I am finally getting the Lyman GPR .54 flinter shooting like it should. Went out today and changed a few more things around. First off I took Semisane's advice (he may be crazy but he does know his chit) and stopped using the over powder wads. I shot one group each using my .018" pillow tick patching and bore butter lube and liquid wrench as a patch lube. Both these groups were similar but nothing to brag about. But in Semi's defense the LW lube did not do any worse and was a lot less messy.
If you remember I told you guys before that the .530 ball and .018 patch was firm but I thought it could be tighter. Well I got some prelubed .020" patches and shot the group below. This load was just a bit snugger but still not difficult to load. I shot the first 3 shots and checked the target and thought that I better shoot 2 more just to prove the accuracy of the load.
The group was shot at 50 yds, open (#57 peep) sights. Bore was swabbed with spit patch both sides and dry patch between each shot. The .020" patches that I was able to recover were in very good condition.

ATTABOY!

Nothing like a nice tight patch.

One thing to add. With the loading technique used there was no noticable delay with ignition. Almost instantaneous. I used FFFg BP, tapped the stock a few times with muzzle pointed up, inserted dental pic to ensure clear touch hole, filled pan completely with FFFFg. Flint was knapped and sharp. I guess you have to do whatever it takes.

Very nice shooting. that will drop Bambi.

bronko22000
It sounds like a trial of a few 535 balls is indicated. I ended up using .535 balls in 3 out of 4 of my .54's.

That's a possibility. I have thousands of .535"s. Right now my combo is .530"/.020" patch (.550"). If I were to go with a .535" + .018" that would give me .553" a little tighter still. But maybe too tight. I would sure hate to have to pound a ball all the way down that 32" bbl.

Even if it's a very tight start you will not likely have to pound it down. I have two patch & ball loads that will get my hand sore after three or four loadings whacking the short starter. I use a small oak hammer to start them at the range. But once they are in the bore they go down just fine. They are very accurate loads.

Semi I'm sure you whack the short starter more than 3 or 4 times.......hehehehehe
I'll give the .535s a try next time out.

There are ways to persuade tight balls to enter the bore.