Pecatonica River T/C replacement stocks

Do any of you have any experience with their replacement stocks for T/C Renegade or Hawkins stocks?

A number of years ago I restocked one of my TC Hawkens with a Pecatonica River TC Replacement stock.
I chose the least expensive maple and rather than using the existing nose cap, I poured a cast cap on it.

These PR stocks have a lot more "drop" in them so rather than being like the existing TC stocks that you have to bend your neck to get your eye aligned with the sights, the PR stock brings the sights to your eye easily. You will be surprised at how much better the gun fits the shooter.
That in itself makes the stocks worth the trouble to buy and to install the hardware.

As I recall, the lock mortise needed a slight trimming before the factory lock would fit down into the pocket. This involved using a sharp hobby knife and the outside of the lock plate to serve as a guide. Use the knife to make vertical stabbings into the wood while holding the knife against the outside of the lock plate.

I seem to recall that I had to futz with the barrel wedge a bit to get it to line up with the underlug on the barrel. Beyond that, some reshaping of various areas to look like what I wanted, doing the final fitting of the butt plate and a few other little tasks that are typical of restocking a gun was also needed. One of these was to add a nice toe-plate below the butt plate.

Here's a picture of my finished Pecatonica River TC Hawken.

Wow super nice!

Bucky182 said:

Do any of you have any experience with their replacement stocks for T/C Renegade or Hawkins stocks?

Click to expand...

I ordered a PR stock in walnut for a winter project. The quality of the wood is nice, no sap wood or other blemishes. One thing I noticed right away, the barrel channel was not drop in, it is going to require some trimming to fit.

DANGER!!!!

I bought a full length version of the PR stock intending to stock my T/C to the muzzle. What I received was a stock probably six inches longer than the barrel. The figure was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't bring myself to waste the extra length so I scrounged up enough parts to build a long barreled version of the Hawken so I could use all the wood. So I say "danger" you may be lead to take on an extra project. I still need to restock the original rifle.

Assembled a "kit" TC Hawken yrs ago and the first thing noticed was that it was a "cheekslapper". So, went to work on it and lowered the comb some but most of the wood came off the bulbous cheekpiece. To lower the comb, brass was filed off the Bplate tang which angled from rear to front. This allowed the comb to also be angled from rear to front and thereby lowering it.

Then a lot of wood was removed from the cheekpiece so it stood off the stock only half as much and the upper portion was reduced and the cheekpiece surface made concave. The outline of the cheekpiece was also redone to look like a Hawken.

No matter what is done to a TC Hawken, it won't look like a Hawken , but that was secondary because this rifle was for hunting deer and elk w/ big loads and accomplished this well w/o any pain......FredView attachment 13227

Zonie said:

A number of years ago I restocked one of my TC Hawkens with a Pecatonica River TC Replacement stock.
I chose the least expensive maple and rather than using the existing nose cap, I poured a cast cap on it.

These PR stocks have a lot more "drop" in them so rather than being like the existing TC stocks that you have to bend your neck to get your eye aligned with the sights, the PR stock brings the sights to your eye easily. You will be surprised at how much better the gun fits the shooter.
That in itself makes the stocks worth the trouble to buy and to install the hardware.

As I recall, the lock mortise needed a slight trimming before the factory lock would fit down into the pocket. This involved using a sharp hobby knife and the outside of the lock plate to serve as a guide. Use the knife to make vertical stabbings into the wood while holding the knife against the outside of the lock plate.

I seem to recall that I had to futz with the barrel wedge a bit to get it to line up with the underlug on the barrel. Beyond that, some reshaping of various areas to look like what I wanted, doing the final fitting of the butt plate and a few other little tasks that are typical of restocking a gun was also needed. One of these was to add a nice toe-plate below the butt plate.

Here's a picture of my finished Pecatonica River TC Hawken.
View attachment 13158

Click to expand...

Would this be a good starter project to do if one wanted to maybe build a gun someday?

Thanks for the info, Zonie.

Zonie said:

A number of years ago I restocked one of my TC Hawkens with a Pecatonica River TC Replacement stock.
I chose the least expensive maple and rather than using the existing nose cap, I poured a cast cap on it.

These PR stocks have a lot more "drop" in them so rather than being like the existing TC stocks that you have to bend your neck to get your eye aligned with the sights, the PR stock brings the sights to your eye easily. You will be surprised at how much better the gun fits the shooter.
That in itself makes the stocks worth the trouble to buy and to install the hardware.

As I recall, the lock mortise needed a slight trimming before the factory lock would fit down into the pocket. This involved using a sharp hobby knife and the outside of the lock plate to serve as a guide. Use the knife to make vertical stabbings into the wood while holding the knife against the outside of the lock plate.

I seem to recall that I had to futz with the barrel wedge a bit to get it to line up with the underlug on the barrel. Beyond that, some reshaping of various areas to look like what I wanted, doing the final fitting of the butt plate and a few other little tasks that are typical of restocking a gun was also needed. One of these was to add a nice toe-plate below the butt plate.

Here's a picture of my finished Pecatonica River TC Hawken.
View attachment 13158

Click to expand...

So even with the least expensive grade (CM1), you still get the stripes in it? That looks good

Yup.
Pecatonica River always seems to sell good looking wood based on their numbering system. I don't have a direct comparison but a pattern some would call a #2, Pecatonica River calls a #1. When others would call a much better pattern a #4, Pecatonica River calls it a #3.

The guns shown in this photo are Pecatonica River #3 grade which is all I order. With a pattern this nice I don't see any reason to pay more for a higher grade from them. Of course others will go for the higher grade and from what I've seen, the patterns are indeed better than their #3's.

Zonie,
Could I bother you for the stain/finish combination on the two rifles on the right?
Thank you

Been looking at the T/C replacement stocks Track of the Wolf offers. Pecatonica is cheaper and the wood looks nice from what I'm seeing here!
Jay

Another option. T.C. Hawkens - Gunstock Wood


Dave

Jay Templin said:

Been looking at the T/C replacement stocks Track of the Wolf offers. Pecatonica is cheaper and the wood looks nice from what I'm seeing here!
Jay

Click to expand...

I believe Track gets a lot of their precarves from Pecatonica.

TGJaeger said:

Zonie,
Could I bother you for the stain/finish combination on the two rifles on the right?
Thank you

Click to expand...

It's been years since I made those so I don't remember exactly how many coats of stain I used but basically. after finish sanding and dewhiskering, all of those guns stocks were treated with lye water followed by a wash of vinegar.
That was followed by at least 4 coats of Birchwood Casey Walnut stain diluted with a little denatured alcohol. After each coat was dry, I used a clean cotton rag to wipe off any stain that didn't soak in.
I apply the walnut stain examining the color of each coat while it is still wet to see if it is the color I'm looking for. If it is, I stop applying stain. If it is still too light, I apply another coat of stain.

When it is the color I want, I start applying coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil letting each coat dry. Following each coat I lightly sand the surface with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I do this using the sandpaper dry. The idea is to just remove any bumps caused by dust but not to remove any of the oil buildup.
I repeat this with at least 10 coats.

A lot of people don't like shiny guns but I think polishing the surface allows the real beauty of the actual wood under the finish to show thru so, most of the guns in that picture have a mirror smooth finish followed by at least one coating of Johnson's Wax.

Thank ya’ kindly!

Zonie said:

Yup.
Pecatonica River always seems to sell good looking wood based on their numbering system. I don't have a direct comparison but a pattern some would call a #2, Pecatonica River calls a #1. When others would call a much better pattern a #4, Pecatonica River calls it a #3.

The guns shown in this photo are Pecatonica River #3 grade which is all I order. With a pattern this nice I don't see any reason to pay more for a higher grade from them. Of course others will go for the higher grade and from what I've seen, the patterns are indeed better than their #3's.

View attachment 31668

Click to expand...

i know this is several yr old thread bug DANG! those are awesomely beautiful stocks!!!

exarcher said:

i know this is several yr old thread bug DANG! those are awesomely beautiful stocks!!!

Click to expand...

There plenty of beautiful stocks out there hidden in pieces of wood, you just have to know how to get rid of the not so pretty wood to find it. Zonie seemed to have figured it out.