TCA Hawken 50, S/N 500000 range

[Boommeup]

Have you tried a ball puller worm or maybe a breech plug scrapper? See if they leave some sort of a mark or dislodge it! If us informed! Might want to pull the nipple and put a pinch of 4F in and give it a pop to see if it dislodges anything. Good luck!

 

[Intervention]

With all of your help, it's all figured out.

1st. It is a QLA system as can be seen in this picture. About 1" inside the bore the rifling can be seen.

2nd. The rifle is in fact unloaded. As can be seen in these pictures, with a pipe cleaner pushed into it.

3rd. I don't know much about black powder, except for what I have read (Lots of other guns). This appears to be unfired not sure though. The Qla area doesn't have a scratch on it, and a couple of pictures of the hammer cup.

Thank you again for all of your help. Now some safe range time with my boys. This is my first adventure into black powder and we'll be shooting 3 Thompson Hawken's (2 50 cal, 1 54 cal). 1851 Colt Navy Uberti 36 cal, 1858 Colt Navy Pietta 44 cal, 1858 Army Pietta 44 cal..

 

[SDSmlf]

Obviously not loaded. Believe you may be looking at a bit corrosion in the breech, though not much. Maybe hit it with a breech scraper like shown in post #5, or wrap some ScotchBrite wrapped around a smaller (.25” or so) brush or jag if it makes you feel better. It should remove whatever crust is there. Here is a photograph of the breech area from an older TC I removed. The barrel was a sewer pipe, yet the breech area isn’t too bad.

 

[Flinty Scot]

Assuming it could be some sort of cleaning/lubing/shipping goo, which has congealed w/ time.
Have you tried cleaning the bore w/ boiling water? If not, you might want to try a stronger grease solvent than soap, say ammonia. Just flush, quickly, well, and repeatedly before re-oiling w/ a non-congealing, natural oil.

May not help more than eliminating one possibility.

 

[Kansas Jake]

The scope pictures are real close up. Usually the pictures we see here aren't that high a magnification. I suspect the stuff down there is maybe a slight amount of rust or old congealed oil. At this point I think most of us would agree the rifle is safe to shoot and is in fine condition. If it was mine, I'd start having some fun with it and shoot it. I haven't seen anything suggesting there is a problem with the rifle.

 

[SDSmlf]

Reality is that without the borescope you would have just shot the gun (assuming clear path through breech area) and would have loved how it shot with no complaints. Unless you are willing and capable of removing the breech plug to have a closer look, just to to have a closer look, believe it is time to shoot the gun and stop worrying, at least in my opinion.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

Wow this was a neat thread to read! Great pics.

On my new-to-me pre-Hawken Hawken (not marked "Hawken") I shined a light into the flash hole with liner removed.....looked down muzzle. Bore looked pristine and I could see the light coming though into the barrel.

I will clean her up well with the hot water method, dry, and then try out. I plan to order balls and materials this week.

To the OP, good luck! Hope your shooting goes well.

 

[Intervention]

Reality is that without the borescope you would have just shot the gun (assuming clear path through breech area) and would have loved how it shot with no complaints. Unless you are willing and capable of removing the breech plug to have a closer look, just to to have a closer look, believe it is time to shoot the gun and stop worrying, at least in my opinion.

I bought the borescope after I couldn't see any light in the barrel when shinning through the cap hole (with the cap removed). I had no idea how a breech plug and the path from the cap was until I started researching. Being new to black powder guns I had no idea why I couldn't see any light. With everyone's help, I learned a bunch.

 

[Intervention]

End of the story, whatever was in the end cleaned up as best as I can. Thank you again for all your help.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

Sometimes a pic will mislead you! Several times pics on Gunbroker looked disturbing but when I got hold of the gun, all was fine. The one pic there looks like something is in the patent breach but the second pic, breach looks clear.

OK, just cut the barrel in two length-wise.....we can always JB Weld it together again.

 

[Nutnfancy]

Looks like it's ready to shoot, let us know what you think of it.