Looking for a GPR

[Muley Hunter]

Maybe you guys can help me find a LH caplock .54 GPR. As a last resort i'll buy a new one, but they're pricey now. A good used one will save me some money, but i've run out of places to look.

  Being a LH makes it hard to find one, but maybe i'll get lucky. With your help my odds will go up in finding one.

 

[BrownBear]

Being a LH makes it hard to find one, but maybe i'll get lucky. With your help my odds will go up in finding one.

I'm a lefty too, and back in the day there wasn't such a thing as a lefty version. Or at least I wasn't aware of it. Sucked it up and bought a righty 54.  I'm so used to it now, it felt really weird when I picked up a lefty recently.  I'd go the extra mile to find a lefty if I was wanting a flinter today, but that's about it. 

On the subject of lefty flinters, it's really, really fun to listen to a righty shooter get on his tall horse about how it shouldn't matter to shoot a righty left-handed. Then hand him your lefty and let him prove it!!!!!    Ain't seen a righty yet that could shoot a lefty flinter worth a hoot.  Sure knocks a few pegs out from under their tall horse. 

Good luck on finding a cheaper lefty capper. But if you can't, I'd sure take a closer look at a righty and see if you can make it work for you. It did for me, but I'm not going to say flat out that it will for you.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I've actually owned 6 GPR's. Righty's and lefty's. Flint and caplocks.

I have no problem shooting any of them, but it always bothered me to have the cheek piece on the wrong side of the gun. I also felt the cheek piece makes it a little more comfortable to shoot. My left cheek is really sensitive from skin cancer removal. The cheek piece doesn't bang my cheek as hard.

I don't want to buy a new one again. They're $589 now, but i'm determined to not make a compromise this time. I've never owned the LH caplock .54 before.

 I want to shoot a PRB for elk and I just don't feel good about using a .50. I'm surprised Colorado allows it they're so damned picky with muzzleloader laws. It will work with a perfect shot, but are they trusting the public to always do that?

 

[BrownBear]

I want to shoot a PRB for elk and I just don't feel good about using a .50. I'm surprised Colorado allows it they're so damned picky with muzzleloader laws. It will work with a perfect shot, but are they trusting the public to always do that?

We have a place in the Rockies with elk on it now and then.  Not enough for anyone beyond family to hunt, but every now and again we hunt it. 

Had an interesting series of experiences.  Brother-in-law showed up with two young buddies. He was shooting a 54 capper with a round ball over 90 grains of 2f.  The youngsters were shooting 50's with conicals.  BIL dropped his elk with a single shot.  Ended up doing a whole lot of blood trailing and arm flapping to finally put down the two elk shot with 50 cal conicals. 

I got no problem with the performance of 50 cal conicals on elk, but I have LOTS of problems with guys who think the conicals give them an excuse to take longer shots and foul them up. The youngsters both tried shots over 100 yards offhand and totally bred the pooch, while the BIL worked up close and made his shot at around 60. 

Couple of years later they showed up again.  Took that long to talk me into letting them back onto the place!   This time the youngsters were also shooting 54's with round balls like the BIL.  They went three for three on elk, each with a single shot.  Biggest difference was that they all stalked closer (inside 75 yards) with no excuses allowed for trying longer shots. BIL also confided that he had the youngsters out practicing their shooting for a solid 6 months before the hunt. Also made the kids absolutely certain that they'd be walking home to Nebraska if they repeated their performance on the previous hunt.

Lotta, lotta messages in those two hunts.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Lots of messages. I've hunted elk since the mid 50's. Never killed one over 75 yds. As a still hunter, I love getting close.

 Now that i'm blind as a bat it works out even better. 

 My dad taught me to hunt and if he ever caught me taking anything but double lung shots he would have knocked me out. ly, I never got knocked out. Some things I learned real good. That lesson has served me well all my life.

 

[Sharpsman]

All I can find Muley:

https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/lyman-great-plains-rifle-54-cal-percussion-left-hand-32-barrel-european-walnut-stock-blue-finish-011516611260.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=fn

Call Cheaper Than Dirt and 'horse-wrangle' with them! Give 'em a song and dance and maybe they'll come off that price!

 

[Smokin' Joe]

I seen some new ones on Midsouth Shooting supply and also on Buffalo Arms.  They had both the "Rifle" and the "Hunter" models in left hand.  Armslist had a few "like new" at good prices but I didn't see any left hand models

 

[Muley Hunter]

No problem finding new ones. As it turned out I got practical and bought an Optima scope package. I'm too blind for open sights anymore. I refuse to put a scope on a sidelock.

I really wanted to stay with the mountain man thing, but I guess i'll have to be the 2017 version. I'm stubborn and it takes me a long time to change. I've bought many inlines in the past, but never hunted with one. I have to do it this time. It's the only way I can hunt now and it's obvious I can't give up hunting. Getting old is all about accepting changes.

Thanks for looking around guys.

 

[Okie Hog]

i don't like conicals at all.   Had some long tracking and searching jobs with hogs i shot with  .50 caliber 320 grain Maxi Balls.   Now my TC New Englanders bore is badly leaded.  The gun won't shoot patched round balls worth a hoot.   It'll take a lot of work with Scotch Brite to get it clean.

 

[Muley Hunter]

The only conical I like is the Thor, but i'd only use them in an inline. I hate the price though.

A PRB belongs in a sidelock.

Why did you bring up conicals?

 

[lighthorseman]

The only conical I like is the 405 gr .458 cast "conical" that goes in the end of 45-70 brass. :cheers:

I tried .45 cal rb in place of conicals.......didn't work so good! :slaps:

 

[Muley Hunter]

Well, I couldn't do it. It's been eating on me that I ordered an inline. I've done this so many times in the past I make myself sick. At least I caught myself before it was too late this time.

I had bought the gun at Muzzle-Loader. I called them up and they were really good about fixing my dilemma. They're going to call fed-ex and turn the gun back to them.

Because of Jon being involved with Traditions now I thought i'd try one. The Optima is stopped and a Traditions Woodsman Hawken is coming.

 I feel better now. My brains reject anything but a PRB. I'd love a Green River Hawken, but I have to use what I can afford.

My vision requires close shots with iron sights, but that's ok. I'm used to doing that anyway.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I have never used buck shot for hunting. I have heard that folks do. 
Would that work? 

I ask because even though it is not round ball, a dbl barrel shotgun IS round balls. 
The dbl barrel BP shotgun is every bit as fun as my rifles... like, big, goofy, grin fun. 
It tears up a target at shorter range.

They have a wider target forgiveness for hitting. I have not used them for hunting, yet. 
I wanted to go after turkey with mine, but I have heard some hunt pig with them. 

It still makes smoke the old fashioned way. What you think?

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'm ok at shorter ranges bud. 50-60 yds for deer and a bit farther for elk.

One thing i've noticed is if I stay on the computer too much my vision gets more blurry. I think my eyes adjust to my computer glasses and when I take them off it takes a couple of days to clear up. Well, clear up to my normal blurry.

So, the cure is to stay off the computer as much as possible before range sessions and hunts. It helps a lot.

I'm so used to blurry vision that i'd freak out with clear vision and couldn't hit anything. 

Thanks for the help.

 

[exMember]

Thats exactly why I wait a month before hunting season to order new contacts lol.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I don't bother with glasses. I don't see up close or at distance. If I clear up the distance with glasses the sights are impossible to see. The same deal in reverse if I correct the close vision.

So, I wear nothing and everything is just a little blurry.