole with wire or a toothpick .
When loading , I tamp the buttplate of the rifle on the ground ,as I believe that this packs a bit of the main charge into the cavity in the touchhole screw and improves ignition .
I haven't drilled out the touchhole yet , but I may well do so . I rather like the idea of a screw-in touch hole and haven't been tempted to put in a white lightning hole .
Accuracy is now good and a ragged hole 5 shot grouping at 25 yds is possible .
All in all , I am relatively pleased with the gun but I think it still needs work on the ignition to make more reliable but as it's my first flinter ,I'm not really sure what to expect .
The gun is a great conversation piece and has generated quite a bit of interest from my friends and at least one of them might be a convert to muzzleloading.
I do like to handle good quality firearms however and I would very much like to compare it against a Pedersoli or an American made rifle to see how it shapes up .
But I don't think I can complain too much about the gun considering the price I paid and the amount of fun I have had tinkering with it and firing it .
With a bit of luck it will put venison on the table this winter . :thumbsup:
Living in the north of BC Canada the only way to purchase is online , there wasn't a GPR in stock locally that could be handled and inspected .
I ended up buying the gun from LeBaron's as they had the best price [ some $140 cheaper than elsewhere ] but they only had .50 cal .
The gun duly arrived and I have to say that I was a little dissapointed with the finish .The barrel final machining/polishing is irregular and the sanding of the wooden stock is not to a very high standard with uneven patches and a hollow area on the forend .The forend cap was slightly loose .
I have treated the stock with beeswax based application and it is beginning to show some nice colour and has a pleasing feel although the wood is quite plain .
The sights were miles out and the gun shot at least twelve inches low at 25 yds even with the rear sight elevated to it's maximum . There is an adjusting screw but no means to lock it in position and it backed off during shooting and the spring was lost which made the backsight useless.
I then fitted the primitive backsight which I find gives a much better sight picture .However the dovetail was a very poor fit and had to be shimmed . I ended up having to file most of the front sight away in order to be able to get the gun to fire to point of aim .
The gun was an irregular firer and there were many flashes in the pan and failures to set off the priming charge .
Sparking was poor but I have since rehardened the frizzen and it is very much better now .
In order to improve ignition ,I now blow through my fist down the barrel after firing [ I do wait some time to make sure all the powder has burnt ] and watch the touch hole , a healthy ejection of smoke lets me know that the touchhole is clear , if I don't see this , then I clean out the hole with wire or a toothpick .
When loading , I tamp the buttplate of the rifle on the ground ,as I believe that this packs a bit of the main charge into the cavity in the touchhole screw and improves ignition .
I haven't drilled out the touchhole yet , but I may well do so . I rather like the idea of a screw-in touch hole and haven't been tempted to put in a white lightning hole .
Accuracy is now good and a ragged hole 5 shot grouping at 25 yds is possible .
All in all , I am relatively pleased with the gun but I think it still needs work on the ignition to make more reliable but as it's my first flinter ,I'm not really sure what to expect .
The gun is a great conversation piece and has generated quite a bit of interest from my friends and at least one of them might be a convert to muzzleloading.
I do like to handle good quality firearms however and I would very much like to compare it against a Pedersoli or an American made rifle to see how it shapes up .
But I don't think I can complain too much about the gun considering the price I paid and the amount of fun I have had tinkering with it and firing it .
With a bit of luck it will put venison on the table this winter . :thumbsup:
