After a 7-8 year hiatus of shooting my .50 cal Cabela’s Hawken made by Investarms I took it out hunting. I have always been put off by the reliability issues with #11 caps in the damp weather. I ordered Mag-Spark 209 converter and since had 100% in all hunting occasions. Being satisfied with reliability I decided to take my beloved Hawken as a firearm of choice during regular season.
I was successful in bagging a doe but shot placement had me wondering is my rifle was still sighted in properly.
A trip to the range confirmed rifle was sighted in but it was apparent the accuracy was not there. At 25 yards rifle produced 2-3 inch groups all strung in the vertical, at 50 about 4-6 inch random groups and at 100 yards I had trouble hitting under 18 inch groups. I always shot round ball and remember being able to keep all shots in a paper plate at 100 yards. I immediately noticed that the patches are getting blown to smithereens and thought my 7-8 year old patches are to blame. I acquired length of pillow ticking and new batch of T/C pre-lubed patches in .18 thickness. Patches are still getting blown to pieces. I tried adjusting the load down from 80 grains of Pyrodex Rs in 5 grain increments down to 70 grains with negative results.
Inspection of the bore showed roughness in the rifle grooves. Lands looked perfectly polished. I have never let the rifle sit unclean for any length of time. I did notice since I bought this rifle if it is cleaned properly a trace amount of rust can be found a week or two after the initial cleaning. My brothers T/C Hawken never had this issue. Also my barrel is 29 inch 1 in 48 twist. There are visible concentric machining marks the whole length of the barrel. It has about 300 rounds through it since new and about 60 from the recent range testing.
As for the range cleaning routine I swab with a wet patch soaked in cleaner followed by two dry patches. I tried swabbing with only one spit patch up and down and this resulted in missing 12x12’’ target at 50yards completely 1 out of 3 shots on regular bases. Just to eliminate the user error I had my brother shoot at 100 yards off the bench and he could not produce any better than 18’’ groups.
We had four 385 grain Great plain bullets and I was able to shoot 4 inch group off hand using those at 50 yards.
I ordered some bore lapping compound to try and lap the bore. What else should I try? I am also contemplating getting the barrel re-bored in 54 cal if all else fails. If it is re bored would I be able to specify slower twist rate?
I just need to be able to produce 5-6 inch groups at 100 yards to feel comfortable using past 50 yards. I am sure this rifle is capable of this and any help would be appreciated.
I was successful in bagging a doe but shot placement had me wondering is my rifle was still sighted in properly.
A trip to the range confirmed rifle was sighted in but it was apparent the accuracy was not there. At 25 yards rifle produced 2-3 inch groups all strung in the vertical, at 50 about 4-6 inch random groups and at 100 yards I had trouble hitting under 18 inch groups. I always shot round ball and remember being able to keep all shots in a paper plate at 100 yards. I immediately noticed that the patches are getting blown to smithereens and thought my 7-8 year old patches are to blame. I acquired length of pillow ticking and new batch of T/C pre-lubed patches in .18 thickness. Patches are still getting blown to pieces. I tried adjusting the load down from 80 grains of Pyrodex Rs in 5 grain increments down to 70 grains with negative results.
Inspection of the bore showed roughness in the rifle grooves. Lands looked perfectly polished. I have never let the rifle sit unclean for any length of time. I did notice since I bought this rifle if it is cleaned properly a trace amount of rust can be found a week or two after the initial cleaning. My brothers T/C Hawken never had this issue. Also my barrel is 29 inch 1 in 48 twist. There are visible concentric machining marks the whole length of the barrel. It has about 300 rounds through it since new and about 60 from the recent range testing.
As for the range cleaning routine I swab with a wet patch soaked in cleaner followed by two dry patches. I tried swabbing with only one spit patch up and down and this resulted in missing 12x12’’ target at 50yards completely 1 out of 3 shots on regular bases. Just to eliminate the user error I had my brother shoot at 100 yards off the bench and he could not produce any better than 18’’ groups.
We had four 385 grain Great plain bullets and I was able to shoot 4 inch group off hand using those at 50 yards.
I ordered some bore lapping compound to try and lap the bore. What else should I try? I am also contemplating getting the barrel re-bored in 54 cal if all else fails. If it is re bored would I be able to specify slower twist rate?
I just need to be able to produce 5-6 inch groups at 100 yards to feel comfortable using past 50 yards. I am sure this rifle is capable of this and any help would be appreciated.
