After looking at post #14 maybe I shouldn't have ordered a .54 GPR complete.. lol. We maybe another time
After looking at post #14 maybe I shouldn't have ordered a .54 GPR complete.. lol. We maybe another time
the assembly is the easy part. yeah, you could shoot it that way, but it really does need two things done - rasp/file/sand the proud walnut wood down flush to the furniture (butt plate, toe plate, trigger guard, tang, wedge escutcheons, nose cap. the wrist area wood also needs shaping to blend the lock and side plates into the stock. with just a 4-in-1 rasp, that can be between a 30 minute and 3 hour job - all depends on how smooth you want the final wood to look and feel. the wood is european walnut and can be clear coated without staining. i prefer to stain it dark, and i typically use LMF american walnut. one coat is usually enuf. buffed out with 0000 steel wool and it's ready for a real finish. the open grain can be sealed with a grain filler, or left as is - i usually don't grain fill. to seal the wood from the elements, and really pop out the wood grain i'll use either linseed oil (with dryers) or a varnish oil (such as tru-oil). finishing process can take at least a few dayze to as much as a month - all depends on the level of finished required or desired. this is a GPR .50 i finished a month ago for a friend, with a bout 8 coats of TOTW original oil finish ...
same gun above, but before stain and oil ...
fast forward to 4:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhRuUmImsbw
mike takes "kit building" to the Extreme - almost all of what he's done is more than overkill and totally unnecessary.
Watched the you tube posted by (Funteer) and came away after that and all the positive comments and decided you rfd are right and and it is a nice kit and I should get one .Also you wouldn"t be selling any lubed patches (magical)I could purchase ?
Last edited by Edward; 03-02-2017 at 07:59 AM.
really, for both newbie and seasoned pro alike, it's hard to beat a lyman GPR. even mike nesbitt's column in "muzzleloader magazine" specifically praises the lyman (investarm) rifles as the best value in a percussion or flintlock trad ml available these dayze.
who, me? i don't sell anything connected to muzzleloaders, sorry.
here's the deal and my recommendation for a newbie to trad side locks ...
BALLS - get, or cast, some balls that are .010" smaller than the gun's bore. so for a .50 you'd want .490 balls, and for a .54 you'd want .530 balls. balls are "pure" lead.
PATCH MATERIAL - you can experiment with any 100% cotton or linen material to use for patches. any material that is not 100% pure cotton or linen can too easily cause a "plastic" fouling residue in the barrel. so don't guess when it comes to patch cloth, go buy some. i recommend buying patch cloth or patch strips and not precut patches. there are valid arguments for using precut patches or cutting off a patch strip or cloth at the muzzle. when you cut a patch at muzzle, it'll insure that the ball is seated concentrically in the middle of the patch.
PATCH THICKNESS - for starters, get you at least a few different thicknesses of cloth to test out, see what works best for yer barrel's bore, depth of rifling. ball diameter. for a first gun baptism firing i'll bring .010, .015 and .018 thickness cotton tight weave patch cloth strips. all the online vendors sell these cloth types and thicknesses. when you get two or more cloths (usually yard squares, or 2" wide strips), mark them for their thickness with a sharpie pen else it might not be easy figuring out which is which when they're all stripped up.
PATCH LUBE - just spit or suck on the patch. easy, fast, cheap, always available. this is for immediate shooting - leaving a spit patched ball in the chamber will invite rusting sooner than later. for hunting, a greased patch strip or greased patched balls in a ball board are best - can stay in the gun forever, won't freeze up during a winter's hunt. the list of commercial patch lubes, or do-it-yerself patch lube, is probably endless. they're all good, one way or another. pick one out and just shoot.
some ball boards i made up ... top two have .600 balls in .015 grease lubed patching, bottom board has .490 balls in the same .015 grease lubed patched. what "grease"? i use a home made lube that i also use for lubing my .45-70 bullets, good ol' "gato feo" lube - mutton tallow, beeswax, canning wax.
he did take it to the extreme but a hell of a job in doing so, especially the cheek piece. I wasn't pleased at seeing stain being used on good walnut, one down side. Springy barrel was the main point as they supposedly don't have that issue.
I haven't put one of their kits together but I don't call having to remove a sliver of wood from the drum area much of an issue if that's all it took to make the barrel drop in. I would say actually very minor, especially considering it is a kit.
some kits its much more extreme. But you'd expect that since they are kits. I did complete overkill on a Traditions kit I put together, but that's my main hunting rifle now. Its barrel dropped in perfectly with no barrel spring, yet had some rubbing of the wood where the mill eased up towards the breech.
Well I went ahead and ordered the GP kit from Midway, some LMF AW stain, Tru oil, some plum brown, and a couple spare flints. Couldn't let the $110 savings slip by on this kit. Figured it would be good practice as I'd like to build a TOW Bucks county kit. rfd thanks for the heads up on this sale!
Last edited by duckey; 03-04-2017 at 12:31 PM.
duckey your messages were full buddy. The owner of that second rifle wanted it slightly darker, so I used 2 thin coats of LMF honey maple and around 25 coats of truoil which was then buffed down gently with linseed oil soaked 0000 steel wool.
that GPR .54 "kit" before ...
... and after an L&R RPL05 lock replacement ...
... now the wood shaping begins ...
That's not a requirement is it? or is it more like replacing your brand new, factory, never used, stock in the box 1911 magazine with a Wilson 47D because that's just how you roll.L&R RPL05 lock replacement
The factory lock on the GPR should be fine?
Not speaking for rfd, but there is a guy here in my area that builds custom Muzzleloaders, he absolutely swears by L&R Locks, he says there is no comparison between an L&R and a stock lock. I have zero experience with them, other than handling a few that were on his guns.
IMHO, the stock GPR lock is more than fine.
there's a thread in this forum that shows me shooting a GPR kit .50 flint 3x in a row with a stock lock that has fast lock time, and with 3f in the pan, not 4f.
"so why replace it???" 'cause i could, and i can, and i did.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |