TC Pennsylvania Hunter

[Muddly]

Bought one, in the nick of time, for $400. The bore was just starting to rust. Cleaned up without issue. The was some nastiness starting between the lock and barrel. Cleaned up well. The trigger is typically heavy, but usable for now. The crown was properly recut and loads nicely. The tang was glass bedded. Nice touch that!
The lock is superb. No hammer/ tumbler wobble. Lyman frizzen and I believe someone tweeked the old style hammer as it places the agate ( for now) 1/16th inch away from the frizzen face. Even the vent is properly placed!
70 gr of 3f Swiss .490 ball and .015 patch with a .56 cal o.p. wad gives 50 yard groups between 2 1/4 and 1 5/8ths for 3 shots. .018 patches are too tight for hunting. Patches are almost reuseable.reusable.
Fingers crossed that I can get her shooting a bit better by December!

 

[bubba.50]

Looks like you’re well on your way.

 

[BruceHH]

I have a couple of triggers units and other parts for these rifles if you are interested. Sometimes changing the trigger unit out really helps with a better trigger pull. Do a search in the sale section to find them.

 

[Muddly]

Will do Bruce. Spares are never a bad idea.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Look at your trigger bar, I had a TC with a very heavy trigger, I checked the bar and found it to be very rough. I sanded the bare smooth and polished the contact point with the sear and ended up with a much lighter very smooth trigger.

You can see just how rough the trigger bar was on the part I didn't polish on the left side of the bar, the whole bar looked this way when I first looked at it.

I polished the underside of the sear where it would contact the trigger bar as well.

 

[bubba.50]

One thing to know is TC used different triggers in their single-trigger guns from time to time. There’s one that has the sear bar that bears against the sear arm to fire. And there’s another that just has a small notch for the sear bar to fit through. Also, there’s tangs that are just attached with two wood screws and there’s others that have a through-bolt to the trigger guard.

 

[tdoyka]

well done!!!!!

i got cva hawkens from auction and it had a rusty barrel. i think i paid $100-125 for it two years ago and all it need was bronze brush and ballistol.

 

[tom_in_vt]

Glad it’s working well for you

 

[hanshi]

Nice looking rifle. You're well on your way.

 

[Muddly]

Thanks all.
This one has the trigger that the sear bar fits into. It definitely needs polishing!
For some reason, this rifle is really fascinating to me. Had to place her in a category, but she handles well, balances proper and (so far) seems to really want to shoot. She really turned heads at the range too.
Normally I'd be putting an aperture sight on. But the factory set up works very well for me.
This will be a very interesting journey...

 

[COTNTOP]

Love those PA Hunters, thinking about a flintlocker myself. Don't know if you are planning on deer hunting but Hornady makes a PA conical that works great in those rifles.

 

[GriscomRun]

Love both of mine -- flint and perc. Only trouble is with age and a nice touch of Uncle Arthir especially in the left wrist, I can barely hold it up in offhand.

 

[bubba.50]

Love both of mine -- flint and perc. Only trouble is with age and a nice touch of Uncle Arthir especially in the left wrist, I can barely hold it up in offhand.

They made them in a carbine version too. Keep an eye open and/or put out feelers here & elsewhere & maybe you could luck into a shorter, lighter barrel for your gun.

 

[GriscomRun]

Nice thought. I really did not know they made a carbine short barrel. Good Idea to float that out there. Thanks

I did take the step to upgrade the flintlock version. Sent it to Cabin Creek and had the lock and trigger work done.

 

[tdoyka]

Love both of mine -- flint and perc. Only trouble is with age and a nice touch of Uncle Arthir especially in the left wrist, I can barely hold it up in offhand.

i am disabled(stroke has right arm/leg unworkable) and i use a primos bipod and bog pod tripod. try one.

 

[Timber Wolf]

I like my Penn Hunter a lot, except I could do without the QL muzzle and the trigger pull is pretty heavy. I can live with the QL muzzle and with pointers from this thread maybe I can do something about the trigger. I have to admit though, the heavy trigger forces me to concentrate and sssqquuueeezzzeee the trigger so I get pretty good accuracy (on the range).

 

[GriscomRun]

Yeah. Triggers and the pressure to get them to trip off. I've had all sorts from 2-oz to 4.5# required match weight tested at national events (unmentionable type rifles), to 6 or greater # factory. YA just gotta learn each one and make friends with it. After some time and practice you'll get to understand how much pressure it takes to release it. Learn it and get to fire it off without disturbing that front sight. Not that hard but does take some practice.
Reminds me of optical sights on unmentionables - try dry firing off the bench and watch that reticle jump ! It's a real thing on some rifles. Get to learn how to do the trip so she doesn't jump when released. JMO

 

[Muddly]

Please forgive the breechloader reference. But to show an example, had a Remington 581S that was so light i got pulse bounce shooting off the bench! Made the crosshairs dance.

 

[tdoyka]

Yeah. Triggers and the pressure to get them to trip off. I've had all sorts from 2-oz to 4.5# required match weight tested at national events (unmentionable type rifles), to 6 or greater # factory. YA just gotta learn each one and make friends with it. After some time and practice you'll get to understand how much pressure it takes to release it. Learn it and get to fire it off without disturbing that front sight. Not that hard but does take some practice.
Reminds me of optical sights on unmentionables - try dry firing off the bench and watch that reticle jump ! It's a real thing on some rifles. Get to learn how to do the trip so she doesn't jump when released. JMO

the US Army used to place a quarter on the barrel and then dry fire it(m16a2). if it fell off the barrel, you "jerked" the trigger. i think(it was 30 years ago). if it stayed on the barrel(10 times), you were good to go.

on unmentionables, i had a timney trigger on my(now oldest son's unmentionable) 98 fn mauser that was set at 3 lbs. i liked it. on the other hand, i had a savage m116 that was 15+lbs (that was as far as trigger puller would allow). my gunsmith(RIP) set it to to 4lbs. the 1916 spanish mauser and the 98 mauser(1944) had atrocious triggers. i put on a dayton traister trigger (4 - 5 lbs) and i like them. i like the old 2 stage military triggers too.