Any tips on putting together a Lyman rifle kit?

[Ugly Sauce]

It drove me nuts until I finally fixed it.

I'm not sure what it was that drove me nutz. Some day I'll figure it out.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

A useful modification that is very worthwhile in my opinion is to capture the barrel wedges so they cannot fall out and get lost.

Not just get lost, but when you get that perfect fit, which improves as they "settle in", one wouldn't be putting them back in upside down, or switching the forward and rear wedges. Brilliant modification methinks.

 

[kje54]

Kinda sorta lol 56% mineral paint thinners, 33% oil varnish and 11% linseed or Tung oil.

If you haven't you should try Track of the Wolf's Linspeed Oil. It's my go to nowadays. Prior to that it was Tung oil.

 

[hawg]

Ha ha yeah! "Hawg-57"!

Hawg-56 would be more apt.

 

[hawg]

A useful modification that is very worthwhile in my opinion is to capture the barrel wedges so they cannot fall out and get lost. To do so you need to cut a longitudinal slot in each wedge but leave both ends closed. Then make a short pin that you inlet into the stock under the escutcheon on the side that you drive the wedge towards for removal. The escutcheon holds the pin in place.

A lot of originals had pinned keys.

 

[tazbigdog]

This stuff works pretty good but I prefer Tung oil. True Oil gives a hard varnish like finish where Tung oil feels more natural.

I bought a CMP M1 Garand a couple of years ago. I stripped the new varnish off and used BLO on it. Looks great!

 

[hawg]

I bought a CMP M1 Garand a couple of years ago. I stripped the new varnish off and used BLO on it. Looks great!

Yeah but you probably don't get it out in wet weather or let it get knocked around. Tung oil is a harder finish and is more weather resistant.

 

[Thomasss]

Lyman GPR is about the easiest muzzle loaders I ever put together. I would say they are 95% complete. Brown or Blue the barrel. First one I blued, second one is browned.
For some reason browning worked out better. I think the screws took to browning easier. Lightly sand the wood, you don't have to take off two much. I chose Mahogany stain which gives French a nice unique look. Use Tung oil for sure. It's easy to touch up if you hunt with it and it gets scratched. First hand rub the first coat in, then with the following coats add literally a few drops on mineral spirits. The last coat add a few drops of mineral spirits and a few drops of urethane. That will give it a nice satin finish. Look closely at the butt screws. One of mine was a round head instead of a flat head and I could feel it when shooting. I ended grinding it a little flat so it was flush with the butt plate. Many people will shoot them before applying tung oil, just so they are sure they took enough wood off. Finally after shooting it a couple times, I added Lyman peep site and a front target site to it and I love using them for target and hunting.

 

[Thomasss]

I don't know how much you know about black powder shooting, but I studied muzzleloading from "blackpowderaccuracy.com" which is still available in pamphlet form.
I graduated Cum Laude with a nice diploma in 2006 using my second GPR in .54 cal. The program will certainly help anyone sharpen their skills in black powder shooting.