TC Hawken help.

[bhunterED]

So I had a buddy gave me an TC Hawken 50 cal that came in a package deal of some other guns he bought. It was rough and had been neglected recently and needed love. I took it apart and have redone the barrel, stripped, sanded and refinished the stock. I will be putting it back together tonight and am eager to shoot it. Unfortunately the only stuff I have to shoot it are pellets and sabots and everything I've seen says it should be loose powder and patched round balls. Does anyone have any input on shooting pellets and sabbots out of it or any experience. I wish I took before pics but didn't. Here is the barrel after bluing it and the stock after stripping sanding and staining.

[Splitear]

You could probably get away with pellets and sabots, but that gun isn't designed for them. I don't have a Hawken, but my New Englander does best with 80gr of Pyrodex with a PRB. The twist rate on that gun probably isn't fast enough for a sabot. If I were you, I'd try to hunt up some loose powder, patches and balls. See what it shoots best and have a lot of fun making some smoke!

Great job on the refurbish by the way, it looks awesome! I hope the bore is still in good shape. If it matches that you've got on the outside, you should have a fine rifle. Hopefully you have a front sight as well  

Edited December 16, 2021 by Splitear

[bhunterED]

5 minutes ago, Splitear said:

You could probably get away with pellets and sabots, but that gun isn't designed for them. I don't have a Hawken, but my New Englander does best with 80gr of Pyrodex with a PRB. The twist rate on that gun probably isn't fast enough for a sabot. If I were you, I'd try to hunt up some loose powder, patches and balls. See what it shoots best and have a lot of fun making some smoke!

Great job on the refurbish by the way, it looks awesome! I hope the bore is still in good shape. If it matches that you've got on the outside, you should have a fine rifle. Hopefully you have a front sight as well  

I put a scope down the barrel and surprisingly it looked good. I do have the original sights both front and rear I just took them off when I redid the barrel. Thanks for the compliment.

[land 1]

not sure but i think loose powder and patch balls is a must i had one years ago thats all i ever shot... something to do with the loose powder and how it burns and the twist of the barrel is made for patch and ball

[Splitear]

8 minutes ago, land 1 said:

not sure but i think loose powder and patch balls is a must i had one years ago thats all i ever shot... something to do with the loose powder and how it burns and the twist of the barrel is made for patch and ball

The burn rate might be true, but I think the bigger issues is limiting yourself to 50gr increments. 50 gr. isn't enough in my sidelock, and my groups with 100gr. kind of suck. 80 gr. is the sweet spot, which I couldn't adjust to with pellets. 

[airedale]

Your TC Hawken has a barrel with a medium twist designed to fire both patched ball and Maxi Balls accurately. As long as your barrel is in good condition a bit of experimentation with different patch thicknesses, powder charges and bullets I would be sure you will find something that performs.

I have several sidelocks that I like messing around with, the top rifle is a bunch of accumulated parts I purchased on ebay. TC Hawken stock and lock with a stainless Green Mountain Barrel, it has a twist made for shooting bullets.

The middle rifle is a TC Cherokee I picked up at a gun show, it was one of the toughest nuts for me to crack ever, the only thing that shoots well out of it is TC Maxi Balls

The bottom rifle is  put together from a kit my boys got me for my birthday years ago.

You have done a good job refurbing yours, it look great. Much of the fun is working up an accurate load,  congrats and good luck.

Al

[bhunterED]

1 minute ago, airedale said:

Your TC Hawken has a barrel with a medium twist designed to fire both patched ball and Maxi Balls accurately. As long as your barrel is in good condition a bit of experimentation with different patch thicknesses, powder charges and bullets I would be sure you will find something that performs.

I have several sidelocks that I like messing around with, the top rifle is a bunch of accumulated parts I purchased on ebay. TC Hawken stock and lock with a stainless Green Mountain Barrel, it has a twist made for shooting bullets.

The middle rifle is a TC Cherokee I picked up at a gun show, it was one of the toughest nuts for me to crack ever, the only thing that shoots well out of it is TC Maxi Balls

The bottom rifle is  put together from a kit my boys got me for my birthday years ago.

You have done a good job refurbing yours, it look great. Much of the fun is working up an accurate load,  congrats and good luck.

Al

3 good looking guns you have. I have an in-line so all of this sidelock stuff is new to me. I don't even know where to get roundballs around me let alone different thickness patches.

[airedale]

1 minute ago, bhunterED said:

I don't even know where to get roundballs around me let alone different thickness patches.

You can do a search on ebay or google and find vendors that sell everything you would need for muzzleloaders. For Deer Hunting I would lean toward finding a bullets to use over patched balls. For smaller game and plinking patched balls are a blast and cheap. TC maxi Balls would be a good stating point.

 

Al

[OldBrian]

Log cabin shop (web site) has the patches, round balls and percussion caps. You should be able to pick up pyrodox powder local if you look around. True black powder may be a bit harder to find. That gun was designed to shoot patched round ball or maxi balls. If I was you I would check the nipple to make sure it is clear as that normally the biggest issue if the gun was neglected. Even pyrodox powder can cause fouling if the gun was not cleaned properly after it is shoot. Good luck with your new gun

[bhunterED]

Thanks for the input I appreciate it. There's just something about this gun that draws me to it. As soon as I got home from work I had to put it back together. Now just to get the necessities.

[Nytracker]

Nice work on a beautiful gun . I have toyed with going back to a percussion rifle wish I had never sold my long rifle .  Just can't stand cleaning it . 

[Splitear]

1 hour ago, bhunterED said:

3 good looking guns you have. I have an in-line so all of this sidelock stuff is new to me. I don't even know where to get roundballs around me let alone different thickness patches.

I always use Track of the Wolf. 

[Billyb6]

I would just get several different projectiles and see what your gun likes.

FWIW I have an older Hawken replica with a green mountain barrel- what I believe is a 1 in 48 twist .  Maxi balls shot ok.  I couldn’t get the round balls to shoot very well.  If you try round balls watch your patches as they can provide useful information in developing a load that works for you.

 

Nice job on the refinish and good luck and enjoy your rifle

[Daveboone]

In the group of avid black powder shooters, the old sidelock t/c rifles are in demand. You shouldnt have any problem finding .50 cal bullets (.490) with probably .015 thick patches. Be sure to buy patches for shooting, not for cleaning. You will need a bullet lube also, which there are alot of. t/c Bore butter is as good as any, but Hoppes black powder lubricant and cleaner is also good. Lots of guys who shoot alot use windex, but it dries out to quick for me for hunting. 

The rifle was made to be shot with patched round ball, and is capable of good accuracy at its given range. With cap and ball rifles, it is all about putting the first shot in the right place. Track of the Wolf has good prices and assortments, and ships quickly. You will probably have better luck finding pyrodex powder than real black powder. Goex, the only American black powder manufacturer, just quit production several months ago. There are still several different German and Swiss powders imported which are very good.

 

[PraiseDiana]

MidwayUSA should have the supplies you need

[doebuck1234]

Can't give you info on supplies as I have no clue but looks great,good work!!!!!!

[johnplav]

Great gun!  Took my first deer with a Hawken… one of these years I’ll use it again!

[46rkl]

Still love the Hawkens that I built from a kit a long time ago. I messed around with sabots once and didn’t care for the results. You may have better luck with the wide variety of choices available today but it’s the idea of being old style that makes it so much fun.

[cnymuzguy]

McLain's in Endicott has a some muzzleloading supplies. Think they have round balls and maxi balls.

 

[bhunterED]

9 minutes ago, cnymuzguy said:

McLain's in Endicott has a some muzzleloading supplies. Think they have round balls and maxi balls.

 

Thanks I'll have to go check it out. I haven't been in there in a few years.

[sbuff]

Unless it is from the Fox Ridge custom shop all TC Hawkens no matter the caliber are 1 in 48 twist. White Mountain Carbines and some of the inlines had faster twist from 1 in 28 to 1 in 38

In a TC Hawken 50 one should get pretty good accuracy with a .490 ball, thick patch(.015-.20) and 70-80 grains of black.

[sbuff]

Unless it is from the Fox Ridge custom shop all TC Hawkens no matter the caliber are 1 in 48 twist. White Mountain Carbines and some of the inlines had faster twist from 1 in 28 to 1 in 38

In a TC Hawken 50 one should get pretty good accuracy with a .490 ball, thick patch(.015-.20) and 70-80 grains of black.

[bhunterED]

4 hours ago, cnymuzguy said:

McLain's in Endicott has a some muzzleloading supplies. Think they have round balls and maxi balls.

 

They had everything I needed but loose powder. Thanks for the heads up.

[BizCT]

I think @The_Real_TCIII has one

[The_Real_TCIII]

I think [mention=5278]The_Real_TCIII[/mention] has one

Ive got a CVA Hawken in 50cal and here is my current combo. Seems very accurate


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