Since we were in COVID mode, I decided to re-finish my 40+ YO T\C Hawken. Originally purchased in 1980 with some light sanding and a few coats of True Oil, the gun has seen a lot of hunting under different weather conditions over the years. It's been dropped, many times, threw it across a pipeline once as I began to tumble down the muddy hill...drove mud a good 10" into the bore. I never liked the original 1-48 twist barrel as it had a very shallow rifling and after trying about 6,000 different ball\patch\powder combos, I finally settled on 60gr FF....which is enough to kill a deer....as long as the POI was the same as the POA.
About ten years ago I replaced the barrel with a Green MT drop in. Best decision I made as the rifle will now shoot a nice group....and no more "shotgun pattern." Plus the load is now 100gr FF.
Anyway the initial pics are the beginnings of the re-do. I had a set of TOTW Hawken triggers that I purchased many years ago with the intent of building a true re-pro Hawken Plains rifle. Well, that never happened so I used the TOTW double triggers and trigger plate to get rid of the T\C factory. I never liked the T\C trigger guard. I also made a toe plate, inlayed the lock bolt metal, inlayed the wedge key metal, and re-shaped the stock. I considered replacing the T\C nose cap with a more realistic one, but then decided against that. All of the T\C Brass has been dipped in a brass aging solution and the steel trigger guard was greyed using the same solution. I also removed the barrel blueing with Naval Jelly. The barrel was not to my liking as far as the smooth finish was concerned so I draw-filed it to my liking and using the brass solution, I greyed\patina the barrel.
The stock was sanded to 220 grit, whiskered twice, then I applied two coats of sealer. After steel wooling the sealer back I then applied two coats of Chambers Oil Finish. I let the first coat dry 24 hours, steel wooled it back, then applied the second coat. Then using 0000 Steel wool I removed anything that was too thick and let the finish be a satin one.
It's not an original T\C....and it will never be a Hawken reproduction.....but it's a good hunting rifle...and IMHO, it looks nicer....and it's not like every other T\C out there. Here's the pics in (I think) order of refinish:
About ten years ago I replaced the barrel with a Green MT drop in. Best decision I made as the rifle will now shoot a nice group....and no more "shotgun pattern." Plus the load is now 100gr FF.
Anyway the initial pics are the beginnings of the re-do. I had a set of TOTW Hawken triggers that I purchased many years ago with the intent of building a true re-pro Hawken Plains rifle. Well, that never happened so I used the TOTW double triggers and trigger plate to get rid of the T\C factory. I never liked the T\C trigger guard. I also made a toe plate, inlayed the lock bolt metal, inlayed the wedge key metal, and re-shaped the stock. I considered replacing the T\C nose cap with a more realistic one, but then decided against that. All of the T\C Brass has been dipped in a brass aging solution and the steel trigger guard was greyed using the same solution. I also removed the barrel blueing with Naval Jelly. The barrel was not to my liking as far as the smooth finish was concerned so I draw-filed it to my liking and using the brass solution, I greyed\patina the barrel.
The stock was sanded to 220 grit, whiskered twice, then I applied two coats of sealer. After steel wooling the sealer back I then applied two coats of Chambers Oil Finish. I let the first coat dry 24 hours, steel wooled it back, then applied the second coat. Then using 0000 Steel wool I removed anything that was too thick and let the finish be a satin one.
It's not an original T\C....and it will never be a Hawken reproduction.....but it's a good hunting rifle...and IMHO, it looks nicer....and it's not like every other T\C out there. Here's the pics in (I think) order of refinish:
