- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
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- 76
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A brief story first. During the 2016 Muzzle Loading big game season here in Colorado, one of my sons leaned his TC Hawken up against a tree during a rest break while hunting by himself and walked away from it. By the time he realized what he had done, he only had a general idea where it was. When he could not find it after a panicked search he came back to camp a mile away and one of his other brothers and I hoofed it double time with him back to the area where he thought he lost it and searched for 4 hours until dark with no luck. We went back the next morning and searched for another half day with still no luck. I came back the next two weekends with a friend (it's a 5 mile walk in) and never found it. I put fliers out at the area trail heads that Fall with the hope that a hunter during the regular rifle season yet to come might stumble across it and I spread the word with outfitters in the area. No luck, so we wrote it off for the season thinking to go in the next Spring for another search.
Well the snow melted finally the next Spring and we made what was a half hearted search at that point with no results. So, I work in a gun shop, and that summer sold a left handed Lyman GP ml to a young big game guide who hunted the same area we did. I told him my story and he said he would keep his eyes open. The 2017 ML season that Fall, my sons and I were back hunting the same area. We looked for the missing ML again, but never saw it and figured it was gone for good. But we were wrong. That young guide called me just before Christmas after hunting season and asked if I could describe the Hawken exactly to him. I did, and he said yep, he had it. He was guiding a client in the area and sat down to take a rest. He said he looked up and there was the rifle 10' away, still leaning against a tree. It was the same area where my son thought he left it. We all probably walked right by it, but since the cover was so dense never saw it. I finally was able to hook up with the guide last week and retrieve the rifle. That young man got a very nice reward!
Well the rifle was a bit rusted after spending 14 months in the open, but not as bad as it might have been since it was leaning against a tree. I am going to draw file the barrel to get the rust & light pitting off and brown the barrel. I never did like the factory bluing. All the brass furniture acquired a nice dull patina and will remain as is. The walnut stock is a little weathered and will need to be refinished, but is in very good shape considering. There is some black staining in the wood where the outside of the lock rusted and dripped on it. I'm hoping that some deck bleach I have for refinishing wood decks might work on that. I'll experiment on an area hidden behind the lock plate first. Anybody have any experience with this? The lock itself was rusted a bit on the outside but hardly any inside. I've pulled and seen locks rusted much worse after one wet hunting season. My biggest concern is the bore. We always put a piece of electrical tape over the muzzle when hunting, and it was still there when found. There are several small patches of rust in the bore, but back at the breech some moisture creeped in through the uncapped nipple and turned the powder to rock and rusted away all the rifling there. I had to pull the breech plug to get the hardened powder/rust out. It's pretty rough there, and I'm thinking of putting some emery cloth on a dowel and spinning it to try to smooth it out to make it easier to clean. Or since I have a metal lathe, just cut the rusted length off the barrel and rethread the breech, but there's a lot of work involved with that. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Anyway, my son who lost the rifle is thrilled it's back, as am I.
Well the snow melted finally the next Spring and we made what was a half hearted search at that point with no results. So, I work in a gun shop, and that summer sold a left handed Lyman GP ml to a young big game guide who hunted the same area we did. I told him my story and he said he would keep his eyes open. The 2017 ML season that Fall, my sons and I were back hunting the same area. We looked for the missing ML again, but never saw it and figured it was gone for good. But we were wrong. That young guide called me just before Christmas after hunting season and asked if I could describe the Hawken exactly to him. I did, and he said yep, he had it. He was guiding a client in the area and sat down to take a rest. He said he looked up and there was the rifle 10' away, still leaning against a tree. It was the same area where my son thought he left it. We all probably walked right by it, but since the cover was so dense never saw it. I finally was able to hook up with the guide last week and retrieve the rifle. That young man got a very nice reward!
Well the rifle was a bit rusted after spending 14 months in the open, but not as bad as it might have been since it was leaning against a tree. I am going to draw file the barrel to get the rust & light pitting off and brown the barrel. I never did like the factory bluing. All the brass furniture acquired a nice dull patina and will remain as is. The walnut stock is a little weathered and will need to be refinished, but is in very good shape considering. There is some black staining in the wood where the outside of the lock rusted and dripped on it. I'm hoping that some deck bleach I have for refinishing wood decks might work on that. I'll experiment on an area hidden behind the lock plate first. Anybody have any experience with this? The lock itself was rusted a bit on the outside but hardly any inside. I've pulled and seen locks rusted much worse after one wet hunting season. My biggest concern is the bore. We always put a piece of electrical tape over the muzzle when hunting, and it was still there when found. There are several small patches of rust in the bore, but back at the breech some moisture creeped in through the uncapped nipple and turned the powder to rock and rusted away all the rifling there. I had to pull the breech plug to get the hardened powder/rust out. It's pretty rough there, and I'm thinking of putting some emery cloth on a dowel and spinning it to try to smooth it out to make it easier to clean. Or since I have a metal lathe, just cut the rusted length off the barrel and rethread the breech, but there's a lot of work involved with that. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Anyway, my son who lost the rifle is thrilled it's back, as am I.
hotoSmile: Before & after
