I have been in the process of doing a rather ambitious rebuild of a Lyman GPR off and on over the past three months. I filed off the lettering from the barrel, reshaped and re-inletted the breech tang, lengthened the wrist, thinned the forearm, reshaped the lock and opposite side molding, cheek piece, and buttstock, including changing the angle of the buttplate. I thought I was doing pretty good for my first time trying something like this. I kept referencing photos of original Hawkens and of course was not able to make a copy, but the work I was doing was certainly inspired by the originals.
Then my wife's dear mother (a close friend of mine) died unexpectedly, and a previously-dormant case of Lyme disease flared up. I tried to continue working on the rifle despite the challenges, and that was my mistake. For anyone who has ever fought Lyme you know that the treatment can make you feel worse than the disease and it can affect one's cognitive abilities severely. And of course grief is a real snot-kicker as well, as we all know.
Anyway, for some inexplicable reason I decided to change the buttplate angle even more, and also I decided to do away with any remnant of the Lyman "perch belly". In my life event distraction and brain fog I lost track of what I was doing and ended up taking way too much material off the bottom of the buttstock, and this is what I ended up with (buttplate is sitting loosely on stock - it fits better than shown):
I always knew that some of the metal of the bottom of the buttplate would have to be removed when the extreme angle of the stock Lyman buttplate was corrected, but I think I went way overboard. It seems to me that I took a good 1/2-3/4" too much material off.. Lord was I discouraged when I realized what I had done!
The other problem I ran into was that I went through 5 attempts to drill the holes for the buttplate correctly but could
not get them right. As you know, those puppies have to be exactly right or the buttplate will be askew. The task seems beyond me, even when I use a center punch to start the hole etc.
My hope is that I can salvage this stock instead of tossing it out and having to pay a considerable sum for a new one that will still be in need of modification. Plus this particular stock has much sentimental value to me, since I was doing the work while grieving my wife's mother's passing.
As a solution I was thinking of taking it to someone who could add some wood of a similar grain to the bottom of the buttstock to flesh out what I have taken away. I don't care if the repair can be seen, since this will be my wilderness hunting rig and will likely gain much character over the years, even with the good care I give to my rifles. There aren't any traditional gunbuilders that I am aware of where I am in northern northern California, but perhaps a skilled woodworker would be able to do it, even without rifle building experience. I don't think I have much choice..
I also need someone to drill those danged buttplate holes for me!
On a positive note, the process, with all of its flaws,
has accomplished much of what I set out to do, which was to take an inexpensive used gun and gain practice in several elements of gunbuilding that I will use on a more expensive longrifle kit someday. Still, I want this process to have the end result of a good, serviceable and fairly attractive rifle.
Anyway I just wanted to share what was going on with my new-to-all-of-this Lyman rebuild.
Thanks for reading and good day to you.
Kevin
