Educate me: T/C Hawken, 13/16th 50 cal barrel 1:48 (1:50 measured) twist

[tenngun]

NOPE. No K, lightly stamped or otherwise, and my memory doesn't fail me that I personally built this from a kit.

Oh no!!!! One of those infamous non-k counterfeit TC
Quick send it to me for disposal
The FBI may be watching you at this very time
You don’t have a second to loose !!!!!!!

 

[chorizo]

IMO, if you built it from a kit, AND there's no "K" SN prefix, maybe it wasn't a kit from T/C.

Do you remember where you got it ?

W/O a "K" SN prefix, it might have been a regular production Hawken that was disassembled & boxed, then sold.

Hard to forget the first ex-wife.

Why don't you go back and READ all the posts, that will answer all of your questions.

Here is a picture for you that you must have passed over in your haste to type a post.

 

[jfaldo]

Never got around to polishing the patchbox or nose cap. Might just do that soon.

Personally I prefer the way it looks. Perfect patina. If it was mine I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[chorizo]

Thanks. I didn't have the gear or the time then and 45 years later still haven't done it. Suppose I will leave it like that, scratches, file marks and all. Rationalized that I didn't want shiny while hunting....hahahaha

I still remember fretting over my browning job on the barrel, I was using a cotton ball and tweezers (stolen from the wife's makeup kit) and heating the barrel over the gas stove in the kitchen and daubing the solution on the warmed barrel. Still see the various dark spots where it was warmer or got more solution...but it turned out ok. BTW: I was working for Warren Livestock as a sheep foreman and living on Pole Creek Ranch just north of Cheyenne then.

Killed its share of things in its day, but stopped using it some years later on the family ranch with PRB as I started a fire that took quite a bit of stomping to put out. Tinder dry CA inland coastal range...all you had to do was look harshly at the grass and it ignited!


Lots of years and miles and changes since then, but the world turns and she is back in the mix because I am back to simpler times.

 

[Dude]

Kit guns tend to have less resale value because so many were poorly assembled. Or so I've heard.

Whenever I get a 'new' gun (even new ones) I have to go through them and make everything right. If it bugs me, I'll take care of it. I can see you 'fixing' the patch box eventually since it grabs your attention - it's something that wasn't completed.

That's interesting it didn't get the K stamp. Just an exception to the rule, I guess.

You should do a search for Idaho Ron or Idaho Lewis - they've done some impressive long distance shooting with the Thompson Renegades and Hawkens and share what they've learned.

 

[McClura]

Nice job on the build. I like the looks of the barrel and stock. I started in 1974 with a TC Kit Hawken in .50 cal. I can't remember it having a K on the barrel but that was a long time back. I shot it about 3 years and probably about 1000 rounds while hunting, playing and some black powder matches around the state. The lands on the barrel started going away the last 6-7 inches of the bore and TC sent me a new barrel and it did not have the K on it. Shot it some and found a Sharron Barrel Co. drop in .54 cal barrel in the blue with under rib, thimbles and nipple. Put my sites on it and I'm still shooting it some 40 years later.
You have a nice smoke pole and it looks good with a little wear and probably some good memories. On my .50 I shot .500 balls I cast and a thin denim patch for best accuracy.
Good luck with your hunting.
Mike

 

[chorizo]

Again thanks to all. I think I am going to leave it just the way it is...no polishing. She made it this long without it and being a little rough around the edges fits my personality.

I did pulled it apart this morning and there it is: A great big K stamped in the barrel channel right in front of the breech hook. Nothing on the barrel.

So folks can stop worrying and pondering.

 

[RUDY MR]

Ive built some Tc and CVA kits there were ill say out of 10 half there were no k on barrel . When I seen my 2 Tc kit i called and ask them what the K stood for because was not on the first on

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I got one of these with a "K" stamp, a .45. It was badly neglected when I got it. I had another one in .50 caliber with a broken stock, but in otherwise good condition. I swapped the barrels, repaired the broken stock with epoxy, cleaned the bore and started shooting it. It has a thimble from a GreyHawk, a T/C universal ramrod, an unevenly browned barrel and that home-repaired stock, but is still one of my favorite guns. I shoot it often and the only extra care it gets other than cleaning and regular maintenance is a little rub-down with boiled linseed oil once a year in the fall.

Back when I haunted the black powder section of the gun store I worked in at the time, there was T/C and then there was "everyone else"... excluding the custom guns. I sold hundreds of them over the years. Never had one come back with any complaints.

 

[sportster73hp]

I have two kit guns i bought used. A 45 with an obvious K in serial number on stock and barrel. The second is a 50. Seller told me it was a kit, even had a local shop blue the barrel. No K on either part. He had it since the 70’s.

 

[Bad Karma]

Again thanks to all. I think I am going to leave it just the way it is...no polishing. She made it this long without it and being a little rough around the edges fits my personality.

I did pulled it apart this morning and there it is: A great big K stamped in the barrel channel right in front of the breech hook. Nothing on the barrel.

So folks can stop worrying and pondering.

Interesting that you seem to have taken offense at said pondering… this is a discussion board and the people who come here will cuss and discuss damn near everything until the last dog is hung. It’s nothing personal.

 

[chorizo]

No. I told folks it was a kit and made it myself. What I take umbrage at is folks claiming that it couldn't have been a kit because it didn't meet their limited experience on the issue.

Don't like to be called a liar, even if it is sideways and in a forum, so yes, it is personal.

 

[Bad Karma]

I know what you mean, the opinions of strangers on the internet are important to me as well.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Seems likely an factory barrel in the white got mixed in with "K" marked kit barrels. I ordered a 1 in 66" .50 caliber barrel from T/C for one of their Hawken guns and received a full octagon barrel marked Pennsylvania Hunter that perfectly fit my Hawken.

I have a late model PA Hunter flintlock that has a 28" or 29" full octagon barrel.

 

[burlesontom]

It could have been on the kit guns with no "K" on the barrel that the factory was having a high demand for guns and needed to get kit guns out the door and just used regular production barrels that hadn't been blued and put those in the kit boxes to get stock out the door on on the shelves. I believe the OP built his gun. And I agree some of the kit guns were as nice or nicer than factory built guns.

A friend was a postman and one day delivered mail to a house having a gargage sale that had a kit gun for sale. So he bought it and never put it together. He offered it to me for $150. I bought it and put it together. It was not my first kit or first rebuild. And it turned out very nice. And a shooter too. It was shiney and looked like new money. Except it shot to the right. Way to the right.

So I put a straight edge on the barrel. The barrel had a slight bend in it. I called TC and they told me that happens. Send them the barrel and they would straighten it. So I did. And they sent it back after straightening and testing. They didn't bother to clean the barrel after testing and when it came back it was full of stalagmites in the barrel. But it cleaned out and was fine. And a really good shooter with the sights centered. A friend talked me out of it for $250. Oh well, he likes it. And yes it had a "K" on the barrel.

Lots of years and miles and changes since then, but the world turns and she is back in the mix because I am back to simpler times.

Like you I have a renewed interest in my BP rifles. I am having a ball going through them and looking at what nice guns they are. And all have a hammer on the side. None use a 209 primer and none ever will.

 

[SDSmlf]

I also understood that the K stamp on the T/C rifle meant that it was not covered by the T/C warranty. As @ord sgt states, there is no warranty now, so the K only indicates that the rifle is a kit.

No matter what the the official TC warranty policy was or was not, in the the real world, they honored their lifetime warranty with their kit guns. Below are copies of correspondence I had with TC in 1980 where they are telling me to return my kit barrel under warranty, and repairs or replacement would be made at no charge to me in accordance with their warranty. They replaced the barrel, and yes the replacement barrel has a K in front of the serial number. I still own the gun.

 

[Urban Coyote]

As for T/C honoring warranty, I never had a warranty issue I needed to resolve with them however I bought an anniversary model .54 caplock Hawken from a gentleman who did. His story, he'd bought a T/C kit as a gift for his father. There was a problem with the kit, I can't recall the issue, and he told me T/C had replaced the kit with a factory finished rifle. It had never been shot when I bought it. He gave me a bunch of accessories and an unopened jug of 777 powder which I gave away. I shot the gun once at 25 yards, pretty much one hole them. I still have it, I don't care much for the balance of the 1" barrel compared to my 15/16th .45 and .50 Hawkens.

 

[1971fx]

Hawken with 32" GM barrel and T/C tang sight

 

[chorizo]

I know what you mean, the opinions of strangers on the internet are important to me as well.

View attachment 165674

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[rkg1]

A friend of mine broke the stock through the lock area and TC replaced the stock no questions asked. That's a good warranty.