TC Hawken

[223Larry]

Went into the local gun shop and noticed a TC 50.hawken on the rack.Some one brought it in to sell.Looked it over and  the store owner  said it was unfired..guess what followed me home.

[Ladobe]

You stold it.   But then, with the lead ban in central CA it doesn't surprise me they are being given away there now days.

[223Larry]

The lead ban is  south and west of me for now . I want to shoot a coyote with this smoke pole.How do they shoot  with a round ball.

[Dillohide]

The 1-48 twist shoots patched round balls very well.

[coyotejoe]

The lead ban is  south and west of me for now . I want to shoot a coyote with this smoke pole.How do they shoot  with a round ball.

That is an ongoing debate. Different people have different experiences and different standards. My own experience with T/C and the Italian clones with shallow grooved barrels and a 48" twist is that they are by no means the best for patched roundballs. That is why Green Mountain is doing a great business with their drop in replacement barrels for people who want better accuracy. If your are happy with 2-3" groups at 50 yards and 5-6" at 100 you will probably be happy with the factory barrel, otherwise order a Green Mountain drop in replacement and you'll have a real roundball gun.

[7-30 Waters]

The 1-48 twist shoots patched round balls very well.

Respectfully, I disagree.  The 1:48 twist was T/C 's poor compromise to a growing number of conical shooters.  A 1:48 twist barrel will shoot accurately with charges around 80 grains but any higher accuracy tends to fall off.

If you wan't a true round ball barrel then purchase a Green Mountain barrel with a 1:70 twist.  Otherwise, Green Mountain makes a 1:28 twist conical barrel that will out shoot any 1:48 twist barrel all day long.

[yooper77]

My T/C Hawken 1:48" twist 50 caliber loves 80 grains of 2F with a patched round balls or 90 grains of 2F with a 370 grain Maxi-Ball with suburb accuracy.  My version has the QLA (Quick Load Accurizor) and doesn't hinder accuracy at all, and actually aids in loading.

I also have:
T/C Pennsylvania Hunter with a 1:66" twist.  I use 80 grains of 2F with a patched round balls.
T/C Treehawk with 1:20" twist.  I use 90 grains of 2F with a 370 grain Maxi-Balls.

All my T/C caplocks are good shooters, I wouldn't trade or replace the barrels for aftermarket ones.

yooper77

[lonewolf5348]

I have 2 flinters from the 70's made by t/c and that old wife tails that 1 in 48 will not handle heavy charges of powder
I have loaded 90 grains of 3F goex in my 50 flinter
I loaded 95 grains 3F goex in my 54 flinter
I use a wad under the patched R/B
I can clover leaf groups all day at the 50 yard target and on good days if I do my part it will also happen at the 100 yard target.
I matched a GM barrel against my older t/c barrel and seen no difference but the later years t/c barrel are a different story

[Dillohide]

The 1:48 twist was a compromise but that doesn't mean it's not accurate and deadly with patched round balls using reasonable loads ... mine is. I also have 54 cal and 58 cal 1:70 twist Green Mountain barrels.

[coyotejoe]

People fixate on the 48" twist, but that is really not the issue. Many very accurate round ball rifles have been built with a 48" twist. The problem is that T/C and the Italian or Spanish clones have very shallow grooves, only .004"-.005" deep, whereas real roundball barrels run .010"-.014" groove depth.  It is the commonly used shallow grooves which have given the bad rep to the 48" twist. T/Cs with a 66" twist are not noticable better because they still have .005" groove depth since that is about as deep as can be done with button rifling. I believe they did do some cut rifled barrels for limited runs but the standard gun everyone shoots is button rifled .005" deep regardless of the twist rate.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

my tc renengade didnt have shallow rifling. that rifle would shootthe lights out @ 100 yards with those new type copper coated conicals and patched round balls with 100gr RS.

Picking the right projectile/patch is what the game is all about.

CVA uses  .010 deep rifling

[ldykeman]

The T/C roundball barrels have the 1 in 66" twist and they DO have the deep cut rifling.  I have one.
Larry

[Winter Hawk]

If 1 in 48" twist is a compromise, then it has been around a l-o-n-g time.  The original Hawken rifles were made with that rate of twist, back when they were shooting buffalo and such with them on a regular basis!

-WH-

[captchee]

original early hawkens rifles were not 1 in 48 . they were slow twist barrles . the rifles were also full stocks
later models  that the hawkens Bros produced  their half stock plains rifles
 once they moved however the 1 in 48 was the rifling  mechine  the hawkens bros  took with them .
 thus the later rifles made in i believe St lewis  carry the 1 in 48 .
 the hawken bros came from a very long line of gunsmiths  most of them  making long rifles .
 these rifles were also very limited in quantity . some reports sugest the brothers made less then 150 rifles a year
 the erlies  from what i understand was made in the early 1820 range .
 but they didnt start taking production orders tell the early 1830  timefraim .
 even then  do to thier low production numbers  they would have been easly out numbered by the trade rifles of Leman , Henery and Derranger . which i believe also carried a slow twist bore .

all that though really doesnt mater . work up a load for it and it will shoot a PRB just fine