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Greetings everyone,

I joined the group moments ago. My question is: Does anyone know of a Gunsmith with experience
in Black powder arms in the Portland/Valley/SW Washington area? I'm lucky that I have a gunsmith
just 2 miles away but he's never fired or handled any black powder arms by his own admission.

I just purchased a : Lyman Great Plains Hunter in .54 cal. percussion cap and the build quality
sucks to be polite (I'm now saving my pennies for a Pedersoli hoping for better luck).

#1:The stock on the side away from the cheek has a deep wallow in it; they just oiled over it.
#2: There are machine tool marks on the flats of the barrel; they just blued over it.
#3: There are shiny spots on either side of the bore near the muzzle. I can only assume that
when the bore was lapped they just let the barrel bounce up and down in the jig & didn't bother
to tighten the jaws of the tool.
#4: The sights suck. The front sight looks like it is wider than the rear notch and there is no daylight
for proper sight alignment. We loosened the screw to adjust for elevation and the parts fell on the
ground but we recovered & reinstalled them.

I can get much better sights at The Gun Works in Springfield, Oregon from Joe & Suzi but I don't have any
gunsmithing tools ; no vice, no brass punches, etc.

The thing is even with the lousy sights the rifle shoots well & I have a good time shooting @The club with friends.

Any ideas on Gunsmiths?

Longbeard
(Yes my white beard is over a foot long)
 
I suspect you got a kit gun rather than a factory finished model.

I got a Great Plains .54 pistol kit. They can be done nicely.
3.JPG
7.JPG
10.JPG
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One of my favorite pieces
 
Last Edited:
Greetings everyone,

I joined the group moments ago. My question is: Does anyone know of a Gunsmith with experience
in Black powder arms in the Portland/Valley/SW Washington area? I'm lucky that I have a gunsmith
just 2 miles away but he's never fired or handled any black powder arms by his own admission.

I just purchased a : Lyman Great Plains Hunter in .54 cal. percussion cap and the build quality
sucks to be polite (I'm now saving my pennies for a Pedersoli hoping for better luck).

#1:The stock on the side away from the cheek has a deep wallow in it; they just oiled over it.
#2: There are machine tool marks on the flats of the barrel; they just blued over it.
#3: There are shiny spots on either side of the bore near the muzzle. I can only assume that
when the bore was lapped they just let the barrel bounce up and down in the jig & didn't bother
to tighten the jaws of the tool.
#4: The sights suck. The front sight looks like it is wider than the rear notch and there is no daylight
for proper sight alignment. We loosened the screw to adjust for elevation and the parts fell on the
ground but we recovered & reinstalled them.

I can get much better sights at The Gun Works in Springfield, Oregon from Joe & Suzi but I don't have any
gunsmithing tools ; no vice, no brass punches, etc.

The thing is even with the lousy sights the rifle shoots well & I have a good time shooting @The club with friends.

Any ideas on Gunsmiths?

Longbeard
(Yes my white beard is over a foot long)
I have been shooting muzzle loaders since I was a kid, I love them and still (when I get the chance) love shooting them. Bring it on in and I can take a look. Shoot me a pm and we can set up a time and go over everything. You, and your beard, are more then welcome lol ;)
 
Welcome to the forum and did you not notice all these issues when you bought it? - or mail order and were not able to inspect it?
The piece was mail order. I didn't notice the issues until I cleaned and assembled it. I looked at the date on the barrel
& it was made in 2016 so It sat on a retailers shelf for 2 years before before it was sold. It was made by Interarms
& distributed by Graf & Sons.
Blessings,
Longbeard
 
Just across the bridge in Vancouver, you may want to send a message to @NWCustomFirearms.

I have a ton of frontstuffers... usually do my own work, but if I needed something done, thats the place Id go.
I'm leaving for work in minutes... If the roads arn't snowed in I'll go to the Gunworks in Springfield, Ore this Saturday
and pick up some better sights. I just need someone to install them. I can wait on the wood & metal but I would
like it fixed. The thing is I started a new job a few months ago and we machine, grind & polish hyper-pure glass
components. On some of the parts my tolerance is 0.0001 +/- of an inch. If I had done work like that I'd be called
into a Managers office....

Blessings,
Longbeard
 
The piece was mail order. I didn't notice the issues until I cleaned and assembled it. I looked at the date on the barrel
& it was made in 2016 so It sat on a retailers shelf for 2 years before before it was sold. It was made by Interarms
& distributed by Graf & Sons.
Blessings,
Longbeard
Yeah, I know 2016 doesn't match the dates of the recall (plus I can't imagine a retailer shipping a recalled product) but in the better safe than sorry category here's the link to the recall notice: Lyman Products - Recall
 
Yep...did a notice for it in the Events and get together section here...
Andy
I looked and couldn't find a direct link, could you supply one? I did a quick check @ Wes Knodel & Oregon Arms Collectors.
Was it in Washington or Oregon?

I actually went to 6 gun shows before I ordered new. The only thing that I found was a very used Thompson, now
out of production, for $495, I had already bookmarked a new musket from Graf & Sons for $515.

With black powder, because of its corrosive nature, I'd rather always buy new unless I was sure the piece
was meticulously cared for. I just read an article in Muzzle blasts or Muzzle loader by a collector who buys
used pieces and finds some that have been left loaded for years if not decades.

Blessings,
Longbeard
 

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