Pictures of my restored 45cal TC Hawken.

[ElkStalker]

I took some better photos and added them to my original post of the weathered and worn TC Hawken 45cal that my brother gave to me. Thought I’d put them in a separate post because we all like pictures. I took it to the range yesterday, but by the time I got my Renegade dialed in with the load I want to use for elk hunting, I couldn’t feel my fingers, face or toes. 15 degrees with the wind blowing. That was enough and I packed it up after a few hours. I’ll get this back out when hunting season ends. Anyway, just thought I’d share these photos.

*Nothing in these pictures is supposed to be a specific period, I was just having fun with the camera on a day that I couldn’t get away from the house. Besides, it’s a Thompson Center.

 

[bubba.50]

That’s a good looking old TC. Especially like the black & white photos.

 

[ElkStalker]

That’s a good looking old TC. Especially like the black & white photos.

Thank you Bubba! It turned out much better than I was expecting. The goal was to get it serviceable, but it went a bit beyond that. I thought the barrel was toast, but after a cleaning, it looks good as new. It’s dark and I believe somebody at some point “seasoned” the barrel by baking TC bore butter into it. But there is zero pitting. I scrubbed and scrubbbed but that dark stuff is there to stay unless I can get it out with JB bore paste. Im going to shoot it first and may just forget about making it shiny.

 

[SwanShot]

Thank you Bubba! It turned out much better than I was expecting. The goal was to get it serviceable, but it went a bit beyond that. I thought the barrel was toast, but after a cleaning, it looks good as new. It’s dark and I believe somebody at some point “seasoned” the barrel by baking TC bore butter into it. But there is zero pitting. I scrubbed and scrubbbed but that dark stuff is there to stay unless I can get it out with JB bore paste. Im going to shoot it first and may just forget about making it shiny.

Looks good mate, looks very good. Yeah, shoot it first. We've got a few TCs at our club with crappy looking bores that shoot just fine.

 

[deertraks]

That looks great! I'd like to see the pic of it before you restored it. It looks like a new one now.

 

[Stykbow]

You did a fine job on that rifle. The stock looks exceptionally nice.

 

[bubba.50]

Thank you Bubba! It turned out much better than I was expecting. The goal was to get it serviceable, but it went a bit beyond that. I thought the barrel was toast, but after a cleaning, it looks good as new. It’s dark and I believe somebody at some point “seasoned” the barrel by baking TC bore butter into it. But there is zero pitting. I scrubbed and scrubbbed but that dark stuff is there to stay unless I can get it out with JB bore paste. Im going to shoot it first and may just forget about making it shiny.

Could be. TC sure didn't do anybody any favors with their "barrel seasoning" nonsense which in actuality was just a ploy to sell more bore butter. But, a couple thoughts, the barrels were blued inside & out from the factory and also, some products like Rem-Oil will darken over time til yer bore looks like it was chocolate coated.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Nice looking, TCs are a blank canvas with a lot of possibilities to make them look much better. I have restored 3 and thought about placing an ad on the local gun trading board for any rough looking ones out there that still have a good bore (these probably don't exist) so I would have more of them to restore.

 

[user 48679]

You've certainly done well, Pilgrim...........

 

[ElkStalker]

Could be. TC sure didn't do anybody any favors with their "barrel seasoning" nonsense which in actuality was just a ploy to sell more bore butter. But, a couple thoughts, the barrels were blued inside & out from the factory and also, some products like Rem-Oil will darken over time til yer bore looks like it was chocolate coated.

It definitely has a chocolate color to it. It didn’t scrub out with Kroil. Maybe it needs a little stronger solvent.

 

[ElkStalker]

That looks great! I'd like to see the pic of it before you restored it. It looks like a new one now.

I really wish I had taken some. I got to excited to get it started that I completely forgot to take some before pictures. The only ones who know how good of a transformation it was is my brother, dad and myself. Oh well! It’s not the first time I’ve forgotten that step and said “next time I will not forget”. Haha.

 

[ElkStalker]

I took these to show my brother midway through the sanding process.
It’s as close of a “before” photo as I have.

 

[deerstalkert]

i like it! and one can safely say "it's one of a kind"!

 

[Urban Coyote]

Nice work, beautifully done.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

Always thought about buying a curly maple stock from Pecatonica and refinishing my old TC Hawken. Anyone ever used the Pecatonica TC stocks? I like the walnut stock that my original came with but I really like a good curly maple even more.

 

[Crooked Creek]

Nice restoration work! Great photos too.

 

[CharlieP]

Beauty

 

[Critter Getter]

Nice looking. Good job! My favorite TC’s are my .45 Hawkens. Such great accurate shooters and one has beautiful wood to boot!! Greg

 

[hanshi]

You did a marvelous job on that restoration. I like how it looks and it does look really good. I would happily treasure a rifle that nice regardless of what it was in a former life.

 

[user 48702]

Could be. TC sure didn't do anybody any favors with their "barrel seasoning" nonsense which in actuality was just a ploy to sell more bore butter. But, a couple thoughts, the barrels were blued inside & out from the factory and also, some products like Rem-Oil will darken over time til yer bore looks like it was chocolate coated.

Same here Bubba. I have a .45 caliber T/C Hawken I bought new in 1974, a .50 caliber Hawken circa 1980, and two PA Hunters, the bores in all have a factory blue finish about the same color as the surface bluing. I think they probably just tank blued the barrel inside and out just like most other firearms manufacturers used to do.