T/C Hawken Build

[JohnBHM]

This will be my first flintlock. Thanks to all of the help from everyone here I decided to get started. First set back was several small cracks in the stock that I found after a close inspection. The good thing is that I have a relatively clean piece of would unlike the oil soaked military stocks that I'm used to.
I started by stripping the stock and getting the repairs done. After everything was set I installed the breech plug installed the tang and cut the dovetail for the wedge pin. I started finishing the barrel but I want to figure out what sights I will be using and cut the dove tails for them before I get too far along.
I did educate myself on the T/C double trigger system today now I understand why someone compared them to a mousetrap.
So far I am happy with it, The wedge pin fit perfectly on the first try. Now that I have a functioning piece the real work starts. Thanks for the help, John.

 

[JohnBHM]

I have been working on prepping the barrel for finish but haven't had a lot of time. Today when I got home I decided to do something different.
When I first looked at this kit the one thing that bothered me was the rear sight as it just didn't look to me that it belonged on this gun. I told my son to order a rear sight from Track of the Wolf. After looking at as many original front sight pictures as I could find I decided to make my own. I found a picture of an original Hawken with a silver front sight that was broken. I had some old silver pieces and decided tonight I would see if I could turn a fork into a front sight. Not much to show for a whole fork but I am happy with it.

 

[JohnBHM]

Cut the dovetail for my front sight, still waiting on the rear sight. I left it higher than original examples I found but I can easily take it down. Worse case I want it higher and will have to cast and cut out a new one. I used some cold blue for contrast, I will remove it before I do a final finish. I have been slowly working on the brass to wood fit.

 

[Old Painless]

Good job. I took mine to a fun smith to have it installed. Cheating I know, but it's good now.
He's a wounded warrior so I give him work when I can.

 

[JohnBHM]

Got the rear sight from Track of the Wolf and finally got enough time to install it only to find it has cracks in it. I cut a dove tail in the barrel and was smoothing the bottom of the sight and straightening the dove tail when I saw the cracks. With the sand blasted finish I didn't notice them. I now have to ship it back to them and they will send me another.

 

[TDM]

Good catch. Better now than later.

 

[Crow Choker]

Back in the early 80's I redid my TC 45 caliber percussion. Took the nasty trigger guard spur off, tuned the lock/trigger a bit, refinished the stock using some Brownells stock staining powders you mix for a color that suits ya (brownish/red color now), and put around ? coats of hand rubbed stock oil on it. Also stained the brass using a combination of ash and cold blue. Gave it sort of a bluish/black color. Really improved the looks IMO and have gotten alot of fav reviews.

 

[Vaino]

The .50 cal. TC Hawken {perc} was my first MLer and was assembled from a kit. W/ a PRB used it on squirrels {head hits only} and deer w/ a bigger PRB load. A 450 gr conical was used on elk. This rifle was used by many different people through the years and was always reliable and shot a lot of squirrels and larger animals.

My only complaint early on was that it was a "cheek slapper" and this was eliminated by removing wood from the cheekpiece and comb. The bbl has shallow rifling and is super accurate and was the reason later on that I bought a .45 cal. Douglas bbl that also had shallow rifling...it was for my squirrel rifle and was extremely accurate. Can't really understand why the rifling depth on some bbls is .015 deep. .....Fred

 

[Phil Coffins]

Good project. Those rear sights are good looking but I stopped using them when I found that they can change what step it’s on from recoil. Took me a bit to figure out why the rifle suddenly shot high.
Dandy job on the front sight.

 

[JohnBHM]

The .50 cal. TC Hawken {perc} was my first MLer and was assembled from a kit. W/ a PRB used it on squirrels {head hits only} and deer w/ a bigger PRB load. A 450 gr conical was used on elk. This rifle was used by many different people through the years and was always reliable and shot a lot of squirrels and larger animals.

My only complaint early on was that it was a "cheek slapper" and this was eliminated by removing wood from the cheekpiece and comb. The bbl has shallow rifling and is super accurate and was the reason later on that I bought a .45 cal. Douglas bbl that also had shallow rifling...it was for my squirrel rifle and was extremely accurate. Can't really understand why the rifling depth on some bbls is .015 deep. .....Fred

This is not the original barrel and I couldn't say how deep the rifling is. It's 50 cal. and about 1-40 twist. My son picked this up as a way for me to get familiar with flintlocks before the Woodsrunner kit arrives. This was a kit that someone finished the stock but never completed. I will never know what happened to the original barrel but this just gives me more practice in cutting dovetails.

 

[JohnBHM]

Good project. Those rear sights are good looking but I stopped using them when I found that they can change what step it’s on from recoil. Took me a bit to figure out why the rifle suddenly shot high.
Dandy job on the front sight.

Thank you, When I get the new sight I may dimple the bottom of the sight and leave a small bump on each step. I am committed to using this sight by my placement of the dove tail and appreciate pointing out the problem with these sights.

Thanks again, John

 

[JohnBHM]

Been busy and have been putting together some good wood working tools. I did get the rear sight fitted a while back before work and helping my daughter getting her new house ready to move into. I finally got started on some carving. Its far from done but I got the design I was going for.

 

[Eric Krewson]

You could do this to the cheek piece and make a much sleeker looking rifle that won't be a cheek slapper. New design on top, original on the bottom

I lowered the comb, lowered and rounded the wrist as well as carried it a few inches back into the butt stock.

 

[JohnBHM]

You could do this to the cheek piece and make a much sleeker looking rifle that won't be a cheek slapper. New design on top, original on the bottom

I lowered the comb, lowered and rounded the wrist as well as carried it a few inches back into the butt stock.
View attachment 197282

Thanks Eric, That wrist looks so much better. I have started to bring the wrist down but didn't know what to do with the comb.

 

[JohnBHM]

I finally have a drill press again and have ordered a bottoming tap so that I can attach the rail and thimbles. I have also ordered metal and wood finishes. I still have a little work to do on the stock but thought I would reassemble to get a better feel and overall picture. I reworked the brass to be flush with the wood and cleaned it up.

 

[2 shots]

lookin good

 

[kyron4]

Coming along nicely.

That rear sight really sets back close to the eye, any issues with the sight picture ? I only bring it up causes I'm north of 50 and my eye don't work like they use to.

 

[JohnBHM]

Coming along nicely.

That rear sight really sets back close to the eye, any issues with the sight picture ? I only bring it up causes I'm north of 50 and my eye don't work like they use to.

Thanks, I set the sight for my son and might have pushed it out a little further for me. I haven't decided what I want yet or how much of a project I am up to.

 

[JohnBHM]

I decided not to get carried away with carving on this one. I put a third coat of Tried and True on since these photos and have the metal where I want it. This was after the second coat.

 

[JohnBHM]

Put everything together this morning. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.