Any tips on putting together a Lyman rifle kit?

S

Sacramento Johnson

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Apr 17, 2021
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54
Howdy!
I just picked up a Lyman Great Plains Rifle kit in .50 cal at a local swap meet for $50. It appears to have been sold in 2004; the one and only owner said he never got around to putting it together; everything looks like it's there. I've read the instruction booklet and plan to go very slowly as I have never done anything like this before. Any tips would be appreciated! Also, I plan to make the wood a dark brown; any suggestions on the type of wood stain I should look for?
Thank you!
 
I’ve finished 3 Thompson Center .50 cal blackpowder rifles from kits. Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Gun Stock Finish - Kit works great. You can even get this from Walmart.
 
Use intetting black and go slow. Keep your tools sharp.
Barrel & tang first. It determines where the lock goes.
Lock next. Hammer must strike center on the nipple.
Then lock screws and sideplate.
Trigger next. Must engage sear arm.
Trigger affects length of pull (if you have any choice on LoP).
 
As Gary said, go slow. You can easily remove too much metal or wood and then you cannot put it back. Take it slow and do a lot of trial fits as it is easy to remove a little more. Look at what you like in a rifle finish before deciding how to finish your project. A lot of folks urged me to brown the metal on the 4 kits I made but I prefer the natural steel finish. It took a lot of draw filing and I rubbed it down with oil several times but they still look terrific in my opinion many years later.
 
hawg said:
This stuff works pretty good but I prefer Tung oil. True Oil gives a hard varnish like finish where Tung oil feels more natural.
Click to expand...
That's because Tru-oil is not actually an oil finish. I like Danish Oil after staining. It takes time to get the really nice oil finishes, multiple coats over months and lots of rubbing. Not an apply-n-dry thing.
 
Go slow, be patient and do things right. I only ever built one kit; a 12ga.SxS muzzle loading shotgun kit I got as a gift when I was young. I was so excited to shoot the thing, I rushed through the assembly process and ended up with a completely functional firearm that didn't look near as good as it could have.
 
I don't have any suggestions for you on how to finish it but please take pictures and post them here as you progress as it will be a very interesting thread to watch.
 
I just refinished mine a few months ago, added a Hawkin style patch box, and properly shaped that poorly done cheek piece. If you look at how the original Hawkin brothers did the cheek pieces on their plains rifles you'll see the glaring obvious difference. It drove me nuts until I finally fixed it. I used a polyurethane finish, it a tough hard finish and not hard to apply. Since yours is in a kit form you have lots of options on finishes and how you want things to fit. Mine had some metal to metal fit issues that needed attention as well. I also replaced the forward tang screw, a large wood screw with a long 10/32 machine screw that goes through the wrist and into the trigger plate. Enjoy it, make it yours!
 
Be careful sanding, use a block especially when sanding the lock panels and the cheek piece, don't round off the edges of these areas, the lines should stay crisp. This is one area where many kit builders go wrong.
 
l.cutler said:
Be careful sanding, use a block especially when sanding the lock panels and the cheek piece, don't round off the edges of these areas, the lines should stay crisp. This is one area where many kit builders go wrong.
Click to expand...
This ^^^ Almost every refinished TC and many or most kit guns exhibit this flaw. There are near 200 year old original rifles with crisp edges. You’d think we could manage it on a one day old finish.
 
I'll put in another vote for Watco Danish Oil. I've had nice results with it on a few stocks I've refinished.

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.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's what I am describing:

barrel-channel-wedges.jpg
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
I just refinished mine a few months ago, added a Hawkin style patch box, and properly shaped that poorly done cheek piece. If you look at how the original Hawkin brothers did the cheek pieces on their plains rifles you'll see the glaring obvious difference. It drove me nuts until I finally fixed it.
Click to expand...

The bottom line of the Lyman cheekpiece blends in about halfway up the wrist. A Hawken cheekpiece should have a crisp bottom line its full length and if you follow an imaginary line from where it ends it should fall in line with the top of the sidenail boss. Hawken used a few different shapes for cheekpieces so the Lyman is ok on that. It's just the bottom contour is all out of whack. I don't have a decent pic of my Hawken cheekpiece in its finished form but this is from when it was being built. Compare it to a Lyman and you'll see what I'm talking about.

f3jRgZ2l.jpg
 
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