Thompson center hawken 1"48

[Cody2306]

Hi. Quick question. Imnseeing alot of Thompson center ter hawken rifles with I'm assuming 1"48 twist. Im only really intrested In shooting round ball for public land hunting. I was really wanting atleast 1"60 twist. Should I be weary of a 1"48 twist for only wanting to shoot roundball out to 100 yards with good accuracy?

 

[Davey Boy]

If you know your shooting iron you should be able to knock the eye out of a skunk at 100 yards. All the twists rates are for people that are fussy. Get a powder lighting ball pusher you like and shoot it until someone offers you a fortune for it because it's a shooter.

 

[Cody2306]

Thanks for reply . What is a powder lighting ball pusher? Lol sorry over my head

 

[leadhoarder]

I read all about the one in 48 twist being bad for roundball too. I went ahead and bought a renegade anyways and the first trip to the range I randomly picked a 70gr load to start with and I never adjusted the measure after that. I get one hole/cloverleaf groups at up to 75 yards using a peep sight. My eyes can do no better than that.

 

[Cody2306]

Awsome!! Results

 

[deermanok]

One of my rifles has a 1/48 twist barrel. It shoots a round ball very well. I had to experiment with different patches to find the best combination.

 

[Justin.44]

Thanks for reply . What is a powder lighting ball pusher? Lol sorry over my head

A gun!

 

[Walkingeagle]

Not only is 1:48 very accurate and effective with roundball, it is historically correct too.
Guaranteed if you buy one with a good bore, it will shoot better than you can shoot it!
Walk

 

[Cody2306]

Awsome thanks for the help.

 

[Justin.44]

My 1:48 rifle shoots round balls very well, and for that matter, so does my wife's 1:32. I wouldn't hesitate to use a T/C Hawken to shoot RB out to 100 yards, should work great.

 

[stevemoede]

I have 2 1/48" twists and a 1/66" twist. The 1/66" shoots the round balls better , however, it is a Green mountain barrel compared to 2 used 1/48" . I am sure a custom barrel in 1/48" would shoot very well. I cant however get my 1/48 " to shoot a bullet at all. The other one I never tried cause it is a 54 cal.

 

[Justin.44]

@Cody2306 There's a T/C Hawken 1:66 for sale just posted you might want to check out...
Oh sorry, it's just a barrel.. shoulda kept reading

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/thompson-center-round-ball-1-66-50-cal-barrel.130124/

 

[Zonie]

There's nothing wrong with the TC Hawken's 1:48 twist for shooting patched roundballs. It can be very accurate.

The thing is, the TC's barrel was made to shoot both patched roundballs and lead bullets. Lead bullets don't like to be shot in rifles that have deep rifling grooves so TC made the grooves depth fairly shallow.

While this made the gun capable of shooting lead bullets, the shallow grooves don't get as good of a hold on the patch. This means, the TC's shoot roundballs best if a fairly thick patch is used. The thick patch causes it to grip the rifling better.

Using a .490 ball in a .50 caliber barrel or, a .530 diameter ball in a .54 caliber barrel with a .018 thick cloth patch works very well, even with a heavy powder load.

 

[Bighorserider]

The 1 in 48 twist is about the most authentic thing about a TC Hawken. That's what the origonals had.

 

[roundballman]

My T/C Hawken shoots round balls as good as I can hold it. Try 80 grs 2fg powder to start and vary your patch thickness until it groups well at 50 yds
Then you can vary your powder load to find the best for your gun. 1-48 twist is fine for round balls.

 

[ohio ramrod]

1in48 is what the hawkin brothers used. Most people today prefer 1/66 for round ball simply because we use heavier powder charges than they used in the old days and people worry about "striping out" the riflings grip on the patched round ball.My Douglas barrel is 1/66 and shoots well. My boy's 1/48 Jukar barrel does just as well using a lighter powder charge.

 

[Cody2306]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[NorthFork]

Zonie is by far the expert here. However in my shallow groove 1/48" twist barrels I find a .01" smaller than caliber ball and a .01" or .015" patch to work better than thick patches. For example-

T/C Seneca 45- cast .44 ball with .01" patch lubed with TOTW mink tallow
CVA Gamester 50- cast .49 ball with .015" patch, mink tallow
Traditions Deerhunter 50- cast .49 ball with .01 or .015" patch lubed with mink tallow
Lyman Trade Rifle 50- cast .49 bal with .01 or .015" patch with mink tallow

A .018" patch with any of the above rifles requires the ball being hammered down the bore AND poorer accuracy. All the 50s are shot with 80-100 grains ffg Goex. The 45 works with 20 to 65 grs ffg OR fffg Goex.

 

[Cody2306]

Northfork how do you like your deerhunter. I would also be intrested in that rifle.

 

[Woody Morgan]

Northfork how do you like your deerhunter. I would also be intrested in that rifle.

I'm not northfork but my Deerhunter shoots lights out cloverleafs at 50 yards with a 250 grain REAL, 65 grains of ffg and an olive oil felt overpowder wad. The trigger is also very easy to adjust. Mine is crisp at 4#.
This target was shot before I adjusted for windage.



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