Spruced Up GPR's??

[ncmtmike]

Anyone spruced up a Great Plains rifle you would share pics with us? Looking for some idea's :wink:

 

[Crewdawg445]

Replaced the stock lock with an L&R RPL and it was the best investment I've made for it! Stripped the stock and completely refinished her, and to top it off I made a custom single trigger and fire blued the screws. I'll get pics! :thumbsup:

Forgive me, but she is a flinter, figured I'd post anyways because this rifle gets me all excited! Love her!

I had to remove ALLOT of wood to get the lock to fit just right, and reshape the mortise. Certainly worth the work! To make the trigger I used the stock plate, tack welded the extra holes, filed and shaped her down and cold forged the trigger from mild steel plate and pinned it with music wire. Also she has an RMC vent liner, fires off lighting fast!

 

[nkbj]

Just my idea of spruced up.

Forty bore fast twist drop in barrel.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Very nice. Is the barrel simply in the white? How does it balance with that .40 barrel?

 

[Black Jack]

I had to remove ALLOT of wood to get the lock to fit just right, and reshape the mortise. Certainly worth the work!

If I may ask...you say you had to remove a lot of wood. I know the RPL locks require wood removal on the inside of the mortise. Was the lock plate by itself a drop-in fit, or did you have to do significant re-inlet work for the plate? Was the hole in the plate properly placed for the lock retention bolt? I'm interested in one of these but have limited confidence in my woodworking ability.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Yes sir, I had to remove a good amount on the inside for the internals to fit as well as the outside of the lock panel in order for the lock to sit flush as you see in the second picture. However, the plate alone DID indeed sit within the existing mortise without alterations. It wasn't a hard task by any means, yet it will require patience and a steady hand. Also, when they say "drop in"... no way, the three RPL locks I have purchased all required a tedious amount of finish work and tuning. Besides all the work which makes this hobby great, certainly worth the time and efforts! :hatsoff:

 

[Jim C]

Installed a Green Mountain 40 cal barrel 38" 1:48 twist. The barrel came equipped with TC type sights. I have changed the front to a more traditional type German silver and will be getting a dovetail cut for the rear so I can replace it with the traditional Lyman type semi buckhorn rear that came with the rifle. I Also added a 5/16" brass ramrod. She's extremely muzzle heavy, but steady as a rock offhand as long as you don't dilly dally too long before touching her off :wink:

 

[RonRC]

My 54 cal GPR was a kit rifle and the barrel was "sanitized" by the previous owner per the draw filing method. Thus all the writing on the barrel was removed. The furniture and barrel was rust browned.

Ron

 

[Jim C]

That's a really sharp lookin' rifle Ron. The half stock Hawken plains rifle is my all time favorite. :grin: I'm dying to have mine antiqued. As a matter of fact I started a topic on that when I first joined the forum about 3 mo's ago. Was asking if anyone knew someone who offered the service. Several suggested I do it myself, but I just don't feel confident in my ability to make it look like what I want it to look like, and besides that, my living arrangements doesn't give me any place to perform such tasks.

 

[Jim C]

Oh yeah, weighing in at slightly over 11 and a half lbs recoil is almost non existent with the slightest little powder puff push even with the heavier charges. SWEET!

 

[tenngun]

You know your living arangment best so what i say here may be of no value. Stripping the old finish off and re oiling it only takes sandpaper a block of wood and a couple of different sized dowles for sanding tight areas.You can do it inside any old room. The barrel can be polished to bright with fine emery or wet to dry body shop sand paper. An oil finish is mostly a few miniuts to apply then a day to sit and soak. A cold brown like wise is just applied and let sit.Hot water and a bicab solution only added at the end, can be done at the kitchen sink.

 

[Jim C]

The lack of confidence in my ability is the true deal breaker. I'm too afraid that I'd make a mess out of it. I just don't believe I possess the knowledge and experience to make it look like a true antique which is what I'm after. Metal and woodworking is just not my forte.

 

[tenngun]

Well you know whats your comfortable doing. And you dont want to screw up any thing. If you be like me the whole 'bills to pay'thing plays havoc on the hobby budget. Something I have learned in my life however is complex things other people do is rarly as complex as it sounds. If one man can do it another man can do it too.

 

[Alden]

Installed a Green Mountain 40 cal barrel 38"

That barrel looks longer than 38", maybe 'cause it's only .40 so the proportions are off; is it just me!?

 

[azmntman]

How does that .40 drop in barrel shoot (group?)

 

[Jim C]

I hear ya loud and clear on the money, it is an issue here as well, when I want something I just have to save for it for a while. When I say antiqued though I mean that I want it made to look OLD. Yes, I can probably brown the metal and put a few coats of oil finish on the wood, but that will not make it look old. I have absolutely no idea what type of procedures and materials they use to do it, but looking at some of the examples made by craftsmen such as WB Selb for instance, those are brand new guns that look like they've been borrowed straight out of a museum somewhere. And as far as ME draw filing the modern hogwash out of the metal? That would be a HUGE no no! :shocked2:
You said : "If one man can do it another man can do it too".
And I say with some of us MAYBE, but with a whole lot of practice to gain experience and I just don't feel comfortable "practicing" on my guns knowing that if I screwed them up I would never be able to afford to replace them. :wink:

 

[Jim C]

Actually it's 38 15/16 from muzzle to breech plug to be exact. It does LOOK longer than that, but I suppose that's just because we are so used to seeing the half stock plains rifles with the much shorter 30 and 32" barrels.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Very pretty finish, I've considered numerous times stripping the blued finish and browning. However, I absolutely love the dark stain I've used up against the dark bluing... Can't commit to doing it! Fine examples everyone! :hatsoff:

 

[Jim C]

So far I've only had the chance for one short range session with it where all I tried was a 40 gr charge of 3F with a .395 Hornady ball and a .015 cotton linen spit patch that produced a 50 yrd 5 shot 2" grp from the bench. Not exactly breaking any world records quite yet :grin: but the sights that came with the barrel absolutely suck and I'm working on getting them changed out to primitive sights. Will be applying the Dutch system to her as soon as I figure out what size patch and powder charge she prefers, and of course, finding the time to get around to doing all of that as well :grin:

 

[nkbj]

Very nice. Is the barrel simply in the white? How does it balance with that .40 barrel?

It's white and mighty slow to get any color. Some day I'm just gonna break down and brown it. Haven't so far just 'cause of puzzling over what sights it should end up with.
On the balance, that's the full length of barrel that a GPR comes with. It's just tolerable for me. I'd prefer a little less front hang but again, it's a sight thing and the rifle isn't a finished project any more than what is being shot. All still a work in process.
Those original full sized half stocked rifles with .38 barrels on them just blow my mind.