Lyman GPR Kit Build Along

[Leathermonger]

That's ridiculous, I'd contact Lyman and send that stock and tang back for a better fit, that's way out of line, their ready to purchase rifles have a much better fit than that!, One thing about factory Hawken replicas is that they leave way to much wood long the fore stock and the barrel channel, the wood should roll in to the barrel not have a 1/8" shoulder between the barrel and the finished face of the fore stock, and there is too much wood left on the wrist also!

[mongrel]

A small gap behind the breechplug tang is necessary on any gun generating any recoil to speak of, for the reason Rusty Spur mentioned -- you'll chip wood out there as recoil seats the metal a hair further back in the wood. However, I can see that the hole for your vent liner is already positioned slightly to the rear of the pan on the lock, while the screw holes in the tang are forward of the holes in the wood. If you remove wood and move the tang back so that the screw holes line up, you'll close the gap to an acceptable amount, but your vent hole will be too far back of your pan's center.

Hate to say it but IMHO that stock needs to be sent back with a precise explanation of what's wrong with it. The fix necessary to make everything fit and work as it should is more in line with what a skilled gunsmith would do, not assembly of a kit rifle.

[Rusty Spur]

I agree.That is rediculas.The vent should be centered with the pan.If the tang was moved back to close up the gap,it would make matters much worse.I would contact Lyman also.Although,I have been waiting for 11 weeks for some screws that were missing out of my kit.They did say that they would replace them though.I hope I am still living when they arrive.

[Rusty Spur]

Here is the only picture I have showing the vent liner/pan relationship of my flintlock GPR. The vent liner is perfectly centered with the pan but is hard to make out in the photo.I also have about a 1/32" gap at the rear of the tang but that doesn't bother me.

[beowulf]

this is`nt the first sloppy inletting I`ve seen on a gpr kit ! beginning to wonder about their quality control ! owned three gpr`s over the years ,one percussion and two flinters . fit and finish was great ! it`s almost like the kit stocks are seconds !

[Rusty Spur]

beowulf,
I wonder about the kits also being seconds but the factory built GPR flinter that I bought had a crack through the lock inletting and I was afraid that the first shot would have really splintered it.I sent the stock back to Lyman and to my shock,the replacement stock was worse in other ways.I delt with it by totally redoing it by filing past all the sap wood and re-shaping and re- finishing the whole stock.Some people have no complaints but I for one, would never gamble with a Lyman kit unseen. I would go to a shop if at all possible and go completely over it before I dish out my money.Some just don't have that option though.

[Watauga]

I hate to say this but the kits being seconds would explain why so many folks are having trouble with them!

[himesrun]

Well, It looks like I have a decision to make. Do I deal with the extra labor to make it work or deal with getting a replacement that may or may not be better than the one I've got! (when I get it) Geez, toss a coin or what?

Here are a couple more pics. Notice in the last one there is very little wood between the barrel channel and the lock bolt hole. In fact there's a no wood in spots. Would this be a week spot? If so that might be the clincher that sends it back. I hate to have to wait to get started but seeing as I'm building this rifle primarily for hunting and not just plink'n I want it to be a solid peice. It will be used.

[beowulf]

I`d almost be willing to scrap the stock and get me a new preshaped stock ! be a bit more work , but the possibilities would be worth it ! thinkin gpr stocked in curly maple !

[mongrel]

The lack of wood between the barrel channel and ramrod hole isn't a weak spot, and since there's no forward lock bolt used on the GPR it's not an issue so far as the ramrod sliding all the way back to the breech as it should (on rifles with a forward lock bolt, the bolt passes under the barrel and there needs to be at least 1/8" of wood there). It is, however, another thing that shouldn't be.

Probably the easiest fix, so you don't have to make a new vent liner with a forward-biased vent hole (which could be a pain in the butt) or try to patch in wood behind the breechplug tang, is to find someone to weld about 3/16"-1/4" of steel to the end of the tang, oversized enough that you can work it down to match the contours of the tang. Square it off or round it as you like, then extend the inlet in the wood back enough to accept the extra metal. This will keep your vent acceptably close to the center of the pan and save you having to hog back the wood at the breech. Plug and re-drill the screw holes in the stock wrist.

Or send the stock back and hope for something better when the new one arrives.

I'm sorry, and I hope it doesn't ruffle the feathers of any Lyman fans, but I'm with a couple of others here -- this isn't the first GPR kit stock I've known of to be borderline useless. And I don't care if their off-the-shelf complete guns were to be on a par quality-wise with the best custom work, the buyer of a kit is entitled to precisely the same degree of quality control as the buyer of a complete rifle. Anything less speaks poorly of the company.

[Rusty Spur]

Without a doubt,I would return it with a nice detailed letter stating the problem.You may even want to email their service dept. and explain the problem also.You can even send them your photos.They will get the message.You should have a stock to your satisfaction in no time.

[himesrun]

Well, I guess I'm going to get a hold of someone about it tommorrow and see what they can do for me. I didn't show it in the pics but there's also some extra space between the wood and breech on each side which I wouldn't be able to get rid of. I guess I'm going to try another one. Hopefully I get lucky and get a good one the second time around. Thanks for all your help everyone! I will post how I make out with them tommorrow.

[NAULTRICK1]

I've only built one "Kit" and had no problems, mainly because there was more than enough wood left so's I had to finish the inlet on all the parts-all the rest of my guns I built from planks so if there was any problems they were my doing-I agree with Mongrel and some others-Send it back-It's your hard earned money and you deserve top value for every dollar-IMHO

[Watauga]

himesrun I think sending the stock back is the best Idea also.
On other GPR kit problem posts it was always a shame because the stocks in question had Beautifully figured Wood
and Great Coloring even before finish was applied.
Your Kit's Stock is no ware near those others.
(If it was the welding of the tang mentioned would have been worth it!)
And since they have put you through this I would ask for a better looking and better fitting new stock!

[himesrun]

 Ok, I contacted lyman by phone on monday. I spoke to a lady who, although nice, wasn't much help. She wanted me to just go ahead and send it back and they would take a look at it. That is, pay for the shipping to send it back and still not know what they would do about it. I asked if I could email some pictures to them but her response was "no, we probably won't get them anyway because they are in a time warp with there emails". Huh? Seriously? By the end of the converstation she had me faxing the pictures to them. Anyone ever tried faxing pictures? It usually comes out the other end all black..... which is what they did.
I decided to call again today to see what was going on. Again I talked to a nice lady and after a few minutes finally got her to transfer me to "the lab". Apparently this is who I needed to talk to the whole time. The gentleman acknowledged that he did indeed recieve my fax and no he couldn't see it. He did suggest that I send him the pictures to his email though. What? Ugh! That's wanted to do two days ago!
Oh well, I explained to him the problem and his response was "yah, that happens some times". He will show the pictures to his supervisor and let me know.....sometime. That was this morning and I haven't gotten a response back yet. Maybe tommorrow.
I can't say I'm getting mad yet, just a little frustrated. I know that things do "just happen", I have been in business as a residential contractor for ten years and I know how it goes. If/when they replace the stock I think it might be a good idea to ask someone to personally look at it and verify the fit. I don't think that this would be out of line to ask them to do, huh? As far as the figure of the stock is concerned, I of course would like the nicest one they have, but I don't know if asking them for this is out of line. I mean I'm not paying more for a "special" stock, but it would be nice. I'm not one to get all upset and scream and holler at the person on the other end of the phone. They usually have nothing to do with it anyway. Now I'm just wondering what I can ask them to do and not be over the line. I will keep you all posted.