Plains Rifle

[Panzerschwein]

Hi everyone! I got my Lyman great plains rifle in .54 cal caplock out to do some shooting:

Shot very nicely! No problems with ignition in the twenty three shots I've fired so far. I'm using Remington #10 caps on the factory nipple. I was using Goex 3Fg powder since that's what I had on hand and used it to fill my horn with. But the other day I stopped by Graf and Sons in Mexico, Missouri and picked up my order of eight cans of black powder, mostly Graf's brand 2Fg and some 3Fg as well as some Goex-made Old Eynsford 2Fg which is a high-grade sporting powder comparable to Swiss powder.

This is my first percussion black powder rifle and I'm so glad to own it. Very fun to shoot. As a native of St. Louis, it is very neat to own a gun that is based on the authentic J&S Hawken rifles made their in the mid 19th century. I've found that I prefer to load from horn and pouch as it was done back then. If you've never tried it, you owe it to yourself to get a hunting pouch and a powder horn. It's very fun. Now all I've got to do is work on my load development to find the sweet spot for target shooting as well as a potent yet accurate hunting load for deer and boar. I plan to hunt this fall with this rifle.

Guys it's getting warmer out, or at least will be getting warmer soon. Don't forget to pull out the black powder guns and show them some love.

 

[Blackpowdershooter44]

Very nice rifle right there, how was the accuracy?

 

[Armored farmer]

Get yourself a 9/16 paddle bit and about a 5/8ths board and make a bullet board. It sure speeds up the reloading.

90gr 3f, .530rb, .020 lubed patch is my load. Ymmv.

I made mine in the shape of a crude fish. My buddy made his in the shape of a beaver pelt.

Very nice rifle and plunder!

 

[Jimster]

Beautiful smoke pole! If you cone your barrel it makes loading that much easier. Like you, I prefer to load from the pouch. I don't use a bullet board but I did make a ball bag with a wooden spout.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Thanks for the comments guys! Accuracy was pretty good but I was mainly shooting at a swinging metal gong. I am not sure what was going on but this thing was totally wrecking the gong! With 100 grains of powder it was leaving deep craters in the metal. It's only a pistol-rated 6" gong but I was surprised how much damage the soft lead was doing to the steel. Won't do that again!

I intend to make or buy a bullet board soon. They are neat. Here is a view inside my shooting pouch just for fun:

I still need a couple tools such as an Allen key for the clean out screw on the snail drum, a small turnscrew for removing the lock for cleaning, and something I can use to push out the wedge pins.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I always thought the Plains Rifle would look better with a steel cap box.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I always thought the Plains Rifle would look better with a steel cap box.

Unfortunately, this doesn't come as an option on the Lyman GPR. To get that you'd have to go custom.

 

[Jimster]

I find 70gr to be most pleasant and accurate. Nice accoutrements!

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

...With 100 grains of powder it was leaving deep craters in the metal....

You could always consider putting some more distance between you and the gong, and maybe leaving a few more grains of powder in the horn.

 

[Panzerschwein]

You could always consider putting some more distance between you and the gong, and maybe leaving a few more grains of powder in the horn.

You think?

 

[Idaho shooter]

My stick. Floats with leviticuss Blue. 90 grains of 3f, seems unnecessarily hot. Try 70 grains of 2f, and you will find it shoots well, and stays a lot cleaner, and produces less pressure. That is a very nice rifle, I know you would hate to damage it. Save the heavy loads for big game. Good luck!

 

[Dog Soldier]

The 90 grs or 100 grs load are needed for accurate shooting at 100 yards. The hunters of old carried a 50 grs charger, They used the light load for close quarters hunting. When they needed a field load they doubled the load from the 50 caliber charger.
why modern B/P shooters fret over a 90 grs load and a 220 grs ball is confusing. This is a very light 45/70 load. We shoot 65/3f and a 255 grs slug in a Colt walker? My 100 yard load for target competition is 105/2f in a .54 Rice match grade 44" round cut refiling.

 

[Armored farmer]

My stick. Floats with leviticuss Blue. 90 grains of 3f, seems unnecessarily hot. Try 70 grains of 2f, and you will find it shoots well, and stays a lot cleaner, and produces less pressure. That is a very nice rifle, I know you would hate to damage it. Save the heavy loads for big game. Good luck!

.....and perhaps my charge that I listed needs a bit of explanation:
I deer hunt almost exclusively with that .54.... hence the heavy charge. It has been my deer hunting recipe since 1984. No harm to rifle or rifleman. Many deer on the wall and in the freezer though.
I have .45 flinters and percussion rifles that I shoot at the club and for targets.

 

[Jimster]

Heck yes! That'll make meat.

 

[midland man]

in my traditions Kentucky rifle in 45c flintlock of course I use 50gr 3f goex with 18ths patched ball with 1-66 twist my rifle shoots very well! and due to hunting in brush I hardly get ranges of much more than 50-60 yards, so this load works great on paper but I have yet to harvest a deer not guns fault but just hand't gotten a clean shot so I hope this fall I finally hope to see what it'll do

 

[Crawdad1]

That's a great rifle you got there, not only accurate but built tough just like the Hawken.

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

Cooldill, you mentioned only having 3F on hand. If your shooting 3F, your 100 gr load is the Max rated load for the .54 Great Plains Rifle. With the possible exception of some of the modern inline guns, I've seldom seen the max load be the most accurate for an off the shelf muzzleloader. One of the beauties of shooting loose powder is you can experiment quickly and easily to find the most accurate load for your rifle.

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

My CVA 50 cal Mountain has a german silver patch box and nose cap and butt plate. I did dull them down for hunting with just regular bluing.
Mine had a factory recommendation of 90 gr 2f as max load, Got mine in 1978 as a kit
Lost pictures when old laptop crashed. Will have to take new ones later

 

[Crawdad1]

Cooldill have you seen this thread on ALR board.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=37390.msg408236#msg408236

Goes through all the contemporary Hawken rifles that were offered over the years, your Lyman, GRRW, Ozark Mountain, Sharon and well as others.

 

[Dog Soldier]

What is accurate? What is in accurate? It will vary with barrels and shooters. Accurate to me is a rifle and shooter who can shoot off hand on a standard NMLRA paper target. The shooter can keep 5 balls in the 9 and 10 ring off hand at 100 yards.
I have never seen this accomplished with "whimp" loads in any caliber. The .50 caliber is the most popular caliber with the .54 at a very close second. The main consideration with heavy loads is the column length of the load. There must be an adequate flame path through the powder column. This decides? Do we use 2F or 3F? This can be determined by shooting over snow or an old sheet. The amount 0f unburned powder is the factor. It is common for serious shooters to use 2F in both the .50 and .54. calibers.

 

[eastbank]

my blue ridge pedersoli in .50 likes 80grs fff and a .490 gr ball with a 1/10th patch, i sold my thompson,s due to indiffent frizzens. the blue ridge has a ex frizzen and loves black english 7/8 flints. eastbank.

 

[Dog Soldier]

my blue ridge pedersoli in .50 likes 80grs fff and a .490 gr ball with a 1/10th patch, i sold my thompson,s due to indiffent frizzens. the blue ridge has a ex frizzen and loves black english 7/8 flints. eastbank.

That is a totally true statement. Too many production flint locks have soft frizzens. Many have a too thin case hardness which have a short life. The gun products from Pedersoli are tops in production guns.

 

[Jimster]

R.E. Davis is another excellent lock maker.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Beautiful guns guys. I was using 3F since I wanted to move it. Got some 2F I'll try next.

 

[Dog Soldier]

There are a number of Flint locks that are not mass produced. The Jim Cambers line Golden Age is one of my favorites. There are not many of the production flint locks that offer dependable locks. This has caused many beginners to think all flint locks are a poor choice.
Eastbank as always has offered a sound suggestion for a dependable production flint lock.