Stamped Numbers and Lettering Near Breach - Safe to File Away?

[Mattole]

I was very encouraged by people who suggested in another thread of mine that it was fine to file off the stamped lettering on a Lyman GPR. However after receiving my GPR from the seller I noticed that the serial number and some of the lettering was pretty close to the breech plug. I would love to be rid of the stamping, but I am wondering if it is too close to the breech plug. For instance I am afraid that in order to file the serial number off I will have to file the metal on the breech plug and then the breech plug will not match the level of the flats on the tang. Is this likely to happen? If so, do I then just file the tang flats to match the breech plug? Expert advice needed and welcome!

[Ron Brimer]

I know how you feel about the copy on your GPR. But after it is all done, you have refinished the barrel, it is still a GPR . I think you are safe as far as the gun goes. Check with TOW about a replacement drop in barrel. You are going to have to refinish it any way, save for a new one ,then refinish the whole gun. RON B 

[Shovelbuck]

Yes, you will more than likely have to match up the flats of the tang. That's a good barrel to begin with, no need for a different one.

[Mattole]

Thanks, Ron. Removing the lettering will be the first step in a whole rebuild of the GPR and will include reshaping the stock, browning the barrel, etc etc..

I know it will always be a GPR, but it will also be my first experience with developing some of the gun building techniques I will need for future projects of a more ambitious nature. Plus, it will be 'my' GPR when it is complete, not the factory's! 

[Mattole]

Is there anyone who has actually removed the lettering from a GPR who would like to chime in?

[Scott Bumpus]

Yes, the first thing i did to my percusion gpr was file all the markings off the barrel.  I have not finished the project yet, but there was no problem from filing away the markings. 

[Dphariss]

Thanks, Ron. Removing the lettering will be the first step in a whole rebuild of the GPR and will include reshaping the stock, browning the barrel, etc etc..

I know it will always be a GPR, but it will also be my first experience with developing some of the gun building techniques I will need for future projects of a more ambitious nature. Plus, it will be 'my' GPR when it is complete, not the factory's! 

Get a 4 ounce ball pean hammer and highly polish the ball and face. 400 or 600 grit will usually work OK
Use this, usually just the ball, to pean all the letters you want to remove. On and around them, LIGHT BLOWS. This will slowly close them up.
Many, many light strokes. Start with the lightest stamping preferably something isolated like 1-2 numbers pean them pretty well closed and then file these to see how it works. Then try the deeper ones. Which from the look of it are going to be nearly impossible to irradicate.

But REALLY. My advice is to keep the GPR as it is and invest in some parts and make a rifle from a precarve and a GREEN MOUNTAIN barrel..
This is a better investment of time.

Dan

[Steve Bookout]

Dan's method is the way I go about it and if you try it, remember: Do go lightly and use many, many strikes.  I also concur with buying parts and building your own.  The GPR will probably sell for more money later on if you leave it as is.  Been there.  Done that.  Cheers, Bookie

[Ron Brimer]

I did not mean to imply that any thing is wrong with the GPR . They are VERY good guns,   I just was trying to say put the effort in a twist for rballs, and it is longer. While you are at it replace that L bolt washer. In my early years I too did the same thing to my  Lyman. Its all about doing what you enjoy. Some times the stock has some good wood,and just the new stain and new finish can make them look very good. any way we all start somewhere.
    Take care RON B    

[Mattole]

Thanks, Ron. Removing the lettering will be the first step in a whole rebuild of the GPR and will include reshaping the stock, browning the barrel, etc etc..

I know it will always be a GPR, but it will also be my first experience with developing some of the gun building techniques I will need for future projects of a more ambitious nature. Plus, it will be 'my' GPR when it is complete, not the factory's!  

Get a 4 ounce ball pean hammer and highly polish the ball and face. 400 or 600 grit will usually work OK
Use this, usually just the ball, to pean all the letters you want to remove. On and around them, LIGHT BLOWS. This will slowly close them up.
Many, many light strokes. Start with the lightest stamping preferably something isolated like 1-2 numbers pean them pretty well closed and then file these to see how it works. Then try the deeper ones. Which from the look of it are going to be nearly impossible to irradicate.

But REALLY. My advice is to keep the GPR as it is and invest in some parts and make a rifle from a precarve and a GREEN MOUNTAIN barrel..
This is a better investment of time.

Dan

Dan -
Thanks for the advice on peening the letters before filing. I understand how you and others can feel that this is not a worthwhile investment in my time, but I think it will be. I pretty much have to refinish the barrel anyway, because I purchased the gun from a fellow across the country and he did not indicate before the sale in photos or in description some damage to the metal near the end of the barrel. He was not responsive to me expressing disappointment in the transaction either so I am stuck with a GPR that would not sell for the same price as what I paid for it (not that I got totally fleeced either, because I did not).

Plus, with an ill father on the other side of the continent that I need to visit, funds are not available at present for buying parts for a fresh Hawken build of my own. So rebuilding a GPR it will be! I figure that the worst that can happen is that I bungle on one of the finer points of the rebuild and then I'll have a beater Hawken to go wilderness deer hunting with (which is what I will be using this for however it turns out).

So come on fellows, I know a Lyman GPR is not as classy as parts gathered from more prestigious component makers, but with some good effort on my part and some helpful advice on your part I think I can come up with something I can be proud to own and proud to pass on.

Ron B - Yes, we all need to start somewhere! Fortunately the Lyman GPR that I have already has a barrel with a twist designed for round balls.

Now I just need to find some detailed images of Hawken rifles to use as a guide for my rebuild..

[Shovelbuck]

I just don't see where peening is going to do anything other than waste time. Sure, the letters will appear smaller after peening, but they are still the same depth. Get a file and get after it. It's a simple project that will vastly improve the looks of the barrel.

[Mattole]

Thanks Shovelbuck. I appreciate your encouragement. Now, where should I start removing material from with the file - from just behind the numbering and lettering or further back into the breech area?

[Shovelbuck]

Start several inches in front of the lettering and file towards the rear.

[Mattole]

How far beyond the serial number should I file towards the breech? An elementary question I know, but I am new to this..

[JoeD]

Just curious! Why exactly do you want to file away the numbers and letters? 

[Mattole]

Just curious! Why exactly do you want to file away the numbers and letters? 

Hello Joe -
I just don't like the way it all looks, and I believe that the aesthetics of the overall rifle will be much better without it.

[Rasch Chronicles]

Cause they !@*%&@ ugly, that's why!

I would follow Dan's advise proper peening will cut the amount filing in half.

Use a fresh new mill file, chalk, and a file card. Search for the drawfileing post of a couple of weeks ago. Everything you wnat to know in one spot!

Regards,
Albert

[Hawken62_flint]

Seems like there was another thread or maybe this same one that I replied to a few weeks back, but whatever.  For the why, us poorboys sometimes have to improvise and make a factory gun look more like an original or custom built one, not always having the dollars to buy enough parts for a build.  Removing all the warnings and made in Italy gives me a better feeling about the rifle, as the author of this post said, it seems like it will make it his GPR and not the factory.  I am with you there brother.  I have done this on a GPR flint and a couple of CVA halfstocks, prior to browning them.  It leaves a much cleaner line to the barrel and gave me great satisfaction when it was completed.  I still have the GPR and it is a good shooting rifle.  Like someone else said, no need to change out the barrel.  I draw filed the lettering off and taking long sweeps with the file blended it so that you could not tell without "miking" it that the barrel was not the same width everywhere.  Yes, you may have to work down the tang also.  Good luck and hope you are happy with your rifle in the end.  I like mine a lot.

[James Rogers]

Listen to what the gunsmith's are telling you and peen before filing.

[Mattole]

I will definitely peen before filing.

I'll also be documenting the whole rebuilding process and will post photos and text in another thread as I go along.

Thanks for the encouragement, fellows. Being sick with the flu today, your encouragement is uplifting.

[Mattole]

Seems like there was another thread or maybe this same one that I replied to a few weeks back, but whatever.  F

Yes I started another thread recently on the do-ability of filing off lettering and numbering. I started this thread because when I looked at my particular GPR, it seemed that the undesirable stuff was way close to the breech, and I needed a little hand holding to have the confidence to proceed...

I can taste a Jim Chambers Isaac Haines flintlock build in my future, but this GPR will do for now.

[Shovelbuck]

 Good luck, have fun filing out all the peening dents.

[Rasch Chronicles]

Having done steel dovetails, let me ellucidate upon the process.

Shovelbuck, he's not going to slam down on it like blacksmith at the forge. He will however put dings in the metal. The dings though, will be nowhere near as deep as the stamps. the peening will displace metal that will close the letter valleys. When it is all said and done, after drawfiling, it is unlikely that any evidence of the letters will remain. Any fine lines will be hidden completely by browning.

Regardless, any peen marks will be shallower than the stamping.

The only area of real concern is the edges of the barrel.

Mattole, if you are concerned about hammering, make a quarter inch round tipped punch and use that. Just take your time and it will all work out. You will see how the metal displaces and starts to close the stamping up. Put the muzzle in a padded vice and the breech end on a piece of oak. Let that act as your anvil. After that it is just a matter of evenly drawfiling the barrel.

Best regards,
Albert

[J.D.]

Listen to what the gunsmith's are telling you and peen before filing.

Absolutely. Dan and Bookie have done this many times, and they know what they are talking about.

You might search the archives to see what  either Daryl or Taylor did to a GPR and read what they did to accomplish their phenomenal make over.

You won't have enough wood to modify the stock to look like an original Hawken. Hawkens have lots of small, almost invisible details, to the uninitiated eye, that you won't see in photos, so don't worry about making it look like a Hawken.   Just do what the experts suggest and you can't go too far wrong.

God bless

[Shovelbuck]

Dan and Bookie have done this many times, and they know what they are talking about.

Are you saying I haven't? Just because I don't post much here doesn't mean a lack of experience., far from it! I don't believe in peening, never will. In my experience it's a waste of time and can cause problems down the road. To each his own, but as hard as it is for some to figure it out, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Draw filing isn't rocket science. I am done with this thread.