Help the newbie--Lots of questions

[JKVirginia]

Hiya all.... Only my second post here. I recently acquired my first smokepole, a used .45 Hawken from Thompson/Center for the lordly sum of $95. Now, I expected a bit of rust in the bore at that price, but WOW did it take a lot of scrubbing.... half a package of patches and a goodly bit of Hoppe's later, the patches come back mostly clean, but if I shine a flashlight down the bore I can still see tiny pinhole spots of rust... these don't appear too deep, but will they affect my accuracy?

Second, what sort of bullets does this rifle tend to favor? I'd expect patched roundball to work well, but will fullbore conicals shoot worth a fiddle from it? I have no interest in sabots or any other "plastic load"

Third... is a .45 PRB going to be sufficient for whitetail-size game? I've heard opinions going either way on this one.

Fourth. Anyone with a T/C Hawken feel up to walking me through the procedure for trigger adjustment? the gun has double-set triggers, but squeezing the "set" trigger doesn't seem to do anything. The "hair" trigger is very light (I don't have a trigger scale, but I'm gonna guesstimate a under 4lbs--A firm bump from my index finger pad and CLACK).

Fifth. Are caplocks hurt by dry firing? I know in a centerfire arm, you can break your firing pin, but will dryfire damage a percussion arm?

Whew.... got on a roll there. Well, any info you can offer is well appreciated

Jon from Virginia

 

[Rebel]

Well, for $95 you could afford to buy a new barrel and still have a good deal. As for the barrel you have, the only way you are going to know if it will still shoot ok is to try it out. I would use patched rd. balls. Yes they are sufficient for whitetail deer with proper shot placement. Do not dry fire it without a thick piece of leather or something over the nipple. If you do you will damage the nipple. As for the trigger adjustment. there is a screw between the two triggers. Back it out a turn or two and then try it. If it is not light enough then, screw it back in a little at a time until you get it to where you like it. Don't get it so light that there is a chance of an accidental discharge. Think that answered all of your questions for now. Take care and have fun.

 

[musketman]

First off, T/C will send you a free book on your gun if you call/write them...

Thompson/Center Arms Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 5002
Rochester, NH 03866

Or you can call them at: 603-332-2333

what sort of bullets does this rifle tend to favor?

Round balls, T/C's Maxiball also works well out of them, a flat based bullet like the Lee REAL bullet will also give good results...

is a .45 PRB going to be sufficient for whitetail-size game?

Mostly depends on your load and the distance you shoot it at, many a deer have been taken with a .45 if you stay within it's limits...

Anyone with a T/C Hawken feel up to walking me through the procedure for trigger adjustment?

Between the two triggers you will see a small screw, back it out to make the trigger pull heavier, screw it in for a lighter pull...

Are caplocks hurt by dry firing?

Yes, you can damage the face of the hammer and/or the barrel of the nipple...

You can however dry fire them without cocking the hammer, just set the hair trigger (back trigger) and pull the front one to dry fire it...

One last note, if any part is damaged, contact T/C Arms and they will replace it... You do not have to be the original owner to get the warrantee...

 

[JKVirginia]

Thanks for all the great info, from both of you. Ya'all make a newbie feel right at home :master:

Now, if I do end up buying a replacement barrel... (duck, more questions from the FNG!!!)

1st. .45 or .50? I've poked around online a bit, and apparently the .45 Hawken has the 15/16 OD barrel, so a .50 pipe would interchange pretty easily. Would you go to a .50 caliber for a bit more knockdown, or stay with hte .45?

2nd. Who makes a good barrel for a reasonable price? Part of the reason I jumped on this was I figured, even if I had to rebarrel the gun, I'd be money up on buying a new one.

And back to some old questions...

The set trigger (rear trigger) doesn't seem to do anything when I squeeze it--No clicks, no feel of anything mechanical taking place, nada. just some slight spring-pressure resistance to my pulling it, then it pulls back forward when I let go. Not sure if this is an adjustment problem, a broken part, or just the FNG not knowing what he's doing...

As for the range of my deer-hunting, between my personally-imposed limits and the terrain here in NoVa dictate I'd rarely take shots much over 50 yards. If I want to flatten deer two counties away, I have a .30'06 that will do it just fine. This is about "workin' for a living" if you will, not about always getting meat. And as to shot placement... I usually aim for the double-lung or heart-and-lung shot. And half the reason I wanted a smoke-belcher is that I can shoot a lot more powder and ball for my money than I can centerfire... I like throwin lots of bullets for practice :thumbsup:

And I emailed T/C at their website about a new manual... awaiting response.

Thanks again, for all you've given me so far, and for all the dumb questions you've yet to endure :master:

 

[musketman]

As long as they (the barrels) have the same size across the flats and the wedge pin hole lines up, it'll drop right in and shoot...

A .50 will have more knockdown powder because the .50 caliber roundball has more mass when both are fires at the same velocities...

Barrels can be found in the Suppliers links
Parts

I would take the trigger guard off and remove the set triggers and make sure there is nothing stuck in there, or a broken sear and/or rusted shut...

Clean and retry (can be set and clicked out of the stock)

If broken, T/C should replace it for FREE...

And I emailed T/C at their website about a new manual... awaiting response.

If T/C has an email, let us know, last I kned they didn't take email responses...

 

[JKVirginia]

It appears to be for manual requests [email protected]

If I don't hear from 'em by monday or so, I'll get on the horn and ring em up.

 

[harryo]

Now, if I do end up buying a replacement barrel... (duck, more questions from the FNG!!!)

1st. .45 or .50? I've poked around online a bit, and apparently the .45 Hawken has the 15/16 OD barrel, so a .50 pipe would interchange pretty easily. Would you go to a .50 caliber for a bit more knockdown, or stay with hte .45?

2nd. Who makes a good barrel for a reasonable price? Part of the reason I jumped on this was I figured, even if I had to rebarrel the gun, I'd be money up on buying a new one.

A Green Mountain replacement barrel is the only way to go. You can get a .32, .40, .45, .50 or .54 round ball twist barrel assembly,complete with ramrod, , that will drop right into a T/C Hawken stock inletted for a 15/16" wide barrel. My personal choice for deer would be .54cal but a .50cal will also do the job. I have a T/C Hawken with a .50cal GM barrel and it is an extremely accurate shooting barrel. I got the .50cal because I already have a .54cal GPR and a .58cal Renegade with a GM barrel. You will not be disappointed in a GM barrel.

 

[Keith]

Shoot it and see what happens. If you have been reading some of the posts here it can take awhile to find a load that even a good barrel likes, so don't be afraid to shoot alot and experiment. If you find the patches of a prb, which is where I would start for loads, are torn up you cant try polishing the barrel to remove rough spots. Search the forum for barrel lapping. If the barrel doesn't shoot well you got nothing to loose by trying that before buying a new one. :thumbsup:
If it does shot okay in spite of some pits you done well on that deal.

 

[JKVirginia]

Well, let me reiterate just how great ya'll are here. I stand in awe at the utter overwhelming wave of helpfulness that hits me everytime I check the thread. :master:

An update. My trigger woes have been sorted out, apparently the previous owner wanted a light non-set trigger and adjusted it WAAAAAAAY down to where the set-trigger sear wouldn't even engage. I backed the trigger adjustment screw out 3-4 turns and it works like a charm.

I finally got gutsy to take the wee beauty apart, and am currently setting upon the brass parts with some good silver polish while a fresh coat of lemon oil soaks into the wood. Once everything's polished up to a pretty shine, I'll put her back together and hopefully will be able to get some pictures before I take her out for a range trip. (and maybe a trip back to the gun store to see if the fellers there even recognize her anymore lol)

Since my manual's likely to be a few days in the mail, can anyone quote me a reasonable starting load? As I said, I'm completely green about anything that doesn't load from the breech, so if I say anything dumb, feel free to kick me.

And I think I've decided on a name... Going to christen her Susie, after my mama... With luck, the rifle will take equally good care of me as her namesake.

 

[Keith]

My T/C manual says 110 gr. is the max load w/ a ball and 80 with a conical for a .45. I would start with the ball, it's cheaper for one. A charge of about 50 gr. is a good place to start and work up from there. If you want to hunt deer with it you'll probably want to think in terms of at least a 70 gr. load. :imo:

 

[musketman]

Glad your trigger blues are gone... :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

A little more on dry firing.
As was mentioned, don't dry fire the gun with the hammer cocked. It's one of the few things that will damage a nipple.
If you want to dry fire the triggers as mentioned above, do not have the hammer on "half cock". Leave the hammer all the way down. (You can then dry fire the triggers until Arizona freezes over and you won't hurt a thing.)
If the hammer is on half cock and you dry fire the triggers, the impact of the spring loaded trigger release plate hitting the sear can break off the nose of the sear, or worse, break the half cock notch in the tumbler.

I don't recall if someone already mentioned it, so, for shooting balls you will need .440 diameter balls and cotton patches about .015 to .018 thick.
For lube you can put just enough vegetable oil/ olive oil/Crisco or plain old spit on the patch to throughly dampen (not soak) it.
A block of wood or a "short starter" is also handy to get the ball/patch started into the bore.

After dumping the powder charge down the bore and starting the ball/patch, when your ramming the ball the rest of the way down the bore, do it in short 6-10 inch stages.
Do not grab the ramrod way up above the muzzle and try to ram the ball in one or two strokes if your using a wooden ramrod. That is a sure way to break the ramrod and possibly ram it thru your hand.

A little reminder in case you haven't found out by now.
If the hammer is in the half cock position and you raise it towards the full cock position and then decide to lower it back into the half cock position, it won't engage. It will keep on going down to the nipple (and cap).
To re-engage the half cock from a full cocked position, lower the hammer down below the half cock position. Then pull it back up until you hear the half cock click, then ease it forward into the half cock notch.
All "set trigger" locks are this way, which is a good thing to know.

 

[pepperbelly]

I have tried that email address twice, once as is and once with the "only--" removed. Both emails bounced back undeliverable.
Did it work for you?
Jim

 

[Stumpkiller]

Try calling:

. . . you can call us at: 603-332-2333, or fax us at: 603-332-5133

I just pulled it off their website

http://www.tcarms.com/contact.php

They state they are no longer accepting e-mail.