Ouch

[RG]

I decided maybe I'd dig out the percussion gun this year and put the flintlock on the bench for a season.  Working up a load for the Great Plains Rifle is a little painful when it takes 18 shots to get it right. I guess I should have worn more than a T shirt since it has a steel buttplate. 90 grains fffg and a .535 round ball with a .015 linen patch and wonder lube is shooting well though.  It bruised the elk on my shoulder.

[jackelope]

Wow.
Looks like you were holding the gun a little too far to the right too.

 

[RG]

Its a curved buttplate. That's where you hold those. It has a point top and bottom and is designed to fit around your arm right there.

[jackelope]

Its a curved buttplate. That's where you hold those. It has a point top and bottom and is designed to fit around your arm right there.

10-4.
Sounds like whoever came up with that idea likes the idea of bruises.
 

[oneshot12]

think may be if you had it doing well after the first shot RG  would have started to shoot it from the shoulder  and not the bench
that way you could have kept your right elbow up and have held the rifle sett properly in the right shoulder more
  for what its worth  but to tell you the truth i get the same thing from mine when i bench shoot it too.    i normally shoot the same in my 54 cal  when i hunt as well  like the load and the grouping i get from it

[RG]

think may be if you had it doing well after the first shot RJ i would have started to shoot it from the shoulder  and not the bench
that way you could have kept your right elbow up and have held the rifle sett properly in the right shoulder more
  for what its worth  but to tell you the truth i get the same thing from mine when i bench shoot it too.    i normally shoot the same in my 54 cal  when i hunt as well  like the load and the grouping i get from it

My flintlock Hawken style doesn't really kick much with the same load of Goex black powder but it weighs 10 pounds.  The Lyman is lighter.  I was leaning the forestock across the top of my pickup bed but I was leaning forward into it more than I would be hunting so you have a point there.  I wasn't getting the groups I wanted until about shot 13 or 14.  I changed up the powder to 3f Triple Seven and had to do a lot of experimenting.  I was shooting at 100 yards and don't really like the peep sight I put on this one either.  I think that was part of the problem till I got used to it again.  I haven't shot it for about 6 years and I'm used to a semi buckhorn and silver blade rather than the big Lyman front post and peep.  The Great Plains Rifle factory rear sights move I've found over the years and aren't as consistently accurate as I want.  Either you have to put the fixed rear sight on it and adjust elevation with a file, which is what I did with the flint, or put the peep on it.  Then you can get good groups with the right load combination.  I've tried .530 and .535 balls, .20 and .015 patches, and different powder charges and finally settled on the 90 grain, .535, .015.  It was shooting inside a 2" black circle on a paper plate from 100 yards if I did my part correctly.  That's about the best I can do with the big fat front sight.  I'm not sure I'm going to stay with it though, I may go back to the flint.  It's given me 3 elk and a bunch of deer.  I just have to shoot it a lot to stay used to the flintlock delay.  Last year I didn't and I missed a cow because I jerked the trigger.

The good news is that when I'm hunting they never stand around for a second shot so it never hurts.

[oneshot12]

yep give you that  the heaver the better  not a lot of kick ,   but the lyman is a good gun  shot a 54 i gave a friend some years back. took a few nice deer and a couple elk with it  . now i shoot my custom made 54 cal and taken 3 different elk once 5x5 bull and a cuple nice big cows. the bull i took at a 152 yards  with a 90 grn powder  charge and 530 round ball  . I do like the open buck horn rear sights.  still trying to use the peep sights  that are  on my in line. i only use it when its really crappy out when i go hunting late late season  .Sorry just dont want to wreck my good shooters  so i use the in line when i know its not going to be a ruff hunt . it has peep sights and fiber optic front blade  on it   its a good shooter as well just need to work with it more .  the 90 grns and patched round ball work on just about all the critters i get to shoot at over here  and they go down right away when you hit them .  :tup:a well timed flint lock with work just as well as any percussion rifle out there now days
best of luck this year
RG

[RG]

yep give you that  the heaver the better  not a lot of kick ,   but the lyman is a good gun  shot a 54 i gave a friend some years back. took a few nice deer and a couple elk with it  . now i shoot my custom made 54 cal and taken 3 different elk once 5x5 bull and a cuple nice big cows. the bull i took at a 152 yards  with a 90 grn powder  charge and 530 round ball  . I do like the open buck horn rear sights.  still trying to use the peep sights  that are  on my in line. i only use it when its really crappy out when i go hunting late late season  .Sorry just dont want to wreck my good shooters  so i use the in line when i know its not going to be a ruff hunt . it has peep sights and fiber optic front blade  on it   its a good shooter as well just need to work with it more .  the 90 grns and patched round ball work on just about all the critters i get to shoot at over here  and they go down right away when you hit them .  :tup:a well timed flint lock with work just as well as any percussion rifle out there now days
best of luck this year
RG

Well the custom gun thing is the root of my problem.  My flint hawken and flint poor boy rifles are customs I built about 25 years ago.  They have hand tuned locks and green mountain barrels on them and they shoot extremely well if I do my job.  It just takes some shooting to keep on top of the flint.  I shoot centerfire guns a lot so I have to reacquaint myself with the flint each year.  The factory built gun just doesn't get me as excited. You are right about 90 grains and a round ball.  I've shot through elk side to side with it.  The 3 elk I've shot with it, 2 spikes and a 5X5 died within 40 yards or less in every case.  Flints are weather sensitive but I live and hunt on the eastside so it's not an issue.  You have some nice looking guns in your avatar.

[oneshot12]

Thanks RG .  top is a 50 cal   that was a gift after an good friend passed, the middle on it my wife's custom 45  cal   G/M barrel , and the bottom one is my trade gun 62 cal  just had it jug choked  but is taken a few nice tome s and hens in the years past as well  .think I have posted a few of my 54 cal pictures on here in the past   . like the custom mades much more then the standard kit guns . like the G/M Barrel they work so much better with the round ball   at times its hard to find just the right set up to shoot on some of the kit guns .but that too can be some of the fun in shooting these guns
need to up date the picture too just refinished both  the 50 cal and the trade gun .
 

[RG]

I read the journals of just about every fur trade trapper I could find years ago.  I figured if these guns were good enough for those guys to get by with year after year in the mountains they should be good enough for me.  So far the only excuse they've given me is "I missed".  The guns work fine.  Stay in touch.