Best product to clean neglected Thompson Center Hawken 50 Cal

[Larry Hughes]

Best product to clean a severely neglected 50 Cal Hawken

 

[French Colonial]

Best product to clean a severely neglected 50 Cal Hawken

Your going to get a lot of answers based on supposition because others do not know what the issue is.

Is it the wood, is it the metal, inside the bore, just the finish.....

I am going to ASSUME your just worried about the bore (it's just a TC) and recommend a cheap bore scope from Amazon some evaporust and some scotchbrite pads and lots of elbow grease.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

The thing about "bad bore's" is you never know until you clean 'em up and shoot them. You could have one ugly looking bore after using scotchbrite\steel wool\etc and it will still shoot great. OTOH....you know the opposite could be as well.

But work to smooth it up....then to the range!

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Even if some rust on the blued exterior piece, that Frontier 'Big 45' monel cleaning pad is the bomb! It removes rust without removing a blued or browned finish. Needless to say, some wrapped around a brush is awesome in the bore too!

See here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/big-45-frontier-metal-cleaning-pads.167852/

 

[LME]

The thing about "bad bore's" is you never know until you clean 'em up and shoot them. You could have one ugly looking bore after using scotchbrite\steel wool\etc and it will still shoot great. OTOH....you know the opposite could be as well.

But work to smooth it up....then to the range!

Good information! Now was that hard?

 

[Grenadier1758]

The first few passes can be done with soapy water to get the dirt out. Then advance to the more aggressive cleaners to attack rust to finish with the bore clearing Scotch Brite pads or steel wool.

You may never get the pits out, but the gun will be shootable.

 

[Des52]

I just got a CVA plainsman in a trade with a trashed bore, and a few hundred strokes with some polishing compound on a under size jag with a small square of green scratch pad. The bore still looks like crap but it shoots good. I really was thinking about boring it smooth and still mite but it is usable as is. Metal can be cleaned up with some hoppes and 0000 steel wool.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I tell you ... buy these $6 cleaner pads and you'll never use steel wool again. In fact, I NEVER use steel wood in my machine shop or for any wood work. (Note the Big45 cleaner is for metal only).

 

[Okie Hog]

est product to clean a severely neglected 50 Cal Hawken

Evapo Rust.

i've cleaned up a bunch of neglected muzzleloaders.

First thing i do is pour the bore full of Evapo Rust and let it sit over night. Rust is gone.

Then the bore is polished up using a green scratchy pad with valve grinding compound. then its finish polished using a patch and jewlers rouge.

https://www.evapo-rust.com/

 

[yooper2]

I'll second the Big 45 Frontier scrubby pads for rust. I like to run a patch sopping with a good penetrating oil down the bore and let it sit for a day then go to town with pieces of the pad wrapped around a bore brush. Makes pretty short work of what can seem to be a daunting job. It is amazing how well a ratty looking bore can shoot.

For stocks my first move is generally to wash them with diluted Murphy's oil soap (about 4:1 water to soap, don't use it straight!). Incredible how much grime and darkness can be removed from a 150+ year old firearm without effecting the patina or character of the stock. Often times that's as far as I'll go and just rub a bit more of whatever oil I think is appropriate into the stock after everything is dry.

Eric

 

[westrayer]

BoreTech BP cleanier, JB Bore paste or polishing compound. Plug the breech and allow the solvent to soak for a day to remove the junk in the chamber. Look at a chamber scrapper as well.

 

[oldramrod]

I use the old three part system 1 part murphy's oil soap, one part alcohol; one part hydrogen peroxide. Plug the breech and let it soak, Then wipe with a scotchbrite or bronze brush. If needed then use a lead slug and lapping compound, T.C. used a "button broach" system that left a hardened bore that does not work for refreshing the bore.

 

[nhmoose]

Work harden only, Bobby Hoyt can make it better cutting a new bore. Freshend in this modern day only 1 out of 10,000 can do it but even harder to find one who does it for money.

 

[wiscoaster]

It's not so much "product" as it is "condition" and "method".

Don't look for any easy-outs based on product recommendation.

Your best "product" recommendations are "elbow grease" and "patience" and "persistence".

Old guns in various states of neglect and disrepair can usually be resurrected to complete functionality and perhaps even some semblance of their original glory using those last three recommendations.

I've done a few.

 

[Larry Hughes]

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations. I followed some of it and learned it mostly took elbow grease and time. Just yesterday got it clean and ready to shoot and at 50 yards, off a bench, shot a 3 inch group, sabots of course, but Pyrodex powder. I am ready to go hunting. Did see another post with a recommendation which most of you would probably turn your nose up at, but it sure worked for me. Gasoline. I had a well vented place and poured a bit of gasoline down the bore, plugged the nipple, shook the barrel pretty good, then brushed it over and over. At first the patches were almost impossible to remove, but eventually it freed up and proved up pretty good off my bench, as I said. I always cleaned the bore soon after firing and thought I was getting the job done. Apparently not but it is coming together. Sure appreciate all the input.