replacment barrel for Hawken

[2elkhunt]

I have a TC Hawken that i have had for 30yrs.I first started shooting round balls and had good luck hunting with them and over the years i went to saboted bullets and they done good to. I have hot hunted with in in 10yrs due to the inline craze. With that said I want to go back to my Hawken and get a barrel for round balls. It is more of a rush to me.

Thanks

 

[TennesseeJed]

http://www.longrifles-pr.com/gminterbarrels.shtml

 

[Rifleman1776]

I first started shooting round balls and had good luck

Something missing here.
If it worked fine at one time, it will still work fine. Assuming it has not been abused.

 

[chazz1975]

I thought Green Mountain had stopped production of new IBS barrels and all were backordered?

 

[jamesthomas]

You didn't say if you have gone back to shooting roundballs yet, if so and they didn't shoot very good the sabots MAY have left some plastic residue in the grooves(I've never have shot them so I don't know if they even leave a plastic residue). I would run a bore down the barrel and see how it is before looking for a new barrel.

 

[MSW]

that's one reason I never fooled around with the sabot thingies ... plastic down a rifles barrel at a high rate of speed ...

:slap:

you may need to do some serious work on the bore to remove the inevitable streaks of plastic residue which I suspect remain there and plague your accuracy ... I have never done this (since I never shot sabot) but I've heard that lead remover paste from Brownell's works well.

good luck with your project - I hope you can get it cleared up before opening day, then go out and make good smoke!

 

[2elkhunt]

I didnt think about the plastic build up but that could be a problem. I'm going to keep the original barrel.

I'm just wanting a barrel that has the right twist rate to achieve top accuracy from rounds balls.

 

[hawk driver]

I thought Green Mountain had stopped production of new IBS barrels and all were backordered?

I just talked to Green Mountain last week about a warranty issue and asked them again about IBS barrels. They will never produce them again, they were not cost effective for them. They are going to continue to make the barrel blanks, but no more IBS barrels.

 

[2elkhunt]

forgot to add that when i use to shoot round balls i used black powder. No one around here carries black powder anymore so I had to switch to pryodex.I never could get round balls to shoot worth a hoot with it, that why i went to the saboted bullets.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

the plastic build up isnt as bad as some folks like to believe it is. Modern sabots are much cleaner than the earlier versions.

Plug the nipple and fill the bore up with BOILING water and let it sit for a while, Use a bore brush and then dry and oil. That should take care of any plastic build up you may have.

 

[Bugflipper]

No worries just because of pyrodex. That's all that is here too. You just need to clean quicker afterwards. I use #11 magnum caps so never seen any issue with it not lighting off good.

As for the accuracy. T/C barrels like tight patches. It should be a bit of an effort to load one if you want optimum accuracy. I use blue jeans and a ball .01 under bore diameter. The lube is half bees wax to alox. All of my 1-48 barrels print excellent groups with round balls and the lighter for caliber lee real bullet.

As for where to get a barrel, you can check gunbroker or ebay for a used green mountain. Or have someone make you one from a blank. You can even get one with a trashed bore and have it rechambered in a larger caliber. Ed Rayl charges $100 for that. He, Bobby Hoyt or Ed Cain can build you a barrel out of a blank as well. I wouldn't give up on what you have though. T/C barrels aren't known for poor accuracy with their compromise twist. It can take a bit of work in load development but they generally are shooters.

 

[Jumpshot]

Pecatonica might have some IBS barrels left, they just received their last shipment of them a few weeks ago. You'll have to call them and ask.

 

[MSW]

your barrel has (most probably, anyway) a 1:48 twist - that is, the ball will spin once in every 48 inches of forward travel. Most barrels designed to shoot 50 caliber roundball are in the 1:60 range.

as a general rule, you must spin a heavier (given the same caliber) projectile at a faster rotational rate in order to stabilize it in flight.

there are usually two sweet spots, where the groups will tighten to their minimum size as you change the amount of powder ... one of these will be a fairly light charge (most use this for their 'target load') and then, often at pretty close to double that charge, you'll find the groups tighten up again - this is the hunting load.

it is said (but I have not proved it empirically) that a barrel with slower twist is more forgiving as to the variations in the charge. in other words, the quantity of powder need not be as precise, and the greater the variation you can get away with, the better the barrel will appear to shoot, because the mechanics are forgiving small errors in measurement of the charge.

so, here you are stuck in a tough spot: you want a nice slow rate of twist so there's a bigger sweet spot, but you want to spin a heavier projectile (say, a REAL bullet) fast enough to keep it from doing goofy stuff as it goes downrange.

the 1:48 is, therefore, something of a compromise. having said that, I would disagree with those who claim that these barrels aren't capable of decent accuracy: I've had a T/C Renegade for three and a half decades, and it's always printed groups tighter than I can hold it.

I agree that a tighter patch is a good start point ... (and patching that you got for yourself, not some premade stuff which might have come from the factory last week, or might have been in a warehouse for a decade, and you have no way of knowing)

also, I would try a few of the many lube recipies (moose snot and the one using Ballistol come to mind) in your new patching. then, you should be able to recover your patches and see what's going on(i.e. cutting, burn through or whatever).

don't be embarrassed to use a big board and get close when you're working up a new load ... think 4x8 plywood and newspaper at 25 yards, if that's what it takes.

patience is a virtue, and only change one variable at a time.

good luck, and make good smoke!

 

[fearless51]

I don't understand why those of you in areas where you can't buy black powder locally don't buy it and have it shipped directly to your house. I just got a shipment delivered without having to hang around to sign for it...you must ship UPS (Brown) and tell your shipper to have them drop ship it. By the way I saved nearly 5 bucks a pound over local retail+sales tax. If you know a couple of other like minded guys you can pool your money and save the most by buying it in 25lb lots, they will break it down into whatever grade you want 10FF, 10FFF, 5FFFF, etc. One of the shippers will even break a shipment of powder and add your caps to the order, that way you only pay the hazardous shipping rate once. You can only order 10lbs of powder at a slightly higher rate but get your caps thrown in the same box. Just a thought...