need help on tc hawken barrel

[grizzy adams]

I got a tc hawken bought used , and I cant get it to group for nuffin , its a 54 cal, 1-48 twist , my load is 90grain of ffg and .015 to .018 pillow ticking lubed patch and a 530 round ball , shooting of the bench at 50 yards I get a 7 inch group , and wiff maxi balls 6 inch or better group :cursing: , I cleaned the barrel , did the scotch bite trick etc , the barrel is clean and shiny wiff the bore lite , I,m lost on how to get it to group better . But when I put on the gm barrel same load it shoots cover leafs at 50 yards . I called tc and they said 3 inch group is good , diss is a kit gun , so any advice on what to do .

 

[410-er]

Might try .535 RB's.

 

[Semisane]

I agree. Sounds like you need a tighter load. A thicker patch with the .530 balls may do the job.

 

[Rat Trapper]

Your barrel may have a bunch of lead in it from shooting conicals before you got it. I have better luck with Hornady great plains 390 grain bullets with a felt wad over powder. Goex 2F and a 120 grains will shot one hole out of my TC 54 cal with the Hornady bullets. Make sure the barrel is clean.

 

[longrifle346]

I'm shooting the same exact load in a Renegade and was having the same results until I added a felt OP wad. Started drilling holes at 50 yds and darned good at 100...

 

[R.M.]

90 grains is a pretty stout load. Have you tried loads down in the 50 gr neighborhood?
Like other have said, a tight patch/ball combo might help. Keep working at it, and only change one thing at a time so you know what change helped or hindered.

 

[Tom Compton]

90 gr w/ that ball and patch combo may be stripping the rifling. Either the lighter load (50-60 gr) or tighter ball and patch (.535) should tell if that is the case.
TC

 

[Bill Hall]

90 gr w/ that ball and patch combo may be stripping the rifling. Either the lighter load (50-60 gr) or tighter ball and patch (.535) should tell if that is the case.
TC

I agree. Try tighter ball/patch combo as long as you don't get so tight you need to pound the ball. Decrease the load to see if that helps. And you may also try using fffg, as sometimes it helps upset the ball and force it into the rifling.

I had the same problem with a .54 with a 1 in 66 twist, acted like a smoothbore. Switching to a tighter combo, and using fffg instead of ffg, did the trick. Bill

 

[bucktales]

Make sure your sights aren't loose or wobbly.
That's overlooked sometimes. :hmm:

 

[smokin45]

..1.48 Twist,,is there a must for you to shoot
Rounballs?? try a Sabot with 90gr,my friend
myself i have found all T/C Barrels 1.28-1.48
to be abit tricky shooting roundballs thats why
the Penn,Hunter was made 32inch barrel 1.66
twist strickly for roundballs but im not saying
it will never shoot them,a older friend had the
standard 50cal hawken T/C,,never shot nothing but
rounballs he would roll snuff cans out to 60yards
just to unload of the evening,,one shooting Rifle
good-luck..just a clue..let it lead up abit might
just shoot better,sometimes i think they can be to smooth and to clean..

 

[nkbj]

This has got me interested in the TC 54's with something besides round ball.
I'm gonna try a shallow reduced size hollow base plug for the old Lyman 54 minie and hot load it like a maxi. The New Englander barrel is 1 1/16" at the breech end so it should take whatever I'd care to stand behind.