Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Lyman Great Plains Rifle = Junk

You will likely find them from Track Of The Wolf. I got mine there. It's for my TC Hawken. It is a 50 cal. 1/66" twist. It is more accurate than the TC barrel , however, the original was 1/48" . The Gren Mountain was $286 wit shipping. Not bad at all and fit perfect.
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The Green Mountain barrel replacement sold by The Track Of the Wolf will not fit the Lyman Great Plains Rifle. They only fit the T/C's , never offered by Green Mountain. The Lyman has two wedge lugs, the T/C has only one. I had to had and old black powder smith make my a barrel using the Lyman breech plug and other furniture from the Lyman barrel. Very expensive today, got a price to build a .58 caliber from The Track Of The Wolf and had to pass due to cost. Too bad my guy that did the work retired! The Green Mountain barrels sold by The Track Of The Wolf may fit the Lyman Trade Rifle witch uses a single wedge lug and is shorter than the Great Plains Rifle at 28". I think there is some confusion on the Lyman models.

Switch , you could be right. There is a guy somewhere that will bore it out but you will get a 54 cal.. Not the end of the world. Then you can get any twist you want and likely a better cut barrel, unless the steel is junk too.

Check Bob Hoyt for a re-bore.

Well guys, I'm back again, but this time with a possible solution for those unfortunate souls stuck with a Lyman tomatoe stake.

Never did get my GPR to do what I bought it for, so I checked out drop in barrels, from Track,(John said they don't make them for the GPR),and anyone else other than Lyman. I then came across the idea of trying to get a custom muzzleloader smithie to rebarrel the one I have. Well, I found one willing to do it. He said it would be a month to get it done, with a premium barrel, and once I get it back I plan on reporting the result here.

This may be the single way to get the Lymans of recent manufacture to shoot. Lyman was lightning fast to cover themselves from the liabilities of defefective guns blowing up, but when it comes to standing behind their products.....well, I still haven't gotten an email reply.....

Thanks to all who have tried to help out us tomatoe stake owners!

I bought a .54 GPR used last fall at a good price. Supposedly was fired twice. The barrel was rough inside with tool marks. About 200 strokes with JB Bore Paste smeared over scotch brite pad and she was smooth. Went from 8" group at 50 yds to 1" using 70 gr. ffg and .530 roundball. I presume it was tearing patches before the polishing. Works great now, and I will keep it. Only other complaint I had was the buttplate being sharp along the lower edge, also an easy fix.

For target grade ML barrels, get in touch with Ed Rayl in Gassaway West Virginia. He will build an octagon barrel to any length up to 48", and any dimension across the flats up to 1 1/8", with just about any twist rate you want. He has built several chunk gun barrels for me, and they've all been exceptionally accurate. I shoot the biggest .50 caliber round ball barrel he makes, with a 1:66" twist, 48" long. The rifle weighs 18 lbs., is nearly 6 feet long, and is a flintlock. "Over the Log" shoots, only!
Jerry

I sent the GPR to Troy Roope in Virginia for a rebarrel with a Rice barrel. He should be recieving it today.

I checked him out on several forums, and could not find anything negative about him, his bussiness, or the quality of his work, actually it's quite the opposite. Spoke with him about the job, and he has definite ideas about what would work out the best, so I sent it to him. As I said in the previous post, once I get the GPR back I will let the members know my opinion on how it went. After everything that Lyman screwed up with 2 complete rifles, and a recall barrel, if it goes bang and prints an inch at fifty I'll be thrilled......I'd even take 2" @ 50 if it put it to the same place every time.

Flintlock season ends here tomorrow and it's forecast to be a drencher, so I'm grabbing my Pa Pellet, (that one shoots), and trying it for the last time this season today. Funny thing is I've had nothing but good luck with the Traditions. 2" @ 50yds with a 370 Maxi over 95 Grs FFG, and 3/4" @ 50yds with a .490 patched ball over 75Grs FFG.

Old Man, get back to us when its done. Also, I cant imagine shooting a 3/4" groups at 50 yds. even with my Green Mountain barrel. Seems one shot in 5 is 2" off and screws my group. I am going out again today . I only have open sights and know I could do better with different sights. What kind of sights do yo have that you shoot 3/4" groups @ 50 yds. I rarely do that . I can now and then shoot that with 3 shot groups however. I will get back to you soon . Heading for the range. I can say, this new Green Mountain tears patches with more than 60 gr. of black powder.

Rice barrel is a great resolution. Machining is so muck better, and they clean so well.
Bobby Hoyt is great at reboring barrels, he is in Adams county near Gettysburg. I think he charges 75 bucks or something in that ballpark.

Mr Bobby Hoyt
700 Fairfield Station Road
Fairfield, PA 17320
717-642-6696

Hi ihookem. If you're tearing patches with more than 60 grs the barrel may not be broken in yet, but all my Green Mountain barrels were drop-ins that shot right from the box. One in 5 being a flier isn't all that terrible so long as the cold & clean fouling round isn't it. I would suggest a pillow ticking or irish linen shooting patch, and maybe another 100 rounds to help the barrel settle in, there should be massive improvement by then.

As for the sights, being "The Old Man" means the eyes are too! Even after cataract surgery and lasix that back sight is hard to see clearly. What I did on both the GPR and the Pa Pellet was install a peep sight. Night and day improvement. 3/4 inch is virtually one ragged hole, so I use one of those black eight inch stick on targets to be sure to hold the same way on the sand bags every time, (my front bead subtents 7"@ 50 yds and really helps aiming) and for a five shot group, I swab with 91% alcohol between shots. My norm with black powder is only a three shot group without swabbing, and that's what I measure my groups with.

Hope it shoots better at the range.....sounds promising.

Gee thanks " Old Man" ! I should get me a peep sight. Idaho Louis has peep sights too . he sais he just cant see with peep sights very well for hunting but targets are fine. As for the first shot in the group , it is not the flyer. It is likely the last one in 5 shot groups but the flyer is seldom bad enough to would a deer. As for tearing patches, I use some cloth I was sure was ticking cloth. I am starting with what I know is ticking cloth cause I bought it at Walmart and is sure it is going to be better . However, I am also sure it cause the barrel is new also. Later, ihookem.

Aperature size is important on a peep. Small is good for targets - to a point. If it gets too small, sometimes the front sight blurs. For hunting, you can use a pretty good size aperature. If he was talking about a globe front sight, I agree - they stink for hunting. Make sure that's not what he thought a peep sight had to use. A nice wide, flat, front sight is best for my old eyes.

Old Man,

I havent been here much lately, the green mountain barrel I have was fitted by an older gentleman in Minnesota. He had a machine shop and I sent him the rifle and he fitted the barrel. His name is William Young and he was the proprietor of Wahkon Bay outfitting. He made and sold barrel browning solution, stock finish etc, while doing some gunsmithing. It was probably in the early 2000s when I had the work done..

ihookem, Benchman is dead on with the peep sight thing. Hands down will improve groups, but I would try it first prior to taking it off for hunting. Most guys I know just remove the screw in aperature and leave the rest as a ghost ring if they don't care for the aperature while hunting. POA won't change, and it is pretty fast to acquire the sights.And just a note if you're interested, I get my pillow ticking from Track of the Wolf, precut and Wonder Lubed.

Please let us know how that barrel works out.