New GPR Questions?

[trdixon1]

I just bought my first muzzleloader, a 54 cal GPR and the wedges have been a little hard to get in. Well the front one went in with a good amount of pressure but I'm scared to force the rear on in all the way. It's almost all the way in. Should I pound it the rest of the way in or not?

My second question is what does everyone use to pound the wedges in and out?

Third question: What kind of a file do you use when filing down the front sight? And do you have any other tips? I know that you should only file a little at a time, but what direction do you file in? The filing the metal part of sighting in makes me nervous. I am afraid that I will mess-up.

Forth question: How many times should you run steel wool in and out of the barrel to smooth down the rough edges?


Sorry about all the questions and thanks for your help.

 

[longcruise]

I just bought my first muzzleloader, a 54 cal GPR and the wedges have been a little hard to get in. Well the front one went in with a good amount of pressure but I'm scared to force the rear on in all the way. It's almost all the way in. Should I pound it the rest of the way in or not?

You can either open the loops on the bottom of the barrel a bit or put a bit of an arch in the pin to make it go in and out a little easier. Mine press in with some effort with my thumb. They should be tight enough that the barrel does not have any looseness and tight enough that the keys won't fall out on their own.

Third question: What kind of a file do you use when filing down the front sight? And do you have any other tips? I know that you should only file a little at a time, but what direction do you file in? The filing the metal part of sighting in makes me nervous. I am afraid that I will mess-up.

Just about any file will do. It should have a handle on it and not be too coarse. File in the direction that will be least likely to cause damage to the barrel if you lose control of the file. Most of those sights are too thick, IMO. You might want to pick up another sight that is thinner.

Forth question: How many times should you run steel wool in and out of the barrel to smooth down the rough edges?

I prefer to firelap the barrel and also rework the crown. Those factory crowns can tear up your patch while loading.

You can steel wool, shoot it in, or any of the other methods that will be suggested shortly , but firelapping is the one time, first time, and simplest method of preparing the barrel to shoot.

 

[bucktales]

#4
Never needed to do so. Patches on mine were fine. Shoot yours first before doing anything.
Make sure you get that packing goop out of the barrel. Carb or brake cleaner, bronze brush and a bunch of cleaning patches will take care of that.

 

[StewartLeach]

Kansan:

I recently obtained a left hand flint GPR, and the wedges supplied were both the same length, with the rear wedge too short to engage the escutcheon. These wedges were just barely long enough to engage the front escutcheon. These wedges are also, in my opinion, much too blunt on the end. An email to Lyman requesting a proper length rear wedge resulted in receiving another short one.

I ordered two replacement wedges from Track Of The Wolf, then fitted them to my rifle. The new wedges have a four sided taper on the end, and were shortened enough so that only the tapered part sticks out. I left just enough full thickness to engage the left side escutcheon.

Avoid hammering on the Lyman wedges! That blunt, squared off end can catch on the inside of the escutcheon and bend it outward. If you ask how I know this, the answer is obvious- I did it! "Get a bigger hammer" is not always good advice. Get an ignition point file at Checker, Pep Boys, Auto Zone. etc, and use it to fit things up for a heavy thumb push fit. You may have to adjust the barrel loop tension once in a while to maintain this tension. I do this by laying the side of a short piece of 1" steel round against the outside of the loop, then tapping with a hammer as I move the bar forward and back. Go slow, it's worth taking ten minutes to do this right.

When filing front sights I protect the adjacent metal with duct tape. I also cover the muzzle with tape- filings are hardened, and I don't want them in the barrel! When filing, stroke from rear to front, and be sure to maintain a steady downward curve from rear to front. I recommend using a caliper as a depth mic. Start with the Lyman sight three clicks up from bottom. File off 30 thou or so, and fire five. Continue this until you hit point of aim.

The steel wool idea gives me the willies. First thing to do with a new rifle is get all the preservative gunk out of the barrel. It is tenacious, must be half grease and half road asphalt. I go outside, submerge the breech end in a tomato can half full of Coleman Fuel, and pump a patch up and down many times. Change solvent a couple of times. Then protect with a patch lightly wet with Ballistol or similar.

Many factory barrels are a bit rough inside. I prefer to fire lap with abrasive loaded bullets. Marmotslayer posted a truly excellent discussion of this at post # 661182. I urge you to get some 54 caliber Minie-type bullets from Track, and then get the abrasive kit from Midway. Steels used in muzzleloader barrels are not very hard, so use only the two finer grades of abrasive. I recommend ten rounds with the middle grade, and twenty with the finer grade.

Enjoy tinkering with your rifle! It's a good part of the fun of muzzleloading. When I get too grumpy for my spouse to tolerate, she tells me to go fondle my bullets.

Regards,

White Fox

 

[mykeal]

Take the wedges out and use a thin, flat, fine tooth file to open up the top of the escutcheons on the left side. Check fit often so you don't overdo it; it won't take much.

Shoot the rifle 20+ rounds before you do any firelapping or abrasive round shooting. You may not need to do anything. The most enjoyable way to break in the barrel rifling, however, is to just shoot it. (Firelapping??? Why is everyone always in such a hurry? Just take your time and enjoy yourself shooting the gun.) Should be able to fix any tendency to cut patches within a hundred rounds.

 

[trdixon1]

You made I good point there. Since this is my first muzzleloader I should take my time and get familiar with my gun and the overall process.

 

[killer]

if you pound in the wedges you will split the stock on the gpr they are very thin under the forarm. The guy at dixon said this happens a lot.

 

[FPDoc]

Don't get in a hurry to file the front sight. Work up what your rifle likes in terms of ball size, patch thickness and amount of powder etc. and shoot it a lot. Finally pull your nice tight groups up where you want them at the range you need them, with the file. Or.. file the heck out of it now and order another sight in case you need it when you do find your perfect load combination.

 

[FishDFly]

Read the manual with your rifle, it will help a lot and answer questions, it worked for me.

RDE

 

[Naphtali]

Be advised that the wedges are of different lengths.