That's one of the most famous questions of all! :haha:
TC had a factory fire years ago and all the records were destroyed. I will say that you do have a low serial number on yours. The earlier ones had a higher comb, one screw nose cap instead of two, flush wedge key plates on the forearm, the stock was inleted for the lock bolt bushing.
The barrel was prewarning with only TC's address and Caliber. No warning lettering about using BP only! The earlier ones had a cleanout screw on the bolster. Also on the bottom flat of the barrel, you could find a stamp which could be a Maltese Cross, or a Heart,Star, capital M with a circle around it.
We have a Search feature which is located at the top of the forums page's. It's a great tool to utilize for research or for looking up something specific! You will find a lot of topics on the TC's there!
As for your original question, No one really knows and any other answer would be pure speculation!
Respectfully, Cowboy