Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders first flint - not happy

So .. I swapped off a NIB percussion gun (and some $$ of course) and came home with my first flintlock, a Lyman Plain Rifle (slow twist) .54.

One of the things I don't care for is the very hard pull to set the trigger. I've had double sets before and this thing is HEAVY, probably in the 20 pound range. Even set, the pull is pretty gross. Call it 6 pounds. Unset, probably well over 10. The set adjustment screw seems to be bottomed out hard so my guess is they cut the screw short to limit how light the trigger can be set.

Is this "normal" or did I buy a [bleep] up gun? I was expecting it to be something I could take shooting before having to have a gunsmith work it over. I guess I should have caught it at the store but the owner distracted me with his non stop bull-[bleep]. I will take it back if I have to but it's a 6 hour round trip drive so I'm going to be full on boiling mad before I get there. It would be a lot better if this is something that falls within my limited ability to fix.

Tom

thats lyman for you. The trigger adjustment does zero, you have to contact dixons and they sell an over sized screw you have to trim in order to adjust it properly. Heavy set trigger pull is kind of normal on the GPR and Traditions.

What bigblock said. I remember having to replace those adjustment screws for customers with a longer one 30 years ago with one that would actually make contact with the set trigger.

Pull the trigger housing from the stock and take a gander! It's probably easy to cure the problem! On my Hawken rifles there is one screw that controls pressure to set the set trigger and sear engagement! Its not rocket science! Once adjusted use blue Loctite on screw to remain set!

The set trigger on my Lyman flinter was too light. I added weight via the screw. Guess they are all different.

All in all there are worse things to deal with. It's a factory rifle whose production is/was governed as much by lawyers as by rifle loonies. Send off for the above mentioned screw and while you're waiting take a few pokes with that new fusil and have a cold beer or two.

Those Lyman Plains Rifles are about as good as it gets short of a custom job. Having to deal with a tiny quirk in the beginning is a small price to pay for many years of reliable service to come.

Thanks for the input and advice. Seems like a good plan.

Tom

For sure, never had a bad one and built many of the kits. Never had a problem of getting a few ounces pull. But Lyman rifles are farmed out and it could change. I believe the best were made in Italy. Spain at one time had little gremlins with chisels cut barrels. Many foreign flint locks had old tin cans made into frizzens.
But a wrong screw could have been installed, it happens with boxes of screws.

According to the shop where I bought it, every GPR/GPH they've had come through in recent years had a set screw too short to be useful for adjusting the trigger that had to be replace. They sent me me a replacement. I'll probably put everything back together this afternoon. I figured out the heavy rear trigger / unset pull weight issue .. there's an adjustment screw that was hidden underneath the trigger guard. I've returned from "ah, shiiiiiit" to pretty optimistic. I appreciate the help and input. (Yeah, I already said it, but it's still true. Thanks, guys.)

Tom