Hello all. Yesterday I got a chance to really shoot my Lyman GPR for the first time and had some difficulty getting it loaded.

I own the .54 cal flintlock version and was using Hornady .530 balls with a .005 patch. I figured a .005 "clearance" would suffice. But even after cleaning the barrel, I still had to put a lot of pressure on the ramrod to get the ball to go down. I was using pre-lubed Ox-Yoke Wonder Patches. The temperature was not very hot (for us), it was about 85 degrees at the time.

Should I use a smaller ball? Maybe a .520 with a .005 patch?

Thank you.

wow thats super thin patch. i always used the .530 round ball with a .018 patch, anything thinner would shred.

I'd start looking at your patch lube

That is strange Robert. I can start .535 balls with a .008 patch in my .54 Great Plains flintlock with a hard push with the ball of my thumb. I use straight olive oil for lube. If I use .016 pillow tick from WalMart I need to use a short starter to get the ball in the bore, but it goes down easily after seating 5" deep with the starter.

It sounds more like what you need is a short starter. The patch and ball has to be tight or you will blow the patch of the ball and not have any accuracy. I use a .535 ball and a heavy ticking patch which you have to squeeze down hard with stainless steel calipers to get down to 18 thousands, and I shoot under 20 inch strings at 177 yds with this combination.

Maybe I am missing something here, but isn't the above combination bigger than the caliber of the barrel? Don't you have to keep the ball and patch thickness smaller than the caliber of the barrel?

I do have a short starter. Yesterday I had to whack it pretty hard (boy Semi is going to have fun with that!) to get the .530/.005 started down the barrel.

I was using a brass Treso rod and even with that once or twice I practically had to hammer the rod on the ball to get it to go down, rather than just a smoth steady push.

I was using a 50 cal cleaning jag on the end of the rod to push the ball and patch, could that have been part of the problem?

Robert, something is wrong somewhere. First you need to remember that the reason why you use a patch is that the patch goes down into the grooves of the rifle. That is what makes the ball twist as it gets shot down the barrel. So the thicker patch will engage the rifling twist, where a thin patch will not engage the rifling twist. And if the twist is not engaged then your ball will not spin down the barrel, it will roll down the barrel. So you might as well shoot a smoothbore because you will not be putting any twist on the ball.

"Hammering" the ball down the barrel is wrong. You are deforming the ball every time you touch it, so just imagine what hammering the ball has done to the uniformity of the ball??

Do you have a micrometer?? You need to check a few things out. For starters just see if the ball will "fall" into the barrel without a patch. then take your micrometer and actually measure the ball and the patch. And try to measure the bore with the micrometer. IMO you will probably find your problem right there. Something is wrong. A .530 ball with a .005 patch should load very easy, with very little resistance. So you need to measure where your resistance is at.

A dirty bore will also make it tough to load a projectile. But it sounds like you have other problems besides a dirty bore, but it would be worth checking. Tom.

Head - I agree. I have a 50 cal Traditions. A 490 ball with a .005 patch loads very easily. I took the same logic when choosing the ball size for the Lyman.

My Lyman rifle is not the GPR but the Trade Rifle. It is also a .54 caliber. I load a .530 and a .018 pillow tick patch with very little effort.

There has to be something your missing on your end, or the rifle is defective. What brand of ball are you shooting? And where did you ever find such a thin patch? I am surprised they do not blow out each time you shoot.

The other question is before you shot (as I am sure you did) you cleaned all that packing grease out of the rifle. This is a very interesting topic as for the life of me I can not figure out why that combination your using would not load real easy actually.

A tight patch is a necessity both for gas seal and to engage the rifling. I suspect some crud in the barrel. A .005 patch should go down way easy and you shouldn't be using it. Too loose. The flames will blow right past through the patch.
Shouldn't be using those in your 50 cal either. A patch should be so tight that the weave of the cloth presses into the lead over the lands and fills the grooves. If you extract a loaded ball with the co2 thingy or compressed air you should be able to see the weave pressed into the lead. Check the bore with a bore light it should shine.
Also .530 + .010 = .54 allright but that is the space between the lands. That does not allow for anything to fill the grooves. Think about it a 30-06 cal bullet measures .308 so that it can engage the grooves and spin.

I have a Lyman GPR and use a .530 ball and .018 patch. It shoots and loads good with that combination. the rifling if I remember right is .012 on the gpr so you have .552 total. The .530 and .018 equals .548 so it loads easy enough yet engages the rifling