my first trip to the range!!!!

[sdhunter]

took my new gpr 54 to the range today on my first black powder adventure lol. The rifle shot way more accurate than i expected. I was shooting at 50 yards using goex 2f and .015 patches and .018 pillow ticking. I only tried one charge of 60 grns due to the fact i was just trying to "break in" the barrel. The gun liked the .018 ticking and the .530 round ball best. the shot patches looked rather well with no burn holes and one small burr tear that will eventually smooth out. the gun was shooting about 2 inch groups which i thought was great for the first time out and in the hands of a greenhorn lol. i believe i found my new favorite hobby. thanks again to all who helped me along the way. :thumbsup:

 

[Nappers]

Sounds fun!

Glad you enjoy it.

As a greenhorn myself, I went to a rendezvous and was humbled by the way some shoot! I had a good mentor and he helped me a lot as well as the great reading I did for a year or more here!

My poor centerfire rifles are getting dusty!

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Welcome to the "Dark Side"!

Remember to work-up a load that you're comfortable with, then start playing with sights AFTER "break-in". Congrats and enjoy!

Dave

 

[Pete Gaimari]

My poor centerfire rifles are getting dusty!

Don't let them do that.

Sell them.

 

[Jim Fitzgibbon]

That's a great rifle,I love mind.60 grains is a good starter load.Keep us posted on what works
best in you gun.

So far 70 grains has been very good for me at
50 yards.I shot mine at 100 yd,s with 70 gains
& it groups well but shoot's about 3 inch low.

I have not yet tryed more powder at 100 yd range
yet.
Fly :v

 

[BrownBear]

My poor centerfire rifles are getting dusty!

That's a hazard alright! :grin:

I have two very large gun safes double stuffed with modern guns, and the days-long cleaning and care ritual is really under my hide for guns that haven't been fired in years.

A while back I started the appraisal process for a bunch of them, figuring to make room in a safe and re-invest in very high end custom muzzleloaders. I mean, if I'm going to have safe queens, at least they ought to be muzzleloaders, right? :rotf:

Then my wife and daughter got wind of it. Ah man, talk about a dust up. It turns out they built up a lot of fond feelings for them and think of them as family heritage or some such now.

But I got my evens last month! I gave my daughter a dozen rifles and half dozen handguns and told her she's in charge of storing and cleaning them now! You should have heard her excuses for leaving them in my safe! That's nothing compared to the noise she'll make when I do it again next year! :rotf:

 

[sdhunter]

yea so far i am very impressed with the rifle. i was surprised i had no problem with the lyman nipple or cci caps, it went bang every time.

 

[BrownBear]

That's good. I don't know how much you shot, but for me it was always a "growing" problem, getting worse shot by shot as a little fouling built up on the nipple. If you're careful to wipe the nipple (I'm not!) it oughta help. If you're not doing that and experiencing no problems, I have to wonder if Lyman FINALLY started using a different nipple. That would be good!

One bit of unsolicited advice for your 54 (same for a 50 as a matter of fact): Once you decide on a hunting load, sight it in at 75 yards rather than 50. Charges in the 80-100 grain range will be barely an inch high at 50 and only 2-3 low at 100. Best part is, with no change in sights your lighter charges will be more or less right on at both 25 and 50 with that sight-in for heavier loads. You'll like it! :thumbsup:

 

[Jim Fitzgibbon]

That's some great advice Brown Bear.I don't hunt anymore, just shoot paper but it's still great
advice.

Well I say I don't hunt any more,but I do want to
do some Hog hunting.There is no way my wife will let me hunt our deer around our house.

He!! she has them all named!

Fly :nono:

 

[Skychief]

i believe i found my new favorite hobby. :thumbsup:

:shake: Welcome to the dark side. :shake:

. :haha: .

 

[sdhunter]

brownbear, i shot 25 rounds and ran patches down the barrel after every shot but never touched the nipple or flash channel while shooting. i was making sure i placed the cap firmly with the brass capper but i hope everybody does that. :idunno:

 

[BrownBear]

You're right on track, and doin' good.

I'm gonna take this as evidence that Lyman finally got tired of complaints about those nipples. Capping as you were, I never got more than 5 or 6 shots before misfires started. They'd fire reliably when you recocked and tried again (the cap was finally seated), but no amount of pushing was enough when seating with a brass capper.

Good news I think, and thanks.

 

[Nappers]

My poor centerfire rifles are getting dusty!

Don't let them do that.

Sell them.

I would, but they are my fathers guns and when he passed away, he knew I wouldn't sell them or hawk them like my brother, sooooo I'll keep them and blast them once in a while.

But, muzzleloading is my new obsession!

 

[MSW]

ayup- he's hooked ...

welcome to the obsession!

you should look into Dutch Schoultz' monograph on muzzle loading accuracy- it's well worth the modest investment.

make good smoke!

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

That's good. I don't know how much you shot, but for me it was always a "growing" problem, getting worse shot by shot as a little fouling built up on the nipple. If you're careful to wipe the nipple (I'm not!) it oughta help. If you're not doing that and experiencing no problems, I have to wonder if Lyman FINALLY started using a different nipple. That would be good!

One bit of unsolicited advice for your 54 (same for a 50 as a matter of fact): Once you decide on a hunting load, sight it in at 75 yards rather than 50. Charges in the 80-100 grain range will be barely an inch high at 50 and only 2-3 low at 100. Best part is, with no change in sights your lighter charges will be more or less right on at both 25 and 50 with that sight-in for heavier loads. You'll like it! :thumbsup:

I couldn't agree more! If all of the Newbies would just do this and shoot a CLEAN rifle, more than half of their problems would "go-away" by themselves!

And I'll add one more thing: Once you set the sights LEAVE THEM ALONE and learn to work from there with Kentucky Windage & Elevation. You'd be surprised how many people that get used to making high-tech scope adjustments simply can't get there head wrapped-around the idea of learning what their rifle likes & what it does so that they're able to make adjustments from there, instead of messing-up their starting point of a well-maintained "Zero" by fiddling with sights during a Shoot. I know several "decent Shooters" who shifted their rear sights THE WRONG WAY during the excitement of a Match, when all they had to do to be in the top three places was to simply use a little Kentucky Windage to adjust for that day's weather!

Have a great Father's Day weekend!

Dave

 

[catman]

The perfect load...

So far 70 grains has been very good for me at
50 yards.I shot mine at 100 yd,s with 70 gains
& it groups well but shoot's about 3 inch low.

I have not yet tryed more powder at 100 yd range
yet.
Fly :v

 

[jamesthomas]

hotoSmile: :thumbsup: Wish I could get to the range but it's just to dadgum HOT!

 

[Pete Gaimari]

My poor centerfire rifles are getting dusty!

Don't let them do that.

Sell them.

I would, but they are my fathers guns and when he passed away, he knew I wouldn't sell them or hawk them like my brother, sooooo I'll keep them and blast them once in a while.

But, muzzleloading is my new obsession!

Excellent reason to keep them.

I have a 30-30 my dad bought me when I was 12 years old. I'd never sell it, and will on occasion hunt with it in 50's style clothes for old time sake. Lots of memory's in that old gun. She still takes a deer as good as ever.

 

[leslie]

Try some 3f you might get a pleasant surprise,not as much fouling and maybe better groups.Yeah I know 2f in 50cal and up,taint necesssarily so.My friend shot 2f for years in his 54lyman,conned him into 3f,magically the groups went from acceptable to cloverleaf at 50yds.Just a suggestion thats all.

 

[sdhunter]

went to the range again yesterday and shot 30 more rounds out of it from 65 to 80 grns of 2f and the pillow ticking again. The rifle likes 80 grns the best so far so i think i will just stick with that for target and deer hunting. the load is keeping a very tight group at 50 yards. After this 2 day rain shower passes i will try it at 75 and 100 yrds and see what happens. Still no problems with cci 11 caps. The burr i had earlier in the barrel has also seemed to smooth out, the patches look like they are reusable but i still am going to wait for the filing of the front sight till after i shoot another 50 rds.