smoothboring a T/C Hawken

[pennsyltucky]

anybody had this done? i have a 15/16 .50cal flint. i want to bore it smooth to .58, maybe .62 if its safe. thoughts? :thanks:

 

[roundball]

anybody had this done? i have a 15/16 .50cal flint. i want to bore it smooth to .58, maybe .62 if its safe. thoughts? :thanks:

I've bought .58cal and .62cal Green Mountain drop-in barrels for TC Hawkens but they've always been 1" size barrels...don't know if they make a Hawken drop-in for those calibers in the smaller 15/16" barrel...you might check their website for a current list of offerings.

If you could even find someone to bore out your existing barrel, it might cost as much or more than just buying a replacement barrel, plus you could sell the .50cal flint rifle barrel if you no longer wanted it...

 

[pennsyltucky]

i cant find anything in replacement for the 15/16. i have a friend who is a gunsmith that will do it for me. it wont cost much and he has all the tooling to do an excellent job, but he doesnt do much on bp guns so he wasnt sure on the safety issue. we think it would be just fine clean out to .62 cuz that would leave 5/32" wall thickness. .58 leaves 3/16" thickness. a 1" barrel at .62 leaves just a wee bit over 3/16 (actually 3.04/16")

is 5/32" thickness acceptable? 90gFF and a roundball would be the most i would be shooting. ::

 

[roundball]

is 5/32" thickness acceptable? 90gFF and a roundball would be the most i would be shooting. ::

Sorry, but I'm not qualified to answer that.
I can only say that I am cautious in areas like these and would personally base my decisions on what TC or GM used for .56/.58/.62cals, which is the 1" barrel.

 

[OTHERN]

A very long time ago, some friends and I tried it on a T/C 50cal 15/16" barrel of mine that they had convinced me was shot out. The end result was that after boring and polishing to a 20 gage(62 cal), we took the rear sight off and had 2 nice holes clear through the barrel where the screws were.

Othern

 

[pennsyltucky]

haha thats why i was askin!!! maybe i better figger on a 54 smoothie huh? i hadnt even thot of the screw holes!! :: :redface:

 

[Java Man]

Measure the depth of your screw holes, and make sure there is still plenty of steel there, even for a .54cal. probably is, but better to be on the safe side.

Java Man

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

anybody had this done? i have a 15/16 .50cal flint. i want to bore it smooth to .58, maybe .62 if its safe. thoughts? :thanks:

Is your .50 caliber rifled barrel worn out? or do you just want to have a smoothbore? I wouldn't go over .55/.56 cal
(28 gauge) if it was me, but since this is for someone else (you), I'd leave the decision up to the gunsmith that you're thinking of having do the work.

As someone mentioned, there's a good reason that manufacturers went to 1" barrels instead of 15/16", and I'd hate to see you have a useless barrel when everything is said and done.

I think I'd look around for another barrel to use.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[pennsyltucky]

i want it smooth so i can go rabbit and squirrel huntin with it along with the RB for deer and such. .56 will be the easiest since 9/16 is .562. 9/16 reams and drills are cheap to replace in case we break em.
so this isnt a common thing i take it? ::

 

[Rebel]

You can go rabbit and squirrel hunting with it with rifling too. Just use reduced loads, a rd. ball, and go for head shots. No muss, no fuss, and no worry about ruining your barrel.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

i want it smooth so i can go rabbit and squirrel huntin with it along with the RB for deer and such. .56 will be the easiest since 9/16 is .562. 9/16 reams and drills are cheap to replace in case we break em.
so this isnt a common thing i take it? ::

Nope, most people will find a different gun that is already a shotgun to begin with--rather than to permanently modify a gun that is still useable as a rifle.

I will tell you though, that the .56 cal (~28gauge) smoothbore T/C Renegades are typically reasonable priced AND you can usually find them on the auction sites. The only thing that you might not like is that they are percussion-- and not flintlock powered. I use mine on squirrels and rabbit and "garden varmints", and it as at least as effective as a good heavy load out of a modern 20gauge cartridge firing shotgun. It is surprising how well they shoot.

If you are "drilling" the barrel, you need to drill it slightly undersize and then use a "reamer" to finish the job, and then a honing/polishing to smooth it out. OR you're going to end up with a pretty rough bore and it won't pattern good at all. Trust me I know about this first-hand. And, I'm not a gunsmith, but I do know that much about it.

{IMO} Stick with a replacement drop in barrel, or buy another inexpensive gun, but please don't wreck the one you have.
That's all my experience and opinion talking, but you are free to do what you will, it's your gun and you have to live with what you end up with. Good luck on your venture!

Choose wisely...
WV_Hillbilly

 

[pennsyltucky]

now yall got me scared.... ill just hafta find a spare old hawken barrel to mess with i guess. if it works ill have interchangable barrels.

anybody got an extra? :hmm:

 

[amccall]

Another idea is get a 15/16th Green Mountain 50 cal. smoothbore barrel 42 inch. Attach a rib and hooked breech and you are set. Probably get it done for under $140 - $150.
You will have to cut off some of the barrel to the length that you want, just an idea.

 

[arcticap]

If you find that your next barrel is a little too light, you might want to consider making a brass ramrod to help offset some of the loss of barrel weight.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

now yall got me scared.... ill just hafta find a spare old hawken barrel to mess with i guess. if it works ill have interchangable barrels.

anybody got an extra? :hmm:

You have my word that I wasn't trying to use "scare tactics" on you. I know about what you're wanting to do first-hand. Many many moons ago, I tried the same kind of project and thought a drill was all that was needed. Man o' man! was I ever wrong. Just even remembering all the trouble I had is enough to start me up a migraine! I ruined a beautiful T/C Hawken Flintlock (it was an early production gun too!)

It's just that both myself and others here, don't want to see you take a chance on wrecking a nice gun, or ending up spending more money (than is necessary), and having less to show for it. We're also trying to save you from the headaches and frustration factor that you will definitely experience by choosing that route.

I have had several smoothbores over the years, and the one I tried to modify myself (which when I think about it--I can't even call it a gun--it's nothing but a piece of "self-made junk"!) But having a "good" muzzleloading smoothbore (fowling piece, or however you want to refer to them), is a wonderful joy, and is every bit as powerful (MAYBE MORE SO!)and as versatile as it's same bore size breechloading cartridge firing cousins.

I've never had to make ANY excuses for using a muzzleloding shotgun. Even with a cylinder bore gun (no choke), doing a little shuffling of components can give you better performance than what you might expect. First time I fired a smoothbore gun with a shot load convinced me of that. I've used a .56cal (28gauge) T/C Renegade for rabbit and squirrel and have an effective range of a little over 30yds. If I was wanting a larger bore gun that that, I would want a 1" (or larger) OD round, or AF octagon barrel. I have an old 15gauge smoothie that has a 32" barrel, that is only 7/8" at the muzzle. That would appear at first glance to be too small! BUT, the first 8" at the breech is octagonal and is 1 1/8" AF which makes the difference.

We'd all like to see you end up with something nice... and if you had interchangeable barrels, that would give you a very versatile gun.

Good luck on your project!
WV_Hillbilly

PS If I come across a barrel, I'll go ahead and pick it up and we'll figure out the logistics of getting it to you later. Don't worry about that! If you find one in the meantime, let me know. You can PM me about it, and I'll know to stop looking then, OK?

 

[pennsyltucky]

theres a 20 ga smoothie barrel in 15/16 on[url] gunbroker.com[/url], but it looks like a percussion. its a T/C hawken replacement.

if i can get it converted to flint, ill buy it. thats why i posted the question in the flintlock forum, hoping someone knew how to do it. :cry:

 

[Rebel]

You would have to contact T/C and see about them changing the breechplug from a caplock to a flintlock plug.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I got a barrel from Jack Garner at Tennessee Vally Manufacturing. I fitted it to a T/C "Penn. Hunter". It's 15/16" octagon for 12" then a wedding band and tapered round to the muzzle. Had to make a breech plug to fit the T/C tang, install a rib and thimbles and sight but it is a sweet shooter with ball or shot.
Mine is what Jack calls a 28 gage but the actuall bore is .560", very loose 28 gage and circle fly wads are a loose fit but as stated it does shoot fine. I'm going to shoot it with ball at the next rondy where I'll probably have the only smoothbore on the line.
I know he also makes them in .58, I'm not sure about .62.
The main matter to consider if you rebore is not the screw holes, they can be plugged just fine, but the cut for the underlug. That can be a dangerous thin spot. Mine is dovetailed about .100" deep.
:m2c:

 

[pennsyltucky]

i am gonna get that percussion barrel on gunbroker and TOW has a flint T/C breechplug and ill just install it.

http://216.26.168.192/categories/partDet...m=PLUG-TCF-15-5

anybody see a problem with doing that?

 

[TFoley]

A very long time ago, some friends and I tried it on a T/C 50cal 15/16" barrel of mine that they had convinced me was shot out. The end result was that after boring and polishing to a 20 gage(62 cal), we took the rear sight off and had 2 nice holes clear through the barrel where the screws were. Othern

I know I shouldn't, but I laffed my a** off when I read that. :: :sorry:

It's only by hearing other folk's tragedies that we learn.

tac :grey: