.54 cal New Englander
 

I was out at my range shooting my Lyman .54 caliber Flintlock Rifle when the United States Postal Service mail carrier showed up at the house. He had a new rifle for me. It was of course my .54 caliber Thompson Center New Englander. How the seller got the USPS to ship that rifle is still a mystery to me. I was told flat out, they do not ship them. PERIOD!!

The rifle has a 26" barrel, ryanite black composite stock, some excellent sights on it, and looks like it had never been fired. I got out my Birchwood Casey #77 and ran a patch through the barrel. It came out covered in filthy looking black/brown substance. I ran three more patches and finally the rifle came out clean. So I dropped a bore light down the barrel and it looked real good. Since I had .54caliber rods, starters, projectiles, etc out on the shooting bench, I broke out a new target and got ready to try out the new rifle.

I decided to start with Pyrodex RS. I set the powder measure at 75 grains and loaded a Speer roundball. I fired five shots to see where it was hitting. It appeared the rifle was shooting about three inches high or more. So I made an adjustment to the sights. I then fired five more shots with the adjusted sights, and ran out of roundball in that box. I decided to call it a day and clean the rifle.

The rifle is well balanced, an excellent single stage trigger, nice sights, and seems to have some potential. I will be shooting this a lot more in the near future.

The Lyman Trade Rifle flintlock shot perfect as usual. It still liked 90 grains of 2f black powder and a patched roundball. I was finally forced to change out the flint on that rifle. It was the flint I put in during last years deer season, and have since then shot the rifle numerous times. It really was a good flint...

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

Wow, that is excellent out of the box 50 yards withno adjustments! Excellent. Now what are you going to do add another row to your gun rack?I like the all black of the rifle, looks very good. Best wishes shoot 'er in. Chap

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

I did have to lower the rear sight but one adjustment was not too bad. I am really surprised at what a nice trigger this rifle has. I like double triggers, but this one is sure sweet. I want to try some maxiball, and sabots next in it. I might even mount a 1X scope on this one since it is tapped.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

Looks like the NewEnglander has potential!
I have in .50 cal. and one 12 ga. Sure is a fun gun to shoot, and easy to clean with the synthetic stock & hooked breech.
BTW - no problem shipping muzzleloaders with theUSPS according to my local postmaster. I've shipped a few, and never had any problems.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

As long as you dont say whats in the box, its cool to ship USPS.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

Dang cayugad If you keep buying new rifles how do you expect someone like me to catch up? That is one nice looking rifle and it looks like it is a real shooter too.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

My new targets for open sights are.. I went to the Dollar Store and bought some 6" foam plates. I tape them to a box, and they show up real good. Plus for $1.00 for 100 plates makes for some cheap targets. I also got some 9" plates for when I move back to 100 yards.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

I most of the time use united parcel but latley been using USPS and they are a little cheaper,really never had no problems either way
the new englander great gun had one in 54 cal wood stock would drive tacks with 95 grains of 3f goex and a round ball

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

Whoever told you that was grossly misinformed or plain ignorant of the regulations. They will not ship handguns, but long arms can be shipped through the USPS. With centerfire rifles, you have to provide a copy of the receivers FFL when shipping. I mailed a .308 Winchester Browningto a guy down in Birmingham, AL not too long ago via USPS.

RE: .54 cal New Englander
 

I suspect that the postmaster where I live is not either aware of the regulations or hates firearms in general because I was told they would not ship. I do everything up here UPS.