Patched Round Ball Shooters Out There?

[ACLSRN50]

Wow! That's serious big game medicine!

[RG]

This is my Lyman Great Plains rifle. I love it, in a .54 percussion.

The Great Plains Rifles are good guns, I have one of those too.  During a past life, when I had a sporting goods store, I used to build the kits and customize a few things like browning the barrel and steel, polishing the internals in the lock, oiling the wood with different oils, etc. and then just sell them for the price of an off the shelf GPR.  There used to be a gun on the market that was made by Allen arms and then they sold it to another company which I can't recall the name of.  They called it a Santa Fe Hawken.  It was actually a true .52 caliber in its orginal version.  It was a really nice gun but I don't think it's still around.  It was styled after an original Hawken taken out of a museum.  You can also by a gun from the "Hawken Shop" in St. Louis which is a replica of an original gun.  These are super expensive but the Great Plains Rifle is a pretty close reproduction of these guns.  I think it has a 7/8 inch barrel and they had 1 inch and it has a coil spring inside the lock, but otherwise it's pretty similar.  The story is, once you get a nose full of real black powder smoke, there's no going back.  That smoke makes the meat more tender and flavorful too.... and I'm sticking with that story.

[ACLSRN50]

LOL. Yeah I would love to have my Great Plains rifle have browned metal parts versus blued for a truly authentic look!
I had also been seeking a Johnathan Browning Mountain rifle as well - but had no luck in finding any!
But the Lyman's are really nice as well! That darn rifle cost me $100 MORE than my modern Savage 111 and 212's did!

[Serious Redneck]

I like PRBs, first deer I ever shot as with a TC Renegade .54 with a PRB.  50 yds through the heart. Ran a bit then dropped.  Nice western Washington blacktail doe.  Last year I got a 4 point bull at about 20 yds with the same rifle and a hand cast .527 PRB, center punched the heart and it started staggering that moment.  Good thing my two sons were bout 100 yards away, cause the real work started then.  The ball went through and through on that bull (I wanted to recover it and keep it as a souvenir).  I am impressed with them and full bore sized conicals too.  Bigger holes bring them down faster (still gotta have good shot placement).  I too would prefer  the muzzy season to be brought back to traditional sidelock guns with PRBs.
 

[ACLSRN50]

Serious Redneck,
That's awesome! I am looking forward to trying to take a Eastern Whitetail here in my state - New York - this hunting season.
Our MZ season starts Dec 10 - 18th, but honestly I may just go out with my Great Plains Rifle before then. While my Savage 212 in 12 gauge with the 3x9 x 50mm is an amazing shotgun - the romantic lure of taking a whitetail with my .54 tugs at me even more!

[ACLSRN50]

RG - I love that picture! Def looking like it could be one hell of an ad for a firearms manufacturer! Great job!

[lokidog]

LOL. Yeah I would love to have my Great Plains rifle have browned metal parts versus blued for a truly authentic look!
I had also been seeking a Johnathan Browning Mountain rifle as well - but had no luck in finding any!
But the Lyman's are really nice as well! That darn rifle cost me $100 MORE than my modern Savage 111 and 212's did!

You can remove your blueing and do a plum brown on it.  Pretty easy to do and the results look nice.  Just need a torch and some cotton rags.

[ACLSRN50]

 You can remove your bluing and do a plum brown on it.  Pretty easy to do and the results look nice.  Just need a torch and some cotton rags.
[/quote]

What's it involved? Having to steel wool the entire barrel?

[lokidog]

You can remove your bluing and do a plum brown on it.  Pretty easy to do and the results look nice.  Just need a torch and some cotton rags.

What's it involved? Having to steel wool the entire barrel?
[/quote]

I think Birchwood Casey makes a blue remover that you just apply and wipe down.  A light steel wooling or whatever the directions are and then you heat the barrel until the browning liquid sizzles on it.  I stuck a spike into a board which held my barrel in an upright position.  I think it gets a light steel wooling between coats which darkens it each time and evens out the color.  I'll post a pic of one of my barrels in a minute.

[ACLSRN50]

OK, thanks.  Prob would be a PITA getting the bluing off in the corner of the sights, etc - or I'd have to remove the blued sights and do them as well separately, etc.

[lokidog]

OK, thanks.  Prob would be a PITA getting the bluing off in the corner of the sights, etc - or I'd have to remove the blued sights and do them as well separately, etc.

I pulled the sights off before doing it.  Can't find my dang camera....

[ACLSRN50]

OK thanks,
That's OK. MY buddy has a Cabela's Hawken that he made from a kit and he browned his barrel. His came out nice....I don't know tho if I want to really go thru all that just to have a browned barrel now! LOL. Prob is a real PITA to do. I once tried to blue a barrel making a Navy Arms .58 cal Hawken once and what a PITA is was to get that barrel to take that bluing!

[lokidog]

OK thanks,
That's OK. MY buddy has a Cabela's Hawken that he made from a kit and he browned his barrel. His came out nice....I don't know tho if I want to really go thru all that just to have a browned barrel now! LOL. Prob is a real PITA to do. I once tried to blue a barrel making a Navy Arms .58 cal Hawken once and what a PITA is was to get that barrel to take that bluing!

I've tried bluing blue as well, but never with it hot.  The blue stuff seems to be done cold and doesn't turn out as well for me.  The plum is just an amazing finish and pretty durable as I'm not the most conscientious gun cleaner sometimes.  The other thing is that if there are aluminum parts, they can be blued to match (diff chemicals) but I don't think they make a plum for aluminum.

Photos added, sorry if I'm thread-jacking.  In the first pic, the top barrel had a wedge installed in the sight dovetail and was then sanded with a belt sander, it blended very well.  I think the lower barrel may have had an extra coat or two done to it.

[ACLSRN50]

Yeah I think back then (some 25+ yrs ago) I used a hot blue treatment. Came out OK but certainly not as nice as a factory blue.

But I def like the 'authentic' look of the brown finish.  Funny thing IS - my Lyman Great Plains Rifle has a browned butt stock, forearm end cap and trigger and trigger guard! Go figure!

[MagKarl]

I also shoot a .54 GPR that I built from a kit.  I love it, but my next will be a flintlock of some flavor when I get the time. 

Another good browning option is made by Laural Mtn. Forge.  It's a cold process, very easy to work with and you can go either brown or rust blue.  I rust blued the metal on my GPR.
http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/barrel_brown.htm