Thompson Center Hawken Round Ball Barrel?
- Thread starter Bill M.
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Depends on condition, inside and out. generally they do shoot good, but a lot of people say otherwise. Have seen them from 75$ to 300$. condition, condition, and condition. It is generally a crap shoot, bore scope would help a lot.
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If it is in good shooting shape without pitting I would guess $100-$200 as long as it has original sights and ramrod thimbles. A ramrod helps too. If it has been tapped for a scope or is pitted in the bore that will reduce the value. Also if the serial number begins with a K it is a kit barrel and may lower the value somewhat.
T/C made their own barrels except some very early ones from what has been shared on this forum.
T/C made their own barrels except some very early ones from what has been shared on this forum.
A round ball barrel in .50 caliber for a Thompson Center. What model?
Green Mountain used to offer drop ins and these are likely to most common. They haven't offered them for a number of years as I understand it. I've seen folks mention Rice but I saw nothing in stock last I looked. The T/C custom shop, FOX River I believe, used to sell round ball barrels. If you find a good used T/C Pennsylvania Hunter they came from the factory with a round ball barrel.
Price, I just sold a mint Green Mountain LRH, not for round ball, for $300. I could have asked $400 but I sold it to a friend. Condition is everything, a really good one easily $300 - $400 would be my bet. I also have a Green Mountain round ball barrel I would not sell.
If you can live with a single trigger model the PA Hunter, complete rifle, might be a cost effective option. I've got a PA Hunter Carbine and love it.
Green Mountain used to offer drop ins and these are likely to most common. They haven't offered them for a number of years as I understand it. I've seen folks mention Rice but I saw nothing in stock last I looked. The T/C custom shop, FOX River I believe, used to sell round ball barrels. If you find a good used T/C Pennsylvania Hunter they came from the factory with a round ball barrel.
Price, I just sold a mint Green Mountain LRH, not for round ball, for $300. I could have asked $400 but I sold it to a friend. Condition is everything, a really good one easily $300 - $400 would be my bet. I also have a Green Mountain round ball barrel I would not sell.
If you can live with a single trigger model the PA Hunter, complete rifle, might be a cost effective option. I've got a PA Hunter Carbine and love it.
I went ahead and bought the barrel. $300. Almost perfect condition. I can not find my bore light right now but a patch through the barrel indicates no problems at all. It says Thompson Center Arms 50 Caliber Hawken on the barrel and it says Round Ball Twist 1-66 on the barrel. I will let you know how it shoots in a week or so. I have a Green Mountain .40 caliber in fair condition. Gave up on finding one in 50 that I wanted to pay for.
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With 1/66 twist it must have been a TC custom shop order. Good buy.
I need to consult my catalogue pile to be certain but I'm thinking TC did offer a Hawken with a RB barrel as a target/competition rifle as a production offering for a time or from time to time. If that barrel came from the Fox Ridge shop it will have Fox Ridge Custom roll stamped on it.
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Renegades too if I recall correctly.
It does not say Custom Shop on it. It does have a roll stamp that says Round Ball and 1-66 Twist that is enclosed by a signal line frame with scrolls on each end. Looking on the internet I see a few of these barrels have been for sale at various times. Not a Penn Hunter barrel either as those were so marked. Any way I was looking for a RB barrel and found this one and am happy. I am unhappy I did not order the GM one from TOW back a few years ago when they actually had them to sell. But how do you know the future?
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Look at the custom order stuff if you want a Rice barrel. Still make em to order in several calibers and rifling offerings. So far as I know percussion only and they come in the white.
Yes, Fox Ridge, not Fox River, was the T/C custom shop.
T/C 1 in 66 barrel for $300 sound like a fair deal, good score.
I do have a barrel I'd ordered from Fox Ridge for a T/C Hawken. It's full octagon and 28" and drops into the stock perfectly however it is marked Pennsylvania Hunter. It is not stamped 1 in 66. My order was for a 1 in 66 barrel. I can't recall if it is a QLA like my later PA Hunter full octagon 28" and PA Hunter Carbine flintlocks have.
T/C 1 in 66 barrel for $300 sound like a fair deal, good score.
I do have a barrel I'd ordered from Fox Ridge for a T/C Hawken. It's full octagon and 28" and drops into the stock perfectly however it is marked Pennsylvania Hunter. It is not stamped 1 in 66. My order was for a 1 in 66 barrel. I can't recall if it is a QLA like my later PA Hunter full octagon 28" and PA Hunter Carbine flintlocks have.
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I'd like to know the story or details to go with that. The production Penn. Hunter barrels were all half round. Did they offer a full octagon through Fox Ridge? TC did make a run of target/competition Penn Hunters that show up in a catalogue for one year. The sights and barrel were the difference, wonder if what you bought is one of those. You guys are going to make me dig those back out and then continue the search for the missing box with the Fox Ridge catalogues.
Ditt44
40 Cal
I may be wrong but I thought the PA Hunter target barrels were full octagon. They were produced for a very short time, whether Fox Ridge or not, I can't say. I have seen a rare full length barrel that is octagon every now and then but as noted, very rare. Something about the PA Hunter just looks great to me. They're not gorgeous, they're not ugly but they just seem to look and perform really well. The standard production octagon to round barrels are 32" for an overall length of 48". I am always drooling over them when I see a nice one but just cannot justify buying one......yet.
I lucked into a flintlock carbine back in March when I stopped by the Ft. Chambers shop in Chambersburg PA ($562 out the door). It came in the day before and they didn't even have it on the shelf yet! Didn't get to shoot it for about two weeks but when I did... within three shots it was suddenly my favorite! QLA and all, it is ridiculously accurate with 70 grain of 3F a .490 ball and Ox-Yoke .018 ticking patches. I actually giggle every time I shoot it and see the impact after the smoke clears. It has really nice wood as well.
I lucked into a flintlock carbine back in March when I stopped by the Ft. Chambers shop in Chambersburg PA ($562 out the door). It came in the day before and they didn't even have it on the shelf yet! Didn't get to shoot it for about two weeks but when I did... within three shots it was suddenly my favorite! QLA and all, it is ridiculously accurate with 70 grain of 3F a .490 ball and Ox-Yoke .018 ticking patches. I actually giggle every time I shoot it and see the impact after the smoke clears. It has really nice wood as well.
That’s a great price in my opinion. They are not super rare but definitely less common than the standard barrel. I don’t believe they were a custom shop item but I’ve seen custom shop guns wearing them. Also the ones I’ve handled were all deep groove and shot nicely. I still have a 54 cal 1-66 factory round ball barrel packaged up somewhere. Let us know how it shoots.
They were still half round. The distinction was deeper cut rifling and globe sights. This is from catalogue 24 circa 1997. The Hawken barrel I mentioned earlier turns out to be the Cleland Match and was only available in 40 cal.. I know I've seen RB twist Hawken and Renegade TC stuff but I've misplaced an entire box of these and some Fox Ridge ones going back into the 80s.
How does one recognize the QLA on a barrel?
TechMoron
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Look in the muzzle. The first 3/4 inch or so will be smoothbore and you'll see a light ridge where the rifled part starts. Lots of folks don't like it but I've never seen any problem with it.
They also had a fancy emblem thingy with the letters. Not all but many of the barrels had that stamped on them as a feature point of the product. I've also never had an issue with the ones I have or have had. It's just a fancier coning process that some on here bemoan.
Oh hey. There's a pic of that emblem in my above post.
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My inventory of PA Hunter and PA Hunter Carbine models and barrel configuration.
Caplock both 31" and 21" having half round barrels no QLA. These guns have steel butt plates.
Flintlock 21" half round barrel with QLA, steel butt plate.
Flintlock 28" full octagon barrel with a factory installed recoil pad. I can't remember if this one has the QLA but I think it might as it is a late model gun. I'm away from home hunting for a few weeks so I haven't got it handy to look at.
As mentioned earlier I ordered a 1 in 66" barrel from Fox Ridge several years ago and the sent a 28" full octagon barrel with an under rib to match a my Hawken which is marked Pennsylvania Hunter. Again, I can't recall if this barrel has QLA.
I always figured QLA was intended to make loading elongated bullets easier. If this is the case, I fail to understand what T/C would put QLA in barrels having round ball twists.
Caplock both 31" and 21" having half round barrels no QLA. These guns have steel butt plates.
Flintlock 21" half round barrel with QLA, steel butt plate.
Flintlock 28" full octagon barrel with a factory installed recoil pad. I can't remember if this one has the QLA but I think it might as it is a late model gun. I'm away from home hunting for a few weeks so I haven't got it handy to look at.
As mentioned earlier I ordered a 1 in 66" barrel from Fox Ridge several years ago and the sent a 28" full octagon barrel with an under rib to match a my Hawken which is marked Pennsylvania Hunter. Again, I can't recall if this barrel has QLA.
I always figured QLA was intended to make loading elongated bullets easier. If this is the case, I fail to understand what T/C would put QLA in barrels having round ball twists.
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