Lyman Great Plains Hunter .54 Cal

[54bore]

Got the Lyman Great Plains Hunter .54 Cal out today, The last time i shot this rifle it was with fairly hard lead (9 to 9.5BHN) the rifle grouped well but was way to the right, i had to adjust my Lyman 57 way to the left in order to get zero, it was WAY off from the center of the Tang, Today i tried a different bullet, the Lyman Plains and they were poured from real soft plumbers lead, these bullets weigh 460 grains, i tried a fairly stout load, 95 weight grains of Swiss 2F Powder, and a .060 thou Vegetable Fibre over powder wad. The rifle shot EXTREMELY well!! 3 shots under an inch at 50 yards.

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[54bore]

My goal with this rifle and particular load is 200 yards max, this gun and particular load kicks like a mule, at least double what my .45 GM 'Hotrod Hawken' does, getting booted around this hard is good way to catch a bad habit. At least i know its gonna shoot, and shoot good! This rifle has REALLY sharp and deep riflings, i bought this gun brand new, I am sure it will smooth up the more i shoot it, it isn't hurting anything as is. Here is my brass jag after swabbing between shots

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[Harleysboss]

Nice shooting!Are those the ones I tried out of my MK85?

[54bore]

Nice shooting!Are those the ones I tried out of my MK85?

Yep, exact same bullets!

[54bore]

Here is your 3 shot group with them, you bested me!! Maybe? Its close!


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[taco650]

Did you have to move the rear sight left or right when using the new bullet? Nice group!

[54bore]

Did you have to move the rear sight left or right when using the new bullet? Nice group!

Yes, i was able to move it back closer to center. Here is a picture of it when shooting the hard 9-9.5BHN Bullets, it shot the harder bullets good but my peep had to be WAAAY to the left like this

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[crossxsticks]

Yes, i was able to move it back closer to center. Here is a picture of it when shooting the hard 9-9.5BHN Bullets, it shot the harder bullets good but my peep had to be WAAAY to the left like this

Attachment 196292

how are they going down ? smooth or tight ? and what twist you shooting? I got 2 of them 54's a tc 48 twist and gm 70 twist barrels. just shoot .530 rb's they kick bad nuff for a old softy. interesting what your doing thanks for info.

[54bore]

Crossxsticks, this is the Lyman Great Plains 'Hunter' model rifle, it is a fast 1:32 Twist for shooting conicals/bullets, i shoot sized and paper patched bullets so they slide down the barrel easily with just my thumb and index finger on my Range Rod, This particular bullet is not designed to do what i am doing with it (paper patching) but it very well can be done as seen above. This bullet is Lyman's version of a Maxi ball per say, i have 2 push through sizing dies that i use, i lube and resize the bullets themselves to .538, wipe the lube off them, then i use 9# onion skin paper and go 2 wraps around the bullet and push them back through a .539 sizing die. Idahoron has a really good informative paper patching tutorial above in the 'stickies' Ron uses the Lee S&W 500 bullet, this Lyman Plains bullet is similar in paper patching sense. A good over powder wad such as a .060 Vegetable Fibre wad is very important in my opinion, and Soft lead is your friend here!