Lyman Great Plains Rifle

[barebackjack]

I was snoopin around the sporting goods stores this weekend much to the dismay of the girlfriend, and I happened to pick up a lyman GP rifle. I liked the way it felt goin to my shoulder. It had by far the best balance of any the traditional mz's there, just kinda floated up to my eye, good sight line, the whole nine yards (wish my .22-250 felt like that). How are they to shoot?....or....Do they shoot well?

I noticed their also made by investarms (which gets slammed some on here) the makers of the cabelas line of mz's.

Just wanted to know what people think of em, I may have to go make em a deal on one.

Thanks
Keep your powder dry.
Boone

 

[jtmattison]

I love my GPR.
I have a .54 & .50 1:60 barrel and a .54 1:32 barrel for it.
It shoots roundball with excellent accuracy out of the 1:60 barrels and the 1:32 shoots any lead conical I shove down it with outstanding results.
I have one of everything Lyman makes and I love them all.
No complaints about Investarms quality here :hatsoff:

HD

 

[Rebel]

They are a real good shooter. Them and the T/C are the two best commercial Hawken Style rifles. Every one i have shot has been extremely accurate.

 

[jethro224]

I love my GPRs too! Everybody who owns one seems to like 'em just fine. They shoot real good.

The only ones who slam 'em are the ones who don't own one. Probly 'cause they got out-shot by somebody with a GPR. :blah: :rotf:

OK, so they may not be 100% PC and the ramrod is not pinned... :snore: :yakyak:
Get a good range/cleaning rod while you're at the store buying your next favorite rifle(a GPR)!

 

[meathead]

My first muzzleloader was a GPR, which I bought in the spring of '84. I joined a muzzleloading club and started to shoot at their Sunday Matches. I placed second and third alot, and even won a couple when the top shooter was "off the mark". I went on to hunting with it, and I lost count how many whitetails I took with it! I finally decided to move up to a custom heavy plains rifle that was built in '89, and so I gave it to my Dad who hung it on the wall. A good rifle, a very good rifle. Meathead.

 

[Bald Baron]

I really like my GPR, but had to change the flint lock to the RPL. The original just would not throw enough sparks. The RPL fixed that.

 

[Old40Rod]

For the money, the GPR is a "best buy", IMHO. I love my .50 kit GPR, shoots where I point it and looks good to boot. My only gripe is the factory trigger... the adjustment screw is too short to do much adjustment.

 

[Zonie]

As your hearing, the GPR is one of the best factory rifles out there.

Just a note about these Great Plains guns. There is the Great Plains Rifle, which is made for shooting round ball (read inexpensive). This is the gun everyone is saying is great.

Then there is the Great Plains Hunter. This gun, which looks exactly the same has a fast twist, shallow groove barrel which is made for shooting Sabots. Most folks on this forum are not big fans of the Sabots with their jacketed (high price) bullets.

There are a few little quirks with these Great Plains Rifles.
The first is the company uses some sort of grease in the bore that is very hard to remove. Until it is completely removed, the gun will not shoot well.
The second, as was mentioned is the trigger. My only complaint with it is the set (rear) trigger takes a small team of horses to pull it to the "set" condition. IMO, the spring is much too strong.
The third is these guns ALL have the front sight left too tall so they will shoot low.
IMO, this is done intentionally by the factory to allow you to file it down so it will be sighted for the loads you plan on using.

It is an exceptionally fine gun and in my opnion is even better than the Thompson Center rifles (although the TC warrenty is impossible to beat).

 

[Old Charlie]

I have the GPR in .54 cal. in cap and flint. I had to drill the touch hole out to 1.16" to get it to fire like it should. They are very good guns.
Old Charlie

 

[Zonie]

Charlie: You didn't really drill it out to almost 1 3/16 of an inch did you?
Hell, the barrel isn't that big.

Ya, in my experiance drilling out the touch hole to at least 1/16 of an inch (I think that's what you meant to type) improves the ignition and IMO, in the larger bore guns like the .54, even 5/64 (.078) isn't too big.
Zonie

 

[dlpowell]

I've owned TC Hawkins and now a GPR 54 cal. IMHO the GPR shoots where it points and there is less recoil than the TC's, all the way to 90 grns of FF and round ball. :hatsoff:

I admit I hadn't shot one in 30 years. Picked the GPR and was hitting paper plates at 40 paces off hand the first time out.

Don Powell

 

[dmills]

My impulse buy used Lyman GPR from an online auction arrived yesterday. I just had my first range session this afternoon with great results, IMO. I post a range report later.

 

[netoleon]

If Consumer Reports did a review of traditional BP rifles, the GPR would definitely rate the coveted "Best Buy, CR Recomendation".

I spent months, literally, reviewing info and looking at commercially produced rifles before settling on a GPR. My other piece is custom and hand-made, so my expectations were low. But I was surprised at it's quality and accuracy, especially considering how inexpensive they seem. If I somehow lost it tomorrow, I'd go and order another one straight away.

The GPRs do have their quirks. My "complaint" is that on the Lyman caplock, half-cock is more like "1/5 cock". The consensus of GPR users here is that can't be tweaked short of replacing the lock. It's annoying, but hardly detracts from my overall satisfaction. Good luck if you join us GPR shooters !

 

[Otter]

Have to concur with all the accolades being heaped on the GPR. My first was a .50 I won in a raffle, second one was a .54 I bought on purpose. The .54 was used and built from a kit and it had the barrel and all furniture browned rather than blued. The trigger might need a little polishing, but other than that I have no complaints about the GPR. Even with the customs sitting in the safe, the .54 GPR is usually the one I will grab first.

 

[gmww]

I noticed their also made by investarms (which gets slammed some on here) the makers of the cabelas line of mz's.

Just wanted to know what people think of em, I may have to go make em a deal on one.

Thanks
Keep your powder dry.
Boone

Pieces of kaka them Investarms. You just better get rid of it and send it to me so I can keep it next to my Investarms Cabelas Hawkens in .54 cal. Yes sir just send it to me!

 

[jtmattison]

Pieces of kaka them Investarms. You just better get rid of it and send it to me so I can keep it next to my Investarms Cabelas Hawkens in .54 cal. Yes sir just send it to me!

Kaka in Italian (where these rifles are built) means the finest of production muzzleloading rifles. Only to be owned and fired by the finest of muzzleloading enthusiasts.
:rotf:

HD

 

[gmww]

Now aint that Ironic! :rotf: But seriously, I love my Cabelas gun. If it wasn't for that gun I'd never continue buying and buying and buying more ML's.

 

[hack]

I know where there is Lyman hawken that has probobly less that 100 rounds through it for $450.00.
54 cal flintlock
Is that a good price ?

 

[Bob J]

Love my Lyman GPR .54!

 

[Rebel]

NO, you can get a new one for $373.43 from Midsouth Shooters Supply if by Hawken you mean Great Plains rifle.