50 cal cva hawkens

[boker]

A friend just told me he had a 50 caliber hawkens in his closet. Said he loaned it out to a guy that left it loaded for a long time and now bore has pitts in it. Way he was talking he thought barrel was ruined and he might give it to me to do something with.

what gauge smooth bore could this rifle be turned into?

 

[deermanok]

It may not be as bad as you might think. A while back I got a CVA mountain stalker with some rust and pitting in the barrel. I spent considerable time cleaning it up and even though there's still some pitting, the gun shoots fine.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

You could possibly turn the hawken into a 54 rifled gun. Depends on how much you have to play with, I've always wanted a 58.

I have a 54 and a 62 now, but there's always room for one more!

 

[ohio ramrod]

I would try cleaning and lapping the bore before giving up on it. I have salvaged several rifles with a good cleaning and lapping. The Amish boys in our area do not clean their rifles well after deer season so I have a good supply of barrels to work with.

 

[ppg1949]

boker, you may be limited on finding a gunsmith that will work on the bore because it has a drum breech. Deer Creek Sales had CVA rifle barrels in there inventory. Ditto on what ohio ramrod said about cleaning and lapping. Keep us posted. Good luck & have fun

 

[boker]

I was looking for an excuse to have a smooth bore

 

[tenngun]

No excuse needed. You may clean up the bore , but you can get it machined in to .54 smooth. Good for bulwinkle with ball or Rocky with shot.

 

[smoothshooter]

boker, you may be limited on finding a gunsmith that will work on the bore because it has a drum breech. Deer Creek Sales had CVA rifle barrels in there inventory. Ditto on what ohio ramrod said about cleaning and lapping. Keep us posted. Good luck & have fun

Contact Bobby Hoyt of The Freischutz Shop.
In Fairfield, PA, I think.

 

[bang]

I've bored out a 45 to a 50 smooth. Wasn't a drum though. Have heard if everything is index marked and some finesse it can be done.
If it were mine I would weld a reamer to a rod. Put a fitting in the nipple hole to attach compressed air to. Oil heavy and slow turn the reamer to the breach without removing the drum and plug. Use tight flap sander to smooth then apply fine compound with oil to polish. Worked for me.

 

[Cherrybow]

I would scrub the barrel real good and shoot it to see if it still hits where you aim, I would bet it is still in working order. If it is too far gone I would replace the barrel. They come up on the auction site often and can be had for under 100.00.

 

[Jayhawkdan]

I would try cleaning and lapping the bore before giving up on it. I have salvaged several rifles with a good cleaning and lapping. The Amish boys in our area do not clean their rifles well after deer season so I have a good supply of barrels to work with.

Hi Ramrod! What procedure did/do you use to lap a barrel? I have a .50 cal. T/C Hawken barrel with some pitting and I think lapping would be good. Thanks in advance!
Jayhawk Dan

 

[ohio ramrod]

I start with a lead plug, poured by putting a wooden dowel about three inches into the (well oiled ) bore with a piece of 10/32 all thread in the dowel sticking out of the bore.(I hold it in place by building up a tight fit with masking tape). I then pour about 1 inch of lead in, let cool and then pull out and remove the wooden dowel. I then take a hacksaw blade and cut the grooves of the plug deeper( They match the lands of the bore ). Then I use a disposable ramrod with a bore protector and valve grinding compound to lap the barrel. I like to use about 100 strokes all of the way. Then repeat the process with a new plug and lap the bottom third again, then the bottom 2/3. . I try to give the barrel a slight "choke" effect to make loading easier.. I find that most of the pitting is in the grooves so I try to lap the grooves with out enlarging the bore lands. Once you get used to it it only takes about three hours to do a barrel.You want to make sure you use a bore protector to protect the crown and very end of the barrel.The ramrod will get the compound embedded into it so You don't want to use it for any thing except lapping.