Lyman .54 Great Plains rifle wont shoot sabots. HELP!

steve750

steve750

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Hey there. I have a Lyman .54 cal Great Plains Rifle (percussion) and for the life of me I can't get it to shoot the sabots in a straight line, I have played with the powder for 90-110 grains. The bullets just topples in the air and when they feel like it they hit the paper. Has anyone ever encountered this before?? I am new to Muzzleloading and hoping to get out hunting this fall..


Some suggestions would help.

Also one of the tabs that hold the barrel to the stock disappeared. Are they hard to find??
 
Walmart may have some .018 pillow ticking by the square yard.See my recipe for patch lube a while back under Moosemilk................Harold *my .54 Renegade GM barrel likes 100gr of FFG/.018 patch/.530" ball
 
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Can't shoot sabots?

.....and you never will, not out of that with any expectation of accuracy. The twist in that GPR is prob 1:48, suitable for conicals and patched balls, or it's around the 1:66 mark - patched ball only. Sabots need a lot faster twist rate (1:28, 1:32).
 
Good thing I tried it out before I took it out hunting.. Cause as my luck would have it A huge 18 pt buck would be 25 yards away and I would miss. how could I explain that to my kids??? I would have to go into exile..... Buying .53 Cal balls tomorrow.. shooting sunday... Wish me luck..


p.s. anyone have a barrel tab lying around????
 
"...gpr should be 1-66 twist for round ball..." 1 in 60. Not made for sabots. The Lyman Great Plains Hunter has 1 in 32 and is made for conical and sabots. You can get just a barrel that'll go on a GPR. $183.25US from Lyman.
Go buy a copy of the Lyman BP Handbook & Loading Manual. The loads in it are by volumn not weight though.
 
Abman you are wrong! The slower twist is for round ball and the faster is for conicals....the "in between" twists are an attempt to have the rifle shoot both but neither shoots as well as it would in the twist designed for it.
 
the 1-48 twist is a compromise for round ball and conical,it will shoot round ball probably very well but you will see it will be with lesser powder charge and the acucuacy window will be narrow, i have been shooting traditional muzzleloaders since the early 70s so have considerable experience,,wade
 
I had a 1 in 48" .50 cal that shot round balls good enough to win many matches, and it also shot some conicals just as good. It even shot the Thompson/center 3 piece sabot and a 240g pistol bullet into a 3" group at 100 yards. It also shot some bullets and sabots like a shotgun [all over]. You need to shoot a lot of various bullets, balls/patches, and sabots to really know what YOUR rifle likes, not just take for granted that because "his" rifle won's shoot it, yours wont either.
 
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