A Review of the Lyman Trade Rifle
By Gary Lewis
When I carry my 54-caliber Lyman sidelock I feel a kinship to the people who settled the Beaver State, the trappers of beaver and those who followed the trails west out of Missouri, the Barlows, the Applegates, the Dixons, the Pengras, and the rest, whose names are found on creeks and small towns all over Oregon, who carved out the roads and cleared the land for farms. In the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s, they carried rifles like this one and hunted deer the same way. The Lyman Trade Rifle, a half-stocked percussion gun, is faithful to the types of guns that were developed for trade to the Indians and were also used by mountain men and pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
The Lyman Trade Rifle comes with a 28-inch barrel, a half-stock, brass hardware, a percussion lock and a single trigger. Choose a 50-caliber or a 54-caliber, weighing in at 8 pounds.
A good starter load consists of 80 grains of FFg blackpowder behind a patched round ball fired by a No. 11 percussion cap. My favorite load is a bit stouter at 100 grains of Hodgdon's Triple 7 FFFg with a Hornady Great Plains 425-grain conical.
The gun shoots well out of the box, but the primitive sights, are, well, primitive. In Oregon, we can add fiber optic sights to a muzzleloader-season-legal gun. Lyman's adjustable fiber optic sight was my choice after a little research. Other good options are available here: https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/optics/sights.html
Shooting a heavy 54-caliber ball is a bit like fast-pitching a pumpkin. When preparing for a hunt, I zero the rifle at 100 yards which puts the 50-yard shot at 4 inches above the bull. At 75 yards, the bullet impacts three inches high. At 125 yards, I expect the bullet to impact about three inches low. I tape the data to my stock and use a rangefinder to be sure of the shot. In the field, I pray for a 50-yard broadside shot and remind myself to hold low.
Other modifications include:
Quake Claw Rifle Sling
Unbreakable ramrod
Speedloaders mounted to sling
To date, this gun has accounted for several blacktail deer and an NMLRA record book quality antelope.
On my 2020 hunt in southern Oregon, the buck when it sensed danger, tried to exit stage left which gave me a moving broadside shot opportunity. The hammer was back and as soon as the front sight swept across the vitals, I touched off. Big white smoky blanket thrown across the scene. When the curtain of smoke cleared, the buck's feet were in the air.
This Lyman has become one of my favorite deer and antelope rifles. Count me a big fan of the Trade Rifle and the 54-caliber.
Check out the Lyman Trade Rifle here:
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