Lyman Great Plains Rifle

[longrifle]

I am pretty new at gun building and I am thinking about building a Lyman Great Plains Rifle from a kit in 50 Cal. or 54 Cal. I have not made up my mind which cal. yet.  I would like to hear a little input pro's and con's or any advice on these rifles. Thanks in advance.

[billd]

This is a good kit for a beginner to start with.  A good shooting reliable gun but very muzzle heavy to carry all day.

Bill

[jerrywh]

Great plains rifles shoot as good as any rifle there is. Believe it or not I shoot most of my shoots with one.
 I like 54 cal.

[Bob F]

I have one in .50  shoots great but can get heavy.  Especially in heavy snow and ice going uphill....believe me...I know! 

[Leatherbelly]

 Go with the .54.

[Rich]

it was the first kit I built. Shot it for years. It was a good value and rifle. I would also go with the .54. The one I built was a capper. I do not know how good the flintlocks are. A replacement lock may be available. The cap lock was fine as was the barrel.

[fm tim]

Great starter.  With a little care and research, it will end up as a firearm that you can be proud to shoot.

[J Shingler]

I have both the 50 & 54 in caplock. Back when I shot cap these are the two I shot all the time. 50 for paper and the 54 for woodswLks and hunting. Both are excellent started guns. Have round ball twist barrels. One thing that might influence you is if you buy or cast ball. 50's usually come in 100 count bags or boxes. Several manufactures run 50 count bags for .530's usually for about the same price. If you mold your own there not to much difference. Just a thought. 
Jeff. 

[Rick Sheets]

I have had two GPR's in .50 caliber and caplock. I got rid of the fish belly on one; I believe it made it look better. BOTH shot exceedingly well. Besides the accuracy of these guns, a the nice thing about these is the fact that L&R has a replacement lock with a v-mainspring if you need to replace the lock in the future. Rick

[northmn]

Good rifles good reputation.  I replaced a DST trigger screw in one for a person so it could be set a little finer.  Don't know if I would recommend flintlock.  Cap guns are fine.

DP

[J Shingler]

Good point DP. Easy enough to do. I recomend that too. My older 54 had the longer screw. The the newer of the two, the 50. Has a short screw for I expect liability reasons. Same when looking at the manuals. They show loads for both but the newer of the two has lighter max loads.
Jeff

[longrifle]

I am going to get the cap lock rifle kit and I imagine I'll get it in 54 cal.

[LynnC]

D. Taylor Sapergia posted some awsome pics of a Lyman GPR he reworked for a fellow.  Perhaps you could search for them or maybe we could get him to repost.  Well worth a look..........................Lynn

[LynnC]

Found it,

Search for GPR in gunbuilding.

2 will come up, 1 called GPR rebuild.  Several GPR's.  Check it out

[longrifle]

I searched and found it thanks .  Very interesting and a good looking rifle.

[erdillonjr]

 Lyman rifles are the best commercial guns out there. Great starter gun and they are reliable. Ed

[B Shipman]

Years ago, I put some of these together for people. If you realy thin down those ugly lock panels, reshape the forestock to a nice rounded contour, and dress everything down nicely, they look pretty good. The "engraving" on the lock is unfortunate. As is the position of the lock bolt. Would'nt it have been just as easy to have a plain lock and the lock bolt placed in a traditional position. Wish I had some pictures.

[alex e.]

Does not L&R make a replacement lock for thar gun? IN flint or cap ,if one is not happy with the engraving..

[northwoodsdave]

Alexsnr

Yes, L&R carries un-engraved replacement locks, for both early and late Lymans, in both flint and percussion.  My early Lyman GP may be getting a changeover to flint soon!

Dave

[tuffy]

The L&R is a fine replacement lock for the Lyman coil spring lock that come on the rifle. The only thing that needs to be done is a little wood removal to get the L&R spring to fit. But it come with instructions and is a 10 minute fix. No comparison between the two locks. The L&R is heads and tails above that coil spring monstrosity which is almost impossible to take apart for cleaning without special tools. Plus the L&R is polished and tuned. I've got three in .50 caliber with 1-60 twist. They shoot OK, but I would recommend the .54 for consistency.

[Acer Saccharum]

I like .54.
Fights the wind better than .50
Acer

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

This is Brian's Lyman Great Plains lock, and L & R's replacement.

[Roger Fisher]

You have a better choice w/the .54 if you are involved with trail walks since you run in to some weird shots at times.....i.e split the ball, cut the string and once in a while it will change a near miss to an edger!!   Course you will hold 'center' regardless..........

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Roger, I think that with "cut" shots, like playing card and string, you still need a centre of ball hit, but I confess, a .54 has a bigger centre than a .50.

[Randy Hedden]

Roger,

Did you forget about those woods walk targets where you have to put the ball through a hole in an metal plate at 25-30 yards and hit the actual target hidden behind the metal plate?  How about having to shoot through a metal pipe at 20-25 yards like shooting down a tunnel.  Smaller balls have an advantage in these cases.

Randy Hedden