Need help with GPR

[braintan]

Since this is my first post (I think) let me say how much I appreciate this site. Tons of great info here.
I have aquired a Lyman GPR that is supossed to be about 10 years old. It looks new on the outside but the barrel was rusted pretty bad. I have been filling it with PB Blaster, letting it soak a couple days, then brushing it out.
What I need to know is, would it be a good idea to remove the breech plug because the rust was so bad there it wrecked the first brush I put down it.
I don't have much in this rifle and thought about just replacing the barrel with a Green Mountain.
I will appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Stubert]

I just cleaned a 50 cal. that my buddy has.It was so rusty when he tried to load a great plains bullet it would not go down the bore more than 3 or 4 inches. We had to pound it down to the powder with a 2x4. He shot it out and I cleaned it, 4 days soaking in penatrating oil then brushing and then I took a cleaning patch on a jag soaked in oil and rolled it in 220 grit valve grinding compound, Kept putting more compound on and lapped the bore for about an hour. Its as good as it is gonna get. We havn't shot it yet, but the barrel is smooth to the feel but looks absolutly horrible, grooves are pitted but the lands are smooth. When it warms up we will be out to try it with r/b. Try lapping it. You can't ruin it anymore than it is. Good luck

 

[Norskie]

Soak'er in Co'cola! If its rusted that bad, the breech will fight you all the way. Flint or Percussion? If it has a drum or a liner, try to get that out so you can see what the breech area is like. Stubert's right, though. You should lap it.
Moose

 

[braintan]

It's percussion. I do have valve grinding compound. I'll try that. Would putting the compound an a barrel swab work? Thanks for the help.

 

[flat9999]

A swab would work, but a lead slug would work much better. Use valve grinding compound very sparingly, just to get the bore leveled-out. Then switch to fine lapping compound or even better, JB bore paste.

 

[jtmattison]

The breech plugs are not meant to come out. Clean it with naval jelly, cola, whatever concoction you like and lap it. I think that would be your best bet. Try to be careful, you may end up with a smoothbore.

HD

 

[Hunter66]

If the barrel is scrap you can get a Lyman barrel from Midsouth for around $115. I have both the fast and slow twist barrels and they both shoot great.

 

[cowpoke1955]

I think hunter66 has the best solution. If the bore is that bad, a new barrel will give you an almost new rifle. :thumbsup:

 

[lonedave]

If it was me, I'd go with the replacement barrel and keep the original for a project. You could use it for practice cutting dovetails and keep the parts for making a new barrel down the road. I picked up an abused T/C Cherokee barrel for next to nothing with that thought in mind, but I just haven't gotten to the practicing part yet.

Dave

 

[54ball]

Howdy, Homefolk
I assume you have been using a bore brush. You'll need a sturdy cleaning rod, not the wooden ramrod but an all metal range rod or a multi peice shotgun type. Wal-Mart has most of what you need in the deluxe gun cleaning kit. It is the one that comes in an aluminium briefcase. I had to buy an additional shotgun rod packet to get the lenght for my 42" smoothbore barrel. You will need a cleaning jag. Wal-Mart may have one. I know a .50 jag is in the kit mentioned above. You can use a .50 jag in a .54 but you haft to use more materail around it and you may loose a patch in the bore. A patch puller or bullet puller is needed to pull lost patches out of the bore. The kit comes with adapters to adapt jag to rod, rod to brush ect. A nipple wrench will be needed to remove the nipple.
Start with the brush to loosen the rust and or powder. Dish soap and water and a 5 gallon bucket may be a good idea. Less than a gallon is needed. You want just enough to submerge the breech under water. With the nipple removed place the barrel breach end into the bucket. With your rod with brush attached start swabbing that bore. Stop from time to time and dip the brush in the soapy water. It would also be a good idea to get a small cup or glass and pour the soapy mixture down the bore. The brush and soapy water are removing loose stuff as well as all the oils that were put down the bore. Brush until you are sick of it and do it a few more times after that. Replace the brush with a jag. Use a wet cloth cleaneing patch. See if the jag and cloth will enter the bore. If so push it about an inch or so down and see if it will come out. Try a little deeper. If the barrel takes the jag and patch start swabbing. With the barrel in the bucket you will start to pump water through the bore. Check your patch often a rusty bore can eat it up quick. After a few minutes of this remove the barrel from the bucket. Pour it it out and now swab it a few times with a dry or damp patch. With the bore reasonalbly dry try a peice of green pot scrubbing pad on the jag. Swab some more. Dry patch it and inspect. Move on to steel wool on the jag. Swab some more. While swabbing youb should feel the rod twisting in your hand this is a good sign that the rifling still exists. Be sure to tighten the jag from time to time. After the steel wool inspect the bore. If it is still rough try emory cloth of fine grit on the jag. Swap a little and inspect. Now work your way back to the steel wool then green pad. Replace the water in the bucket with fresh hot water. Now start swabbing with a cloth patch. Pump water through the barrel. Remove the barrel and start running dry patches through it until it patches come out reasonably clean. Now oil well with a patch.
Inspect the nipple area very well. Pay close attention to the nipple threads to make sure they are not ate up. If the threads are damaged the gun is unsafe to shoot.
A rough and pitted bore sometimes will shoot very and I mean very well. They will always be harder to clean but not as invovled as just described.

 

[braintan]

Well, I tried the lapping with some very fine compound and got it feeling pretty good. We're sposed to have decent weather Sunday so I'll put a few rounds through it and let ya all know.
Hey 54, what would make a pitted barrel shoot so good? I'm in DeKalb Co. Where you at?

 

[Dickert54cal]

I called Green Mtn last week to purchase a second barrel for my Lyman GPR.....They do not make a drop in barrel for our gun. There will need to be modifications in order for their barrel to fit...Per my conversation with them. The next best thing would be to contact Lyman to purchase a barrel......Hope this saves you some time. :hatsoff:

 

[ktw]

I called Green Mtn last week to purchase a second barrel for my Lyman GPR.....They do not make a drop in barrel for our gun. There will need to be modifications in order for their barrel to fit...Per my conversation with them.

Track of the Wolf offers them already modified for a GPR.
[url] http://www.trackofthewolf.com...ist.aspx?catID=14&subID=142&styleID=1192[/url]

 

[54ball]

Hello,
I'm in northern Jefferson County just north of Pinson AL. A bore being pitted does nothing to help accuracy but sometimes it really doesn't hurt it either. A gun that started out shooting well when it was new may shoot as good when it gets pitted from abuse. The deep rifling on a muzzleloader allows some guns to shoot accurately even if it has some pitting. The bore of my fathers Renegade looks rough, so rough that I have thought about getting him a new barrel. That Renegade still shoots very well. Don't go by looks ,go by results.

 

[braintan]

I tried it out today. It shot pretty good 3 ball groups at 25 yds. There was some shooter error involved :redface:
When I thought about checking the patches I could only find 5 out of 18. They have thick heavy fouling but no tears or burns.
I brought it home and went after it with solvent and the gunk is still comming out. I think it helped to shoot it. I really believe it may be ok when it gets clean. Thanks for the help everybody.

 

[54ball]

Thats great. :thumbsup:

 

[Shifty]

Hey if you still need a barrel for your gpr try midsouth shooting supply