As some are aware, I purchased a Lyman Great Plains Hunter in .50 caliber with the 1-32 twist. Someone told me that the one they have shoots anything thing they shove down it. Well that has definitely not been the case with my rifle.

While the rifle being a flintlock fires almost flawless, it is giving me fits about what it will shoot. Now granted, the original agate in the jaws has lasted well over 70 shots and is still going, I have tried more projectiles in this thing then I care to mention.

At first I wrote off the strange behavior of the rifle as it being new, and just shot a lot of roundball out of it to make it smooth out. It actually shoots round ball pretty good.

Then I went to sabots and tried a number of different brands, sabots, etc and really... not one of them impressed me all that much. I had also tried some bull shop conicals and again, it shot them pretty good, but did not impress me.

The other day I was cleaning my bullet closet and came across three packs of unopened 350 grain Hornady FPB conicals. And a light came on. Lyman told me that their rifle shoots powerbelts real well with 80 grains of powder. Well if they shoot powerbelts, why not FPB's.

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the wind somewhat calm, and it was not cold and raining. We actually got quite warm today, and hit 72šs. It felt good to be outside, even if the bugs wanted to drag you into the woods for dinner. A can of 40% deet bug juice applied liberally, seemed to do the trick and kept them at buzzing only distance.

I started this out with Goex 3f. I swabbed the bore clean with an alcohol patch and let it dry. Since Lyman claims 80 grains the magic number, I started out with 80 grains.



Shot #1 on a clean barrel was a real disappointment. The FPB loaded real well, once you got it started. Lymans do not have a QLA so you have to balance the FPB straight on top of the barrel and then smack it to start it. Once started they are easy to load. Shots 2-5 were a pretty good group. But I noticed when loading #5 there was a lot of fouling in the barrel. So I decided to clean the barrel real well. I used Simple Green and cleaned the barrel, then alcohol treated the barrel clean and swabbed it dry.

I then decided to up the powder charge to 100 grains of Goex 3f. This is because many of you have told me that the FPB is a powder pig because of the design. After all it looks like a Shockwave on steroids.

Shot #6 was at first accepted. Then 7-10 were real good. I swabbed quickly with alcohol and shot #11. Again, as soon as the barrel is somewhat clean, the hit goes crazy. But still I accepted the 100 grain charge and their group. After all this was 50 yards, open sights, and a flintlock.

Now, not wanting to waste the rest of the expensive FPB's and having run out of powder... I returned to the house and got my Graf's and Sons 3f black powder. I put the FPB's up and then took a large box (that I found also) of 370 grain Lyman Maxiballs and some home made lube out to the bench.

Maxiball shoot best in most my guns with a low charge, so I loaded 70 grains of the Graf's. Shots 12-14 I found. Shot #15 I could not locate on the target with absolute certainty. I think it is in that group at the bottom of the X but since I could not find it I did not claim it.

Over all I like these FPB's and with a 100 grain charge of 3f they should have a lot of knock down. So maybe I am on to something and I well finally tame this rifle.

Good report Cayugad. I envy you your shooting weather. Ninety-three degrees here and I just cancelled a week-end shoot. Just couldn't face it. Maybe next week end.

Anyway, I kind of enjoy working with a gun that doesn't want to behave. Never have found one that won't shoot something pretty well if you keep working at it, and it's sure satisfying when you hit on the right combination. Often, a JB treatment along with a touch of emery paper on the crown will aid things.

That darn 1:32 twist barrel ought to shoot something in sabots. I assume it doesn't have deep grooves, but fairly shallow ones designed for lead conicals. If you have any 350 or 405 grain 45-70 bullets, give them a try with Crush Rib sabots. Possibly even some of those cast Lee mold bullets that come out at around 420 grains from the "405" Lee mold.

Cayugad, If I remember correctly my GPH shot 320 gr REAL bullets very well. When I get home I will check my records. In any event, if you pm me your address, I will send you a 20 pack when I get home. And if I have som 250 grainers I will send them too.

I have all the bullet molds you both mentioned. All I have to do is cast them. Just have not got around to that. First I would have to clean my shop, and that's a JOB. Plus I am going to expand the shop 28x16 so I can have a full line of my power tools at stations. I got tired of taking one down and putting another in its place. So I'm having a slab poured and then add on the addition. The best part is at the very end of that I am going to make a shooting house. I will install slide windows that face down my range. So in the winter I can heat the thing. Also I want a station there to clean the rifles. Then I can shoot rain or shine.

Wow, your future shop/shooting bench should be super nice! Hard to beat a nice shop; combined with a shooting bench is near heaven.

Lucky man. All of us would LOVE to have that especially in the winter.

I could shoot out of the window of my heated garage, and probably even get off two or three shots before the SWAT team arrived.

You are my hero Dave. That will make winter shooting a lot more comfortable. I have thought of doing something similar here. How much smoke do you think there will be inside? As far as the Lyman, I am sure you'll get that rifle shooting soon.

flounder33
The best design I have seen was in a winter shooting shack in a club I belonged to before I moved south.
Its real easy to put together. you make a loop hole like the early settlers did to fight Indians, then a door that slides over it to seal it when you are not shooting. The one in the club house slides up and down and there is a weight and pulley set up so when you want to shoot you take the weight off the shelf and let it hang it opens the door when you have fired you put the weight back on the shelf and the doors own weight closes it.