Lyman Great Plains .54 Caliber

[Hntr79]

I just bought a new Lyman Great Plains .54 Caliber at a sporting goods store that was going out of business. It was kind of a impulse buy, but it was on sale for $230. Couldn't pass it up. Is this a good rifle, and does anyone have any load suggestions for me? I plan to use it for cow elk and mule deer in Colorado this year.

 

[Bob J]

That is an excellent rifle, durable and accurate. And what a buy! Be sure and scrub that bore clean as they come with a heavy coat of grease from the factory. My hunting load with the .54 was 100 grains 2f Goex(or 3f, didn't seem to matter), TC pre-lubed pillow ticking patches, and .530 ball. Dropped back to 60 grains for off-hand practice.

90 grains powder would be plenty for hunting, however.

 

[sundog]

The Great Plains is a great rifle. A very comfortable target load is 55 grains pf 3 F and a .530 round ball with a pillow ticking patch.
Boy oh boy did you get a deal !

 

[bucktales]

Ya done Good. :thumbsup:
Mine is accurate as anything and drops Eastern Whitetails and last month, a nice yote. Mine likes .530 round balls with .015 patches and 85 grs 3f Goex. Shoots good with 2f also. Lots of members here are using the same rifle with variations of the load.
if you do a search here, you can see how some GPRs were tweeked and personalized to their owner's taste.
If anything, you might have to fool with the height of the front sight if you keep the factory sights.
Before you go shooting, make sure you clean and scrub down the inside of the barrel as there is a good amount of packing goop in there. Carb or brake cleaner, a bore brush and a bunch of patches will take care of that .

 

[tg]

Jeez, I might buy another one myself if I could find a deal like that.

 

[Hntr79]

Thanks everyone! I'm a big fan of 348 grain powerbelts with 90 grains of pyrodex in my .50 cal. You all have recommended that I use round balls in the .54. Do you guys have any conicals that you recommend?

 

[FPDoc]

I'm pretty sure its rifled 1 turn in 60" which makes it pretty much a PRB rifle which is OK since that's what it is. It's a great rifle, have fun with it.

 

[Catof9tails]

Unless I missed it in the previous post, I didn't read what type of Lyman you bought. If you bought the Hunter model then the barrel has a faster twist for conical bullets. If it is the Rifle then it has a slower twist for round balls.

I have the Lyman Hunter 50 and run 92 to 95 powder behind a 295 power belt conical. It does poke an impressive hole. This was my first rifle when I got into BP, but now I hunt roundball with my other BP rifles.

I can't help ya with the Lyman Rifle charge since I don't own one. I'm sure the good folks here will soon reply for a Lyman Rifle 54 roundball charge for ya.

Keep your powder dry and watch your six!
Cat9

 

[cowpoke1955]

Congradulations on such a find! This was my first black powder rifle I ever bought. Got it about 30 years ago and she still shoots true. My favorite load is a .530 ball, pillow ticking lubed with Ballistol and 80 grains of FFg Goex. Doc is right. The GPR has a 1 in 60" twist barrel, which is great for round ball. Mine is very accurate to 100 yards. You'll find that a round ball in a .54 commands so much more power at the business end than a .50. It will take care of elk, deer, bear or anything else you want to hunt in America. As long as you do your part, that .54 will do it's part. With a .54 ball, you'll find there are no need for those fancy and expensive modren bullets. I would suggest replacing the factory nipple with a Spitfire or Hot Shot nipple with 6 X .75 thread. Have fun shooting and good luck hunting :thumbsup:

 

[Doug Lykins]

$230....I'd have bought all they had at that price. Excellent buy! :thumbsup:

 

[shmrck1]

Hunter,
You did very,very good,price wise.
I got a .50 cal NIB GPR Lyman about 6 years ago
for $200,and I thought I stole it.Price a new
one and you will see what a great deal you got.
They are great shooters also.
Congratulations on a great find.
Forgot to mention mine is F/L.
snake-eyes :applause:

 

[F.G. Ford]

ARE THERE ANY MORE LEFT?
I'm sure there are few of us, that would take them.
Old Ford

 

[RickD]

Gosh what a buy

 

[jbtusa]

You found yourself a great bargain! The Lyman GPR's are fantastic shooters. They are also the closest to period correct of the production guns.

My .54 GPR likes 80 grs. of FF Goex with a .530 ball and .18" ticking for a target load for at shoots. For hunting, I move up to 100 grs. of FF Goex. The point of impacts are almost identical. The 100 gr. hunting load is just as accurate and consistant as the target load.

Don't forget to squirt WD 40 in the hairline gap between the barrel and ramrod lug (rail). It is not soldered and draws water at cleaning time.

 

[smo]

I have a .54 cal GPR flint lock it likes 100grn of Goex FFFG ,pillow ticking spit patch , & a .530 Hornady round ball. As stated above you may want to work on that front sight :thumbsup:

 

[renovato]

I don't think I've seen any rifle that has been recommended on this site as many times as the Lyman GPR has. And owning one, I agree with every one of them. They're a well built, rugged, and accurate gun that's pretty close in authenticity.

As for loads, you always need to work up your own load for your particular gun. I run 85 grains FFFG in mine, using a .530 ball on pillow ticking patching, lightly lubed with Ballistol. My GPR is less picky about powder charge than any other gun I own though. Start at 60-70 grains and work up 5 grains at a time, until you find your most accurate load.

 

[TimJ]

Great price. I thought I did pretty well at getting a GPR kit for $254. Was it at one of the sportsmans warehouses that are closing? They have been pretty good to me. Sad to see them close but it saved me on that rifle and who knows how much on fly fishing gear.

Tim

 

[tg]

"You all have recommended that I use round balls in the .54. Do you guys have any conicals that you recommend?"

What's a commical?

 

[William O.]

The reason that the PRB comes highly recommended is that not only will your GPR shoot them very accurately but the .54 cal sized ball is a devastating game getter. Best thing to do is start with a mild load, 60 grains, not less, and work up slowly from there to determine where accuracy is best as well as where it drops off, stopping at 100 grains, max. My GPR's accuracy really improved when switching to Goex over the subs, so that's all I use for my front stuffer rifles now. The addition of a shooting wad, even with a PRB can improve accuracy too, especially when using other bullets. I don't think your rifle will shoot conicals very well, however you should try the pre-lubed T/C maxi-balls but keep in mind that they may hit much lower than regular balls. I settled on a 75 grain charge as a very good all around load and would use that on most anything, paper or meat targets. Hope this helps and please let us know how she shoots. :thumbsup:

 

[zrifleman]

Are you sure about the 1-60 twist? They are also made with 1-32 twist in 54 cal for using conicals.