I have long lusted after the Lyman Mustang Breakaway 209 Magnum 50-cal. If they ever ship any 54-cals from Italy (Invest Arms, Brescia, Italy) I want one of those too, especially at the same sale price as offered by Midway: $289 plus S&H.

Here it is before I fouled the bore with 777 and Hornady sabots:



















Here is the zero-in target, quick and easy, only 3 shots at 50 yards then an adjustment prior to going to 100 yards, 5 more shots to zero, good enough with the coarse adjustments of the 2.5X Leupold:



Here it is field-ready:

what is the story on the trigger guard?It looks a half inch thick!!

Yep, only ugly part of the rifle is the trigger guard, but I can overlook that, for the rest of the form and function.
The trigger guard is steel, the opening is a bit small and it is too thick.

The trigger itself is pretty horrible, a gritty two-stage pull. I did not even want to measure the pull weight, too complex in staging.
But my skills at triggernometry make it do.

The stock is wood (I think) with '"Ultra Grain" Wood Finish.'
The plastic surface-covering lamination (if that is what it is) is hard as nails, scratch and dent resistant. Feels and looks like real walnut to me, even the checkering. The stock alone would cost more than the entire rifle if that was real, figured walnut. On a rifle like this, it is better than real walnut. This is an amazing cheapie.

Not on sale at Midway anymore.
Back up to $349 now.

I will disassemble it when I clean it and look for any exposed real wood surfaces down under.

RIP
Nice! Wondering about that scope protector. I have a 2.5 El Paso weaver on mine, and would like to find one like that to keep any escaping gas from marking it.
thanks
Bfly

quote:

Originally posted by Black Fly:
RIP
Nice! Wondering about that scope protector. I have a 2.5 El Paso weaver on mine, and would like to find one like that to keep any escaping gas from marking it.
thanks
Bfly

Black Fly,
That is simply a couple of pieces of Gorilla Tape (super duct tape black-colored).

I am back to open sights now. Blew a shot at a whitetail doe last weekend because the front scope base was loose. My bad.

When/If I put the scope back on, I will use epoxy with those 6/48 screws and Weaver bases that come with the rifle. Can be removed with low heat from a torch, without marring the gun.

It sure is sweet without the scope, however.

I was able to easily zero the fiberoptic open sights with same load (ballistic-tipped Hornady 300-grain 50/.45 sabot, 150 grains of 777 pellets, 209 primer) used with the scope above. There was enough adjustment with the rear sight base nearly all the way down, and the rear standing leaf drifted just a hair right of center. Front sight height and centering was fine.

Two-stage trigger is not to my liking, but I can shoot it accurately as is.

And yes, looks like very plain birch underneath that gorgeous, tough outer finish.

And yes, this thread got off to a very slow start and an even slower continuation, eh?
Sorry for not paying attention.

Bambi died today, perfect performance of the Mustang with open sights at 75-yards, as well as the accuracy load above. Went in the left shoulder-neck juncture, stopped under the skin of the right buttock/ham, over 3 feet of penetration, found base forward and visibly bulging the hide. Folded back petals bent forward a bit as it tumbled and stopped base forward, 86.4% weight retention (259.3gr/300.1gr), 219% of original diameter (.992"/.453"):