T/C Hawken Breech Plug Screw/Cleaning

[bubba.50]

Lol, dawn came out 49 year's ago

And with all that research you must've done, was it worth all that to be a troll?

 

[TDM]

Lol, dawn came out 49 year's ago

Didn't say it was ALL I ever used. First 10 or 15 years it woulda been Granny's 'Joy' or 'Palmolive'. But it''s been Dawn ever since. And it does an OUTSTANDING job.

Well, this made me curious so I looked it up. Dawn, made by Procter&Gamble was introduced to the market in 1973.

49 years ago. But that’s close enough to 50 for me.

 

[COTNTOP]

I have upgraded from regular Dawn to Dawn Platinum in the spray bottle. Seems to work really quick.

 

[BillRob]

Didn't say it was ALL I ever used. First 10 or 15 years it woulda been Granny's 'Joy' or 'Palmolive'. But it''s been Dawn ever since. And it does an OUTSTANDING job.

Well, to be fair, for me it has only been 40 years. Still - a bucket of hot water and whatever dishsoap my lovely wife had under the sink has never let me (or my ML guns) down!

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

The cleaning instructions/owners manual you got with the gun were for an in-line gun, not a sidelock.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

Dawn + hot-hot water

 

[bubba.50]

Dawn + hot-hot water

Yep. Hot enough that the heat from it dries the barrel out when ya set it in the rack muzzle-down. I use a silicone oven mitt to handle it while cleaning. Used to use welding gloves til I discovered the oven mitt.

 

[M. De Land]

Howdy,

My new to me T/C Hawken arrived last Saturday. I figured my first task is to give it a good cleaning since I don't know the history on how it has been maintained. It has some surface rust on the barrel but overall exterior looks pretty good. I had been thinking of removing the breech plug so that I could run the bore brushes straight through, plus I have the No Excuses bullets sampler pack to push down the bore to get a size fit and it seemed to me it would be easier to push them straight through. Then I read the threads on how hard it is to remove the breech plug and pretty much gave up on that idea! However, the section in the T/C Hawken owner's manual entitled "Through Cleaning" states "Next in the cleaning process; fill a pan with hot soapy water. Submerge the muzzle end of the barrel in the water and push wet patch down the barrel (from the breech end) on the end of your ramrod with a jag installed." There was no prior step that instructed removal of the breech plug, but later in the process the instructions state "With the barrel completely dry, lightly lubricate the bore with a quality gun lubricant. Re-install the breech plug, making sure that you have lubricated all of the threads with an anti-seize lubricant like T/C's Super Lube". So, back to the drawing board on trying to remove the breech plug or not...

But, to the point - the attached photo shows the screw on the side of the breech plug under the nipple. The slot in the screw is worn to the point that my screwdriver blade won't gain purchase enough to remove it. I tried using a screw slot file to deepen the slot but the material is pretty hard. I've noticed the later T/C Hawkens don't even have this screw installed. Question is should I fuss with this screw until I get it out, or just leave it alone, since it doesn't appear to figure into the cleaning process. I'll confess that my OCD for everything to work as it should will bother me if I can't remove/reinstall that screw!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and thanks in advance for the responses.

v/r,
Joe B

That little screw on the snail is a clean out screw for the flash channel and should remain serviceable. I made a new one with a tapered end to direct the cap flash into the channel as it has to make a 90 degree in factory configuration. The modification works very well.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

Go, BUBBA!!

 

[renegadehunter]

Hot, soapy water method for me. Too easy and fast to try any other way. Cleans bore, flash channel, nipple threads, and patent breech if so equipped, all in one go and then dries quickly too. The hot water heating up the barrel easily dissolves lubes and likely some leading as well.
I'm highly skeptical of other methods.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

This how I like to deal with that screw, a mild steel screw is installed then peened down and shaped into a nice contour.

80107406-3757-4A69-906C-A0F4618EDEC4 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

Excellent work, Phil!

 

[Phil Coffins]

Thanks, Smoky.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I have two TC Hawkens and Renegade. The one I’ve had the longest was built from a kit by me in the 1970s. The head of the screw is pristine because I’ve never removed it. I do always remove the nipple when cleaning the barrel. The other two have buggered screw slots from previous owners attempts to remove them. All 3 clean up fine and shoot without problems without messing with that screw. On a TC sidelock of unknown age I’d leave it alone. Trying to remove it is just asking for a problem and is unnecessary.

 

[smoothshooter]

Howdy,

My new to me T/C Hawken arrived last Saturday. I figured my first task is to give it a good cleaning since I don't know the history on how it has been maintained. It has some surface rust on the barrel but overall exterior looks pretty good. I had been thinking of removing the breech plug so that I could run the bore brushes straight through, plus I have the No Excuses bullets sampler pack to push down the bore to get a size fit and it seemed to me it would be easier to push them straight through. Then I read the threads on how hard it is to remove the breech plug and pretty much gave up on that idea! However, the section in the T/C Hawken owner's manual entitled "Through Cleaning" states "Next in the cleaning process; fill a pan with hot soapy water. Submerge the muzzle end of the barrel in the water and push wet patch down the barrel (from the breech end) on the end of your ramrod with a jag installed." There was no prior step that instructed removal of the breech plug, but later in the process the instructions state "With the barrel completely dry, lightly lubricate the bore with a quality gun lubricant. Re-install the breech plug, making sure that you have lubricated all of the threads with an anti-seize lubricant like T/C's Super Lube". So, back to the drawing board on trying to remove the breech plug or not...

But, to the point - the attached photo shows the screw on the side of the breech plug under the nipple. The slot in the screw is worn to the point that my screwdriver blade won't gain purchase enough to remove it. I tried using a screw slot file to deepen the slot but the material is pretty hard. I've noticed the later T/C Hawkens don't even have this screw installed. Question is should I fuss with this screw until I get it out, or just leave it alone, since it doesn't appear to figure into the cleaning process. I'll confess that my OCD for everything to work as it should will bother me if I can't remove/reinstall that screw!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and thanks in advance for the responses.

v/r,
Joe B

 

[smoothshooter]

Whoever edited or reviewed that manual ( if it happened at all ) before release was a moron.

 

[Shawrco]

Circling back around to update this thread... turns out the cleanout screw is probably a minor issue compared to the condition of the barrel. The jag in the TC cleaning kit got stuck when I started cleaning the barrel so had to shoot that out. Resumed running patches down with the TC bore cleaner and got lots of dark brown residue and there were at least three rough spots up and down the tube. Happens that we have a pretty high-quality borescope at work that I was able to use and let's say the results are disappointing. This is the first Gunbroker purchase that I've made that didn't meet expectations. The gun was described as in very good condition and bore in "great" condition. Bore is dark with lots of pitting; it gets better toward the muzzle end but overall, NOT in great condition as described. I guess I could be surprised when I get it out to shoot, but I've started looking for another barrel. I haven't figured out how to take a photo with the borescope yet, but if I do I'll post a pic. I wouldn't call it a "sewer pipe" as I have seen some describe bores, but I'm not sure how accurate it will be... More later.

 

[bubba.50]

Don't lose hope or give up so easy. I've had TC's that you could barely tell had been rifled but after a good scrubbing they probably wouldn't win many matches but turned out to be plenty accurate for hunting.

 

[TDM]

Yep, you'd be surprised what some scrubbing with scotchbrite will do. A little JB on it wouldn't hurt either.

 

[redcarpet]

Circling back around to update this thread... turns out the cleanout screw is probably a minor issue compared to the condition of the barrel. The jag in the TC cleaning kit got stuck when I started cleaning the barrel so had to shoot that out. Resumed running patches down with the TC bore cleaner and got lots of dark brown residue and there were at least three rough spots up and down the tube. Happens that we have a pretty high-quality borescope at work that I was able to use and let's say the results are disappointing. This is the first Gunbroker purchase that I've made that didn't meet expectations. The gun was described as in very good condition and bore in "great" condition. Bore is dark with lots of pitting; it gets better toward the muzzle end but overall, NOT in great condition as described. I guess I could be surprised when I get it out to shoot, but I've started looking for another barrel. I haven't figured out how to take a photo with the borescope yet, but if I do I'll post a pic. I wouldn't call it a "sewer pipe" as I have seen some describe bores, but I'm not sure how accurate it will be... More later.

Rebore time.

Cheaper than another barrel that may well be in the same or worse shape than what you have.

 

[bubba.50]

Yep. I use a little strip of green scotchbrite with anything from valve-lapping compound to 'Mothers Chrome Polish' on an under-caliber jag and it's amazing what you can accomplish.