Lyman Trade Rifle
 

Today I just had an urge to shoot. I wanted to shoot a flintlock. And was running out of time. So I threw a target up. Turns out it was only 35 yards out. But that's ok. I wanted to have some fun.

I then looked at the rack and decided I had not shot my Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock in .54 caliber in ages. I had shot the .50 Trade Rifle a lot but kind of put that one on the back burner so to say.

Anyway I got it out. Some home cast .530 round ball, a chunk of pillow tick, some moose milk, a new flint, a new pound of powder, and grabbed the rifle bag and headed out.



I got all set up and began shooting. The rifle's ignition was flawless. So I decided to shoot it dirty.



I checked the patches and they looked about perfect other then the powder marks. So there was no complaint there.

Now 35 yards is close range. I know that and so do you. But the group was still a little impressive.



The rifle has the old style buckhorn sights that I happen to really see well over. The first shot on a clean bore was a little off. I could live with that. Then I just started hammering. Shooting as fast as I dare load. I did swab about every third or fourth shot. That upper HOLE.. I really did loose count as to how many times I shot there. I would guess, and only a guess...10. So I decided to see if I could lower my POA and sneak one in the bull. The first try, I was excited and knew I pulled the shot. The last shot of the day, I did it all right... took my time, set my sight and squeezed it off. Pretty good for me.

Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock in .54 caliber great gun I am still looking for a good shape used one

Good shooting! That patch is hardly scorched. Shooting a light target load?

90 grains of Schuetzen 2f powder, my own made roundball, and spritzed the patch with moosemilk before shooting.

That's the way a patch ought to look.

I have a Cabelas hawken which is the same as the Trade Rifle and I cannot get it to shoot PB very good at all, about a six inch group at 50 yards at best. I've tried two different brands of balls and about six different brands of pre lubed patches, always about completely destroys the patch. I've used from 60 to 90 grs of 2F goex and results always the same. The gun shoots Maxi balls pretty good with 85 gr of Goex. I just wish I could figure out a PB load that would work. Any ideas?

My friend shoots the same Cabela's rifle. And all I can tell you is, his shoots roundball perfect. If the patch is being destroyed, I would suspect either they are very old patches that were pre lubed. Or the barrel is rough inside.

I would take some JB Bore Paste and work the barrel over real good first. Then get some cotton pillow tick and lube the patch right before your ready to shoot. 80-90 grains of 2f powder should work fine. If you can't find black powder, try Pyrodex RS.

There are several things that destroy patches and this usually means a poor group...

First, ditch the prelubed patches, buy either dry patches or use pillow ticking...Second, the lube used can make a huge difference, try spit lube and look at the patches...If they still come out bad you are either using patching that isn't 100% cotton, have a loose ball/patch combo, your patches are getting cut by the rifling or you have a bad bore...

After you figure out which of these is the problem you can work with different lubes and ball/patch/powder combos to fine tune your load..