Had my Lyman Great Plains Rifle out again yesterday (.54 caplock from a kit) for the first time in several months. I'm tellin ya, it can't be beat. Anyone thinkin about getting into blackpowder should get one.
I was with some friends/family who had been wanting to see it so we took it down to their creek. I hung a paper plate in a tree (so we were shooting into the bottom of a 40ft creek bank/hillside) and we stepped back about 40- 50 yards. I took the rifle out, let em all take a look at it. Showed em how to load it and then prayed that the sights were still on....
BOOM!......smoke cleared, and from where I was standing you could see the hole right in the middle of the plate
I ran a patch down the bore, and asked if anyone else wanted to try, only one guy would. He shoots/ hunts a lot so I loaded it up minus a cap. Explained the double set trigger and then handed him the rifle and a cap. He shouldered it, tried the balance a little bit then BOOM....another hole in the plate about an inch above my shot. His response? "That doesn't kick at all"
I put a couple more through it and it was shooting great as usual. Its such a comfortable gun, aims naturally and soaks up the recoil so that just about anyone could shoot it. I was just using a .530 ball over 60 grains of FFg Goex, a very accurate load in this gun. ( makes a can of powder go a long way too)
So then I decided to try some experimenting. I'd heard that a slow twist barrel won't accurately shoot conicals (I still believe this, but I think when folks say accurately they mean match accuracy). I'd also heard that hunting class loads give you a sore shoulder.
So I loaded it up with a 435 grain maxi hunter made by TC over 60 grains of powder. Shot it at the plate, it hit 2 inches lower than the ball, but windage was right on and it punched a clean round hole. No keyholing.
So then I bumped it up to 80 grains of powder under another maxihunter and decided to do some ballistic testing on a log that was down over the creek. BOOM....you notice the recoil now, it raises the muzzle some. But its not painful in any sense of the word and I was only wearing a long sleeve shirt and light jacket, no padding.
It hit right where I was aimin, just like the patch an ball I could call my shot. And while it didn't penetrate all 12" of the flood swollen ash tree, there was a 2" pucker mark surrounding a nice half inch hole, and I couldn't dig the slug out with my knife.
So I tried another maxi hunter on the old ash tree, and sadly it didn't punch through the second time either, but once again I was able to call the shot, and it was a clean round hole that went in deep and turned the surrounding wood into pulp. Those little fellas hit hard!
I'm not tryin to brag on my shooting, cause its not like I was shooting very far or making tiny groups. I'm just trying to show what a great rifle this is. Its got the balance, and the accuracy to shoot it offhand and HIT what your aiming at EVERY time, and while it packs a heck of a punch, it only punches what your shooting at. Some good hearing protection is all you need to shoot it all day comfortably.
I can't recommend this rifle enough to someone looking to get started in blackpowder
I was with some friends/family who had been wanting to see it so we took it down to their creek. I hung a paper plate in a tree (so we were shooting into the bottom of a 40ft creek bank/hillside) and we stepped back about 40- 50 yards. I took the rifle out, let em all take a look at it. Showed em how to load it and then prayed that the sights were still on....
BOOM!......smoke cleared, and from where I was standing you could see the hole right in the middle of the plate
I ran a patch down the bore, and asked if anyone else wanted to try, only one guy would. He shoots/ hunts a lot so I loaded it up minus a cap. Explained the double set trigger and then handed him the rifle and a cap. He shouldered it, tried the balance a little bit then BOOM....another hole in the plate about an inch above my shot. His response? "That doesn't kick at all"
I put a couple more through it and it was shooting great as usual. Its such a comfortable gun, aims naturally and soaks up the recoil so that just about anyone could shoot it. I was just using a .530 ball over 60 grains of FFg Goex, a very accurate load in this gun. ( makes a can of powder go a long way too)
So then I decided to try some experimenting. I'd heard that a slow twist barrel won't accurately shoot conicals (I still believe this, but I think when folks say accurately they mean match accuracy). I'd also heard that hunting class loads give you a sore shoulder.
So I loaded it up with a 435 grain maxi hunter made by TC over 60 grains of powder. Shot it at the plate, it hit 2 inches lower than the ball, but windage was right on and it punched a clean round hole. No keyholing.
So then I bumped it up to 80 grains of powder under another maxihunter and decided to do some ballistic testing on a log that was down over the creek. BOOM....you notice the recoil now, it raises the muzzle some. But its not painful in any sense of the word and I was only wearing a long sleeve shirt and light jacket, no padding.
It hit right where I was aimin, just like the patch an ball I could call my shot. And while it didn't penetrate all 12" of the flood swollen ash tree, there was a 2" pucker mark surrounding a nice half inch hole, and I couldn't dig the slug out with my knife.
So I tried another maxi hunter on the old ash tree, and sadly it didn't punch through the second time either, but once again I was able to call the shot, and it was a clean round hole that went in deep and turned the surrounding wood into pulp. Those little fellas hit hard!
I'm not tryin to brag on my shooting, cause its not like I was shooting very far or making tiny groups. I'm just trying to show what a great rifle this is. Its got the balance, and the accuracy to shoot it offhand and HIT what your aiming at EVERY time, and while it packs a heck of a punch, it only punches what your shooting at. Some good hearing protection is all you need to shoot it all day comfortably.
I can't recommend this rifle enough to someone looking to get started in blackpowder
