Manufacturers of Thompson Center Hawken Barrels

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BigSkyRambler

BigSkyRambler

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Until recently, I had never given any thought to who made barrels for Thompson Center, assuming they made their own. But I have been informed that several companies made their barrels and had a proprietary stamp different from their commercial barrels. The two stamps here, I have been told, represent Green Mountain (M) and the defunct Shiloh Barrel company (a Spade symbol). The barrels have the standard TC roll marks on topsides.Are there others?
20240806_122106.jpg
20240806_121751.jpg
 
I have one somewhere that has a Maltese Cross. But someone in this forum said those were inspection marks. I know when Messer
T & C first started up they bought barrels from outside sources before their own in house production started.
I wish Bubba 50 was still around because he was a wikipedia of T/C. But I heard he left the forum. Our loss.
 
It seems different T/C inspectors used various stamps, such as a heart, a spade, a Maltese cross, a capital M in a circle among other letters. Now if you are going to suggest that each stamp represents a different barrel manufacturer…….
 
SDSmlf said:
It seems different T/C inspectors used various stamps, such as a heart, a spade, a Maltese cross, a capital M in a circle among other letters. Now if you are going to suggest that each stamp represents a different barrel manufacturer…….
Click to expand...
I've been shooting black powder less than a year, so I don't have a clue, other than what more experienced shooters here have been telling me. I get very confused when those who should know more give conflicting information, it becomes like religion and politics, you have to choose what you want to believe, without any direct evidence.

I do have a borescope, and have observed that the depth and style of rifling does vary among these differently marked barrels.

I have gravitated to the Thompson Center platform, much better than the CVA and Lyman GPR that I had previously.
20240727_121401.jpg
 
Last edited:
JDBraddy said:
I've been shooting black powder less than a year, so I don't have a clue, other than what more experienced shooters here have been telling me. I get very confused when those who should know more give conflicting information, it becomes like religion and politics, you have to choose what you want to believe, without any direct evidence.

I do have a borescope, and have observed that the depth and style of rifling does vary among these differently marked barrels.

I have gravitated to the Thompson Center platform, much better than the CVA and Lyman GPR that I had previously.
View attachment 345374
Click to expand...
There is an ‘interview ‘ of Warren Center (the Center in Thompson Center) in the Black Powder Digest in 1977 (might be the second edition) that I have a copy of somewhere, where Mr Center stated that early on TC used Douglas blanks for a short period of time to make TC barrels, though TC finished and stamped the barrels they used. Believe article was ‘Birth of a Muzzleloader’, but honestly not important enough for me to look for at the moment. This topic comes up on a regular basis. You should be able to find it with an online search. And before someone else mentions it, I believe it was also revealed in the article that Sharon made drop in TC barrels, but never any OEM barrels, though I could be mistaken. There is a lot of internet lore on early TC barrels. If it’s important and you find yourself confused early TCs, search out for yourself the interviews and articles from the 1970s, and don’t trust the ‘experienced’ shooters at the range or on Internet forums, like me for example, on this forum. You have to do your own research. Remember, this information was originally published on paper before the internet and all the keyboard experts came into existence.
 
Had a disagreement with a college professor once, almost 40 years ago now. He insisted that a recently published sources where the more reliable and dependable, therefore prefered sources about the rise of Christianity, many contradicted older sources dating back past the middle ages, in some cases to the late first and second century. I disagreed, he believed those authors had bias and a dog in the fight, I argued that they understood the culture, political and power structure, various beliefs and world view at that time, and may have even met or interviewed first hand witnesses, or at least talked with those who had.
 

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