Problems with T/C hawkens

[sixkiller]

the gun was bought for me as a present by my wife last fall have been playing with it a bit and i really am not happy with it but trying to give it a chance i am having a hard time finding a bullet mold for the gun I stated with the one my dad uses for his 2 lyman 54 and they would not fit so called t/c and the said it was a .540 bullet i needed so bought a lee Maine mold in .540 got it tryed it and to big do i bought the .533 to small. so i said the heck with it i will go prb still can not find the right set up the .530 ball with patch is to big if you get it in 4 or 5 inches then it goes down smooth almost like it is to small. Just wondering if any one else has ever had this problem before or has any ideas.Pulse the stock has now cracked to top it off. call t/c with the problems and all they say is send it in but hunting season is coming up and i have 3 bp hunts planed so any help would be great.


sorry for the long post just kinda frustrated every one always gave me a hard time about my cva but i never had any trouble out of it.

 

[GeekEGuy]

Wish I could help you in regards to the caliber of your gun. I own a .50 cal T/C Hawken and have never been happier. I've shot .490 PRB, .495 PRB, .490 maxibullets, and .490 conicals without issue.

Do you want to shoot conicals or PRB? What size patches are you using with those round balls?

 

[sixkiller]

conical is what i want to shoot but i am not scared to shoot prb i have tried a few differnt patches but not much change with the heavy pillow ticking there was no way to get them to push.

 

[cynthialee]

your .54 is to tight with standard patches and mine is to loose with them

go figure....

 

[TennesseeJed]

Was it new or used when she bought it? If new, I'd shoot it a bunch between now and deer season to see if if smooths out.

If it was used, there may be pits that the patch catches on. I'd try swabbing after every shot to see if that helps loading. Have you found any of the patches you shot out of it?

 

[Billnpatti]

T/C Maxi Balls and other conical bullets have to be tight so the bands on the bullet will engrave into the lands of the rifling. When it fits properly, it will be hard to start but once you get the bands engraved into the rifling lands, it will go down pretty easily. If it didn't fit tightly, it would not seal the hot gasses behind the bullet when you fire your gun.

When shooting patched round balls, the balls should need a good bit of a push to get it started for the same reason. But, if you have to pound on your short starter, it is too tight. I find that the best size round ball is 10 thousandths under the size of the bore. For your .54 caliber rifle, I would expect the best size round ball would be a .530 ball with a .010 to .017 patch. I like to use 100% cotton pocket drill fabric that I buy from Jo-Ann Fabrics shops. My favorite patch lube for most of my rifles is straight Ballistol.

You can solve the cracked stock problem by buying the stock kit that is for sale on the forum. Other than that, you wwill have to send it back to T/C. Their guns have a lifetime guarantee and they will take care of it for you.

 

[Zonie]

No offense meant but you do understand that when your shooting a patched ball the size of the ball and the thickness of the patch will be an interference fit with the bore?

For instance, a .530 diameter ball patched with a .015 thick patch will have a effective diameter of .560. (.530 ball + .015 patch on one side of the ball + .015 patch on the other side of the ball.)

The patch should be lubricated or moistened before loading.
Any of the commercial patch lubes will work but to save some money you can use Crisco, a vegetable oil or spit.

To get this into the bore you will need to use a "Short Starter" or something similar.

This Short Starter usually consists of a 2" wooden ball with two 3/8" or 1/2" dowels sticking out of it.
The short dowel is used first to get the patch/ball into the muzzle.
This compresses the patching material and usually deforms the ball slightly.

The longer dowel is used to get the ball down the bore a sufficient distance for the ramrod to be used.

Here's a link to Track of the Wolf's (TOTW) Short Starter
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/118/1/ST-8

Once the ball is driven down with the longer dowel, it should be fairly easy to push the rest of the way down to the powder charge.
This is normal for a lubricated patched ball.

The small amount of lube will not effect enough powder to notice when the load is fired.

 

[mooman76]

It is pretty much normal when you start conicals or RBs that as they start and are forced in they get easier after a few inches because they are force shaped to fit. You can get RBs slightly larger or smaller to get a better fit or you can try a different size patch. Have you tried Lee REALs yet?

 

[cowpoke1955]

I have a .54 T/C Hawkens that has a tight bore. I use pillow ticking for patches in all my eifles. In my T/C, I can't even get the .530 ball started with a pillow ticking patch. I have to use patches that mic .010 and is still tight. I bought a .54 Lee R.E.A.L. bullet mold and found a .54 T/C Maxi Ball mold on ebay. Both load easily and give excellent accuracy. I really wanted a rifle that would shoot balls and conicals. I'm so tired of fighting with the patched balls, I'm giving my T/C to my nephew. I bought a .54 Lyman Trade Rifle to replace it.

 

[Rat Trapper]

My TC 50 cal Hawken loads very hard with the Hornady great plains 385 grain bullets. However it is a tack driver with 90 grains of Triple Seven 2F. With conicals if they don't load pretty hard they won't shoot very well. Put an ox-yoke felt wad under the bullet.

 

[rafterob]

You are lubing the patch, correct? It is common for it to be tighter at the muzzle area and then loosen as it goes down. I know some CVA rifles were bored that way, My Traditions is. Try to find some TC Maxi hunters, they are designed for that rifle. Sounds like this may be your first muzzleloader? If so, you need to adjust your thinking from CF guns.

 

[sixkiller]

ok i may not have done a very good job of explaining when i say it will not go i mean that it will not fit to even get my starter on it.


I have found this problem to stump me because i can use the bullets in my lyman GPH and trade rifel as well as my cva the bullets load good in the other 3 and the prb works good in the others.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Your comment about not being afraid to shoot prb bothers me. Patched round balls are the #1, most used projectiles in traditional style muzzle loaders. (we don't speak of those plastic things here). You need some first hand advice on getting started with your muzzle banger.
Contact Fort Osage Muzzle Loaders, they are not far from you: http://fortosagemuzzleloaders.org/
If you get up there, say "HI" to Ray Miller for me.

 

[sixkiller]

thank you for the offer but i as well do not use the plastic stuff i thank my grandpa would kill me.
Its not the getting started problem i have been shooting them for 20 years this summer but i have never had this problem before and do not know any one that has i have had 5 or 6 coustom bulders here shooting from time to time and they are all stomped so i thought i would put it out here where there are even more people to see if they have ever had a problem such as this one. I know i can pin the stock but i would like to have an idea of what would cause it to crack as i have never had this happen before and i have been a lot nicer to this gun than my old lyman that has been all of the country hunting.

 

[Paul R]

As far as the cracked stock is concerned, I am not sure if this would apply to you, but after shooting some heavy conical loads through my GM 1:28 twist drop-in barrel,my stock cracked in the breech area. TC uses a screw rather then a through bolt to hold the tang, which reduces support for the stock in that area. I found I couldn't put a bolt into the lock plate, so after I had reglued the stock I inlet a small plate with a threaded hole just above the lock plate and installed a bolt to replace the screw. So far, that has solved my problem.
Paul

 

[CrackStock]

"i am having a hard time finding a bullet mold for the gun"

Many people find that the Hornady Great Plains Bullets work very well in these guns. Not a mold and a bit pricey, but they do a job on whitetails and hogs.

"I started with the one my dad uses for his 2 lyman 54 and they would not fit so called t/c and they said it was a .540 bullet i needed so bought a lee Maine mold in .540 got it tryed it and to big do i bought the .533 to small."

Strange. You might need to slug that bore and share the results with us and/or TC.

" .530 ball with patch is to big if you get it in 4 or 5 inches then it goes down smooth almost like it is to small. Just wondering if any one else has ever had this problem before or has any ideas."

Never had this problem, but would be curious to know what is in that bore. Might be a rough spot from manufacturing or a tight spot. I would get a bore light and look.

"Pulse the stock has now cracked to top it off. call t/c with the problems and all they say is send it in"

T/C has always been good about supporting their products. They have turned one around quickly for me.

"but hunting season is coming up and i have 3 bp hunts planed so any help would be great."

I would send the whole thing back and ask for a replacement. It is not of much use for hunting as it is now anyway.

"sorry for the long post just kinda frustrated"

I can understand. Had a problem with one of mine years ago, but T/C did work to get me straightened out.

"every one always gave me a hard time about my cva but i never had any trouble out of it."

CVA components were made by a variety of sources. Some had great barrels and were serious shooters. Sadly, some had very poor locks which were not properly heat treated and they wallowed out the lock plate, wore out the tumbler or the springs were too weak to fire reliably.

But if you have a good one - shoot it and enjoy it!

CS

 

[Rat Trapper]

I would return it to TC attention Customer service manager by name after I had talked to him via the phone first. I would tell them of your up coming hunts and what the dates are. I'm sure they will try their very best to fix you up.

 

[CrackStock]

Good catch Rat Trapper. I should have mentioned that.

CS

 

[jerem0621]

My only experience with TC customer service was simply AWESOME.

Before I gave up modern bore stuffers for traditional stuff I had a TC Encore with a 209 muzzleloading barrel. The barrel bushing hole was slightly undersized.

At the time I was brand new to hunting/guns and was trying to figure out why I couldn't get the barrel bushing to go in. So I tried to put it in just the barrel lug separate from the frame. It got jammed so I got a hammer and started tapping. In the end I had what looked like a mushroom growing out both sides of my barrel.

TC fixed it with no cost to me, in a timely manner, (even though it was admittedly my fault.) The TC tech that worked on it spoke with me on the phone and told me that the hole was slightly undersized from the factory and he hand reamed it out some. They also sent me a new barrel bushing. The new bushing and reamed out barrel worked perfectly after that. I traded that Encore for TC Hawken and some cash.

1) TC customer service is simply great
2) I no longer own that Hawken, I couldn't figure out the set triggers and much preferred the single trigger on my New Englander.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

 

[sixkiller]

Thanks for your info i went ahead yesterday and sent it back to them they sent me a shipping label to send it so i went ahead and done it i just hope that i can get it back in time to re sight and hunt with it this year. thanks for all the advice and i will be sure to re post what they have to say.