Lyman Great Plains rifle

[hawkeyesatx]

A good starting load for the Lyman Great Plains rifle is 60 grs of FFFg, or 70 grs of FFg.
That should give you a good start load, and accurate for round ball.
The rifle with a 1:66 twist barrel won’t readily stabilize a long bullet, but a ball, yes!
You can work up to 90gr to 100 gr load of FFg, and not be worried about loss of accuracy.
The trick to better accuracy is to use a thicker patch, with a smaller ball.
A .490 ball works quite well with thinner patches, but a .480 ball and a thicker patch will work better!


Hawk

 

[marcosfal]

I switched to plain, room temperature distilled water to clean my sidelock. My tap water has too much chlorine in it and was the cause of my flash rusting and subsequent rusting the next day. I confirmed the chlorine content not only by the obvious smell but also with a chlorine meter. I've used diluted bleach to rust blue some personal firearms. The issue was so obvious I couldn't believe I had missed it.
Karl, from InRange has a video that shows how he cleans his Springfield. I have used this same technique for quite some time and after thoroughly drying the barrel, I use Ballistol to store it. I used to obsess over the old cleaning ritual. Now, I'm done in about 15 minutes.
I use Swiss black powder, punched muslin fabric lubed with saliva and pure lead round balls. My rifle is an older CVA Sharpshooter .50 with a semi-pistolgrip stock (my favorite stock design) and a 1:48 twist. My most consistent groups are with 50 grains of 3F. Anything over 75 grains and the groups aren't anything I'd trust for hunting or fun plinking.
I find loading, shooting and cleaning these rifles very relaxing and fun. The first outing with this rifle we were hitting tennis balls at 50 yards. It's an addictive hobby. Enjoy!

 

[Ravensview]

I also clean up with hot soapy water, I use just a little bit of dawn in a bucket of heated up well water, put a cleaning jag on the ramrod with an oversized patch and draw the hot soapy water in thru the nipple (after pulling the nipple out of the drum) cleans up well once your bore is seasoned, my possibles bag is no where near as nice as Mr. Harvard’s but I carry a nipple pick, extra patches, extra balls, a loading block with 6 patched balls ready to go, a capper, a small knife, a flint and steel kit with some tinder, a nipple wrench and a couple of extra nipples and a small flask of powder, on the bag I carry a ball starter and a powder horn, my cleaning jag goes in the patch box with extra prelubed patches, in wet weather a “cows knee“ or piece of waxed canvas over the lock area and tuck it up under your armpit, I have dripped wax onto the nipple area in the past in order to water proof it also, Dixie gun works, Track of The Wolf, J.Townsend, October Country and Crazy Crow trading co have a lot of muzzleloading items for sale, National Muzzleloaders rifle association has a nice publication as does Muzzleloading magazine, they are addictive and a day of shooting doesn’t require a brinks truck to follow you around to pay for ammo.

 

[mark-hunter]

@Skinnersblade
Could you share some photo of that rifle with us?

 

[Ravensview]

I also clean up with hot soapy water, I use just a little bit of dawn in a bucket of heated up well water, put a cleaning jag on the ramrod with an oversized patch and draw the hot soapy water in thru the nipple (after pulling the nipple out of the drum) cleans up well once your bore is seasoned, my possibles bag is no where near as nice as Mr. Harvard’s but I carry a nipple pick, extra patches, extra balls, a loading block with 6 patched balls ready to go, a capper, a small knife, a flint and steel kit with some tinder, a nipple wrench and a couple of extra nipples and a small flask of powder, on the bag I carry a ball starter and a powder horn, my cleaning jag goes in the patch box with extra prelubed patches, in wet weather a “cows knee“ or piece of waxed canvas over the lock area and tuck it up under your armpit, I have dripped wax onto the nipple area in the past in order to water proof it also, Dixie gun works, Track of The Wolf, J.Townsend, October Country and Crazy Crow trading co have a lot of muzzleloading items for sale, National Muzzleloaders rifle association has a nice publication as does Muzzleloading magazine, they are addictive and a day of shooting doesn’t require a brinks truck to follow you around to pay for ammo.

Forgot one key item that is on my possibles bad a powder measure, I use either a brass adj. one or an antler tip drilled out to hold my chosen charge, I always charge my rifle from the powder measure and not my flask, less chance of an errant spark setting off a second charge early and blowing up your powder horn. I’d rather have 60 or 90 grains go off than a 1/2#.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

@mark-hunter I posted some however I’m not sure how to orientate them correctly. The keep appearing upside down.

 

[WAB]

You’re gonna like that rifle bud. Interesting side note, I bought mine in NA too.

 

[Deleted member 46122]

I also clean up with hot soapy water, I use just a little bit of dawn in a bucket of heated up well water, put a cleaning jag on the ramrod with an oversized patch and draw the hot soapy water in thru the nipple (after pulling the nipple out of the drum) cleans up well once your bore is seasoned, my possibles bag is no where near as nice as Mr. Harvard’s but I carry a nipple pick, extra patches, extra balls, a loading block with 6 patched balls ready to go, a capper, a small knife, a flint and steel kit with some tinder, a nipple wrench and a couple of extra nipples and a small flask of powder, on the bag I carry a ball starter and a powder horn, my cleaning jag goes in the patch box with extra prelubed patches, in wet weather a “cows knee“ or piece of waxed canvas over the lock area and tuck it up under your armpit, I have dripped wax onto the nipple area in the past in order to water proof it also, Dixie gun works, Track of The Wolf, J.Townsend, October Country and Crazy Crow trading co have a lot of muzzleloading items for sale, National Muzzleloaders rifle association has a nice publication as does Muzzleloading magazine, they are addictive and a day of shooting doesn’t require a brinks truck to follow you around to pay for ammo.

Perfect.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

You’re gonna like that rifle bud. Interesting side note, I bought mine in NA too.

Would you by chance remember the black powder club shoots in Yarmouth Bill? The black powder club used to own a range on the tinkham rd. Dad shot with that club I can just remember the last rendezvous, the club broke up in 1999 or 2000 so I’d of only been 6 or 7 at the time. Dad shot a playing card side on at 50 yards at that last rendezvous, one other gentleman also did in that event so instead of re shooting the agreed to choose a winner based on who ever shot the highest card on face value and dad lost out. The prize was the kit for the blunderbuss I mentioned in the first post.

 

[Ravensview]

We use to shoot at a tomahawk blade and the goal was to split the ball on the blade and hit a target on both sides, that was a hoot, had a bucket of replacment handles, then on team shoots we had a board for each team with 25 clay pigeons that you had to shoot, then 2 explosive balls off to each side of the board, first team done got bragging rights, another fun one was a 2x4 set up and you had to shoot it in half, I was always amazed at how that 2x4 could be held up by a few slivers of wood. Enjoy your new rifle they are addicting.

 

[WAB]

Would you by chance remember the black powder club shoots in Yarmouth Bill? The black powder club used to own a range on the tinkham rd. Dad shot with that club I can just remember the last rendezvous, the club broke up in 1999 or 2000 so I’d of only been 6 or 7 at the time. Dad shot a playing card side on at 50 yards at that last rendezvous, one other gentleman also did in that event so instead of re shooting the agreed to choose a winner based on who ever shot the highest card on face value and dad lost out. The prize was the kit for the blunderbuss I mentioned in the first post.

No, I shot in a club in New Brunswick. We had a really good group. My favorite though was ringing the gong at 600 yards with my buddy’s Whitworth. Those rascals take muzzleloading to an entirely different level!

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

We use to shoot at a tomahawk blade and the goal was to split the ball on the blade and hit a target on both sides, that was a hoot, had a bucket of replacment handles, then on team shoots we had a board for each team with 25 clay pigeons that you had to shoot, then 2 explosive balls off to each side of the board, first team done got bragging rights, another fun one was a 2x4 set up and you had to shoot it in half, I was always amazed at how that 2x4 could be held up by a few slivers of wood. Enjoy your new rifle they are addicting.

That would be an awesome challenge, I can see a need for the handles though

 

[WAB]

That would be an awesome challenge, I can see a need for the handles though

Yep, we set clay pigeons on each side of a double bitted axe driven into the end of a log. Not an easy shot with irons!

 

[fourfive8]

@mark-hunter I posted some however I’m not sure how to orientate them correctly. The keep appearing upside down.

The glitch in the photo download software on this site is that it thinks it knows the best orientation. To prevent sideways and upside down photos being posted, they can be rotated on your computer before posting. Once you get them ready for posting, just rotate them 360 degrees and download. The receiving software on the site then thinks they are good to go and will usually display them just as you post them. Give it a try, good chance that will solve the problem.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

The glitch in the photo download software on this site is that it thinks it knows the best orientation. To prevent sideways and upside down photos being posted, they can be rotated on your computer before posting. Once you get them ready for posting, just rotate them 360 degrees and download. The receiving software on the site then thinks they are good to go and will usually display them just as you post them. Give it a try, good chance that will solve the problem.

My only internet access is an iPhone which I’m not particularly qualified to operate so I geuss I’m stuck with the site knowing best.

 

[fourfive8]

My iPhone is a 6s, so not new by any means but it has an edit function that will rotate photos. Pull a photo up out of the gallery. Click on the Edit function and you should see an icon toward the lower right which looks somewhat like a rotating box. Click on that. The next screen should show a classic rotate command icon in the upper left part of the screen. Click on that to rotate photo. Click on "cancel" or "done" when done. You can play around with a photo to get use to these functions. On a desktop- same thing. Open a photo and find the rotate command icon usually up in the tool bar.

Makes life easier once you figure out how to post photos in correct orientation. To bad you have to trick the system once in a while

 

[JimP]

I read somewhere on a forum that if you want the correct orientation of the photo you have to hold the phone correctly.

For a landscape photo with a Android phone hold it so that the microphone is to the right, they also said that with the iPhone to hold it to the left.

 

[fourfive8]

You may already have plenty of accouterments for shooting your new ML. Here are some I use and have found to be handy. I use only real BP and have since about 1977. Tried Pyro when it first came out and still have most of that cardboard can of it. Just didn't work well for me.

Pics of some handy items I use/shoot. Patch knife for cutting patches at muzzle. Seat ball into muzzle with short stub on the starter, cut patch off flush. If tight fit then use the longer rod on the starter. Then ram to firm contact with powder. Swaged roundballs like those made by Hornady or Speer, are the most perfect. They are of soft lead and work very well. For casting roundballs, I use soft lead. For 50 cal I usually use a .490 ball with pillow ticking or equivalent. You'll have to figure out best or most practical fit of ball and patch for your bore. For hunting use, a tight fit patched ball is usually not the best especially if you can't easily seat follow up shots. However, I've found sometimes the most accurate combination for target shooting is a larger ball, thinner patch and slightly tighter fit. For patch lube and bore swabbing and range cleaning I use moose milk- a mixture of about 3or4 to 1, water to Ballistol. I have a dedicated ML range rod for loading, swabbing and cleaning. I use a properly sized brass seating and cleaning jag. Keeping roundballs handy is a pain so use a ball bag with bone spout and wood plug- works well and allows "pouring" one ball at a time. I use a small powder flask or horn, a simple inline capper and always carry a nipple wrench (items not shown).

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

You may already have plenty of accouterments for shooting your new ML. Here are some I use and have found to be handy. I use only real BP and have since about 1977. Tried Pyro when it first came out and still have most of that cardboard can of it. Just didn't work well for me.

Pics of some handy items I use/shoot. Patch knife for cutting patches at muzzle. Seat ball into muzzle with short stub on the starter, cut patch off flush. If tight fit then use the longer rod on the starter. Then ram to firm contact with powder. Swaged roundballs like those made by Hornady or Speer, are the most perfect. They are of soft lead and work very well. For casting roundballs, I use soft lead. For 50 cal I usually use a .490 ball with pillow ticking or equivalent. You'll have to figure out best or most practical fit of ball and patch for your bore. For hunting use, a tight fit patched ball is usually not the best especially if you can't easily seat follow up shots. However, I've found sometimes the most accurate combination for target shooting is a larger ball, thinner patch and slightly tighter fit. For patch lube and bore swabbing and range cleaning I use moose milk- a mixture of about 3or4 to 1, water to Ballistol. I have a dedicated ML range rod for loading, swabbing and cleaning. I use a properly sized brass seating and cleaning jag. Keeping roundballs handy is a pain so use a ball bag with bone spout and wood plug- works well and allows "pouring" one ball at a time. I use a small powder flask or horn, a simple inline capper and always carry a nipple wrench (items not shown).

View attachment 406991

View attachment 406993

View attachment 406994

View attachment 406995

Thank you that was a very informative and helpful post. The ball bag is an awesome idea.