T/C Buckeye Carbine

[JonnyReb]

  I came across this unique T/C .50 and thought i'd post what i know about it, and also maybe learn a thing or two about it from those more knowledgable. I've searched the internet pretty hard and can only account for a handful of threads in forums and a couple sold online over the last 5 or 6 years. Any info i've compiled comes from these iffy sources.

  The .50 Buckeye carbine made in the mid to late 80's for a yet unknown store or shop in Ohio. They were a run of 250 rifles, all bearing a unique build and the companies initials, which are BSS. This may have been a gun shop or i've read maybe a hardware store. There was another run of different rifles called Buckeye Hunters made with a different configuration and the initials JSB(i think). These were a run of 600 supposedly. I'd love to clarify some of these details if anyone knows.

 In comparing the Carbine to other T/C's of the era, it most closely resembles the New Englander. It has the same stock essentially, although the buttplate is the older shotgun style metal plate like the early model NE's and the twin 12ga. shotgun. The Buckeye copies the materials used in the early NE style guns. Stocks and locks are identical. The round barrel is the same too, but is cut to a short 20" on the Buckeye. For the record, the twist rate on this rifle and i'll assume all Buckeyes as well as NE'ers, is 1:48.

 The differences between the Buckeye and the New Englander are many, mostly upgrades. The peep sight on this gun is missing, but it was robbed long ago as the faint marks from its outline is lightly etched into the blue of the tang. these rifles all came with this sight on a factory drilled tang, as well as a regular rear sloped ramp sight. 6" further up the barrel is factory scope taps drilled. The front is a nice Williams? brass bead. Ramrod is from the ugly phased straight grain run. Triggerguard is unique, cast in a bronze finish i've not seen on any other T/C. Short 20" barrel makes for a 36" package. This rifle definitely has a nicer stock than most TC's i've seen. Lots of burl and highlights in the grain, handpicked or just luck i'm not sure.

  I don't know if the sling in this pic came from T/C or not, although i'd like to find out. Its definitely been on this rifle since the early 90's, when a friends father bought the rifle at a N.C gunshow. The factory peep must have disappeared before this, as he just put the rifle away unfired. I assumed the rifle WAS unfired until i found trace freckling of a primer left uncleaned in the hammer cup. Someone, probably the peep thief, had at least popped a cap with it. Other than that its a real nice example of the fine work T/C put out during that era. This particular example was an early model, serial number 00024 and i think they were taking care to build a very special rifle.

  I'd be very interested to know more about this rifle as would at least several hundred other folks, any info would be most appreciated. Comments also of course please

[bubba.50]

can't add a whole lot to what ya already know but here goes. a  friend of mine has a buckeye carbine as well as the buckeye hunter carbine I used to own. as you've surmised the buckeye carbine is basically a cut down new Englander. the buckeye hunter carbine is basically a cut down renegade. both of these came with the peepsight & had  sling studs on the thimble and the buttstock and a leather sling. the gunshop initials on the hunter carbine were jsh not jsb if I remember correctly.
the leather sling in yer pictures looks like the lace-on sling t/c used to list in their catalogs. I believe the gun in yer pix has had holes drilled for that rear sight as both the ones I mentioned had regular  t/c sight holes where they're always located on renegades & new Englanders with filler screws in them.
i'm sure ladobe or somebody more knowledgeable than me will be along to help ya with more details but maybe this'll help a bit. luck & have a good'en friend, bubba.

[JonnyReb]

   Thanks for posting Bubba, was hoping you would and figured you and a couple other folks on this forum had seen the rifle before. Appreciate the correct abbreviation on the "Hunter" version,(jsh) too. I did find one online source that explained who JSH was but now can't find it. The BSS on the carbine version is still an unknown..

  Had figured on not firing this gun but in light of finding the primer residue on the hammer i guess it doesn't matter if the cobwebs get blown out. I do look forward to taking advantage of the 1:48 twist as opposed to my White mt. carbines evil fast twist. Might be able to throw rb's at a decent velocity and i look forward to not having to use 370+ gr to shoot accurately. I look forward to finding out.   j

[P.A. Myers]

Greetings,

Didn't one of the 'Buckeyes' have a pistolgrip type stock?                    P.A.

[bubba.50]

none of the few I've seen either in person or on gunbroker were pistol grip but at one time t/c did offer the high plains sporter which was basically a new Englander with a pistol grip stock. don't know if they all were but the one my friend owns has the high gloss finish on the metal parts much like some of the fox ridge guns had.

[lakota]

I wonder if they were made for Buckeye Sports Center? As far as I know that outfit only sells boats and campers now, but I think they sold other stuff in the past. Do the T/C Buckeyes have anything to do with Ruger's Buckeye Specials?

[JonnyReb]

 That "High Plains sporter" sounds like a great rifle, sometimes lately i've come to miss pistol grips on my muzzleloaders. I'll be keeping an eye out for that one, sounds uncommon though.

  Lakota, i truly don't have a clue in the world yet what BSS stands for, did see another post online somewhere that sugested these rifles were made for the Ohio Big Bucks club, although i'd assume the initials probably mimic the group or companies name. In reading again about the other version of this rifle, the "Buckeye Hunter", i see the initials as JSG, which i just found to be Jerry's Sporting Goods in Ohio. I appreciate your post.

   This rifle has some pretty wood..

[lakota]

It looks like a handy little front stuffer and the round barrel looks nice. I am so used to seeing hex barrels on traditional guns.

[P.A. Myers]

item# 121091881706,  bring money.

[JonnyReb]

 Just curious fellas, would you consider this run of rifles(250) to be the rarest model of TC?   I know they're are rarer variations probably but no named model with less produced units i'm guessing? Thanks , Jeff

[bubba.50]

the express rifle stock that p.a. linked above is now on gunbroker as a complete gun. don't know how rare it is but in nearly 40 yrs of foolin' with t/c's it's the only one I've ever seen.

[Bugflipper]

 For the JSG they weren't sold exclusively through that shop. I won one through gander mountain before their mail order catalog business was bought out. It is pretty well identical to a treehawk in size, but it had a slow twist rate I think. Gander mountain advertised it as 1 of 100. I think I read somewhere that JSG Distributing did a deal with T/C and 100 were sold to ffl dealers. Later there was a run of 400, don't know if only JSG sold them or anybody could order them like the first batch.


On BSS it is Buckeye Shooters Supplies. That used to be another mail order catalog. I don't know if they're still in business or not? Bass pro and cabelas bought most of the small brick and mortar catalog shops out years ago.

[JonnyReb]

 

For the JSG they weren't sold exclusively through that shop. I won one through gander mountain before their mail order catalog business was bought out. It is pretty well identical to a treehawk in size, but it had a slow twist rate I think. Gander mountain advertised it as 1 of 100. I think I read somewhere that JSG Distributing did a deal with T/C and 100 were sold to ffl dealers. Later there was a run of 400, don't know if only JSG sold them or anybody could order them like the first batch.


On BSS it is Buckeye Shooters Supplies. That used to be another mail order catalog. I don't know if they're still in business or not? Bass pro and cabelas bought most of the small brick and mortar catalog shops out years ago.

  Geez Bug you just supplied one of the missing links on this rifle, Buckeye Shooter Supplies. Theres not a post on the internet that has that info(that i can find). Lots of folks wondered but no one knew. Thank you

  Bubba i looked up the TC Express rifle and you are probably dead on, they evidently made VERY few of them and theres almost no google-able info on them. Just saw reference too, to a rifle i've never heard of simply called a TC Woods rifle.

 Much appreciate the info guys.  J

[bubba.50]

hey jonnyreb,
go to gunbroker & check out the express rifle item # 340203393 and tell me it don't make ya drool just a little bit with that 31in fast twist barrel, express two-leaf sight & the pistol grip & everything. still no idea how rare it is but it's the only one I've ever seen or heard tell of  & the seller sure is proud of it with his openin' bid requirement.

[JonnyReb]

Here it is http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=340203393

 Yup i'd LOVE TO own that one but am surprised they used such a simple stock for such a unique gun. Its that pistol grip and those rear sights that set it off so much, Not so surprised its just sittin thou, blackpowder seems to be hard to move in the current market. Thought TC and CVa dropping out woulda made prices jump but evidently not so...yet

 just read in the description that they were part of a run of 750

[bubba.50]

concernin' the woods rifle. don't know if they mighta used the word "woods" on any other models or not but the only thing I found under the name was a couple of synthetic stocked unmentionables with that name.
 
and yer right, they sure coulda used a better grade of walnut on that express rifle couldn't they? then it mighta come close to bein' worth his startin' bid. luck & have a good'en friend, bubba.

[JonnyReb]

 Found another reference to a "woods hawken" by TC, couldn't tell by the post if it was a factory cut down Hawkin or a home job.

 Just got my recently procured peep mounted on the Buckeye, restoring it to the way i think it came from the factory. Never tried a TC peep but really like it so far, is almost exactly what my Daisy 99 champion had on it so far as a sight picture.. put 15000 bb's through that thing(3 daisy treasure chests),, is a familiar view from long ago. Love it

[RamblinMan2]

You guys have covered this pretty well. I've been a T/C dealer for 36 years. The Buckeye  is one of several limited edition rifles T/C built for dealers and others. These limited and numbered 'production' runs were actually made by T/C's custom shop. As far as scarcity of production rifles is concerned, the Woods rifle is not that uncommon, but was never that popular and was only built one year. The Express rifle was not produced in large numbers nor was the Cleland Hawken. I would guess the Cleland to be the rarest of T/C production Rifles. It only came in .40. When they were available I was only able to get two as a dealer. One of the Clelands, one of the Express rifles, and at least one or two of every model T/C ever made is in my safe still new in the box. Got some real nice stuff from the custom shop too. Working as a gunsmith with no retirement and no 401K, I've saved these through the years for retirement. Before yall start asking...and just to spite my doctors and keep the wife stirred up ..I'm not ready to retire yet!!! RamblinMan

[JonnyReb]

 And so there we go. definitive answers to all our(my) questions. Thanks to every one of you for your contributions, theres more answers in this thread to what i was wondering than i found in all my internet searching put together. Same goes for others wondering too, do a search for "buckeye carbine" and this thread pops up first, folks who look can get some facts now, on this rifle. Thanks Guys..and Ramblinman, Good to hear from you!!   Jeff