You Never Forget Your First

[Urban Coyote]

I dug mine out a couple days ago, reflected on memories and took her to the range today for the first time in a few years, I was not disappointed.

We began our relationship sometime around 1974 and after about two years of watching the .50 Thompson Center Hawken, a cap lock, on a local hardware store rack I was able to pay her bail. Serial number a hair, just a hair, over 92,000.

I learned, as most do, a lot of lessons with my first. I could probably lay down line after line of experiences, good and bad, this gun and I have shared but the one thing I've always done is keep her clean. With the exception of an ill fated loan to a once trusted friend she's been well maintained.

This was my one and only muzzleloader for a number of years and I don't believe an estimated round count of 2,500 to 3,000 would unreasonable. All I ever changed, the sights. I seemed to be having trouble maintaining sight settings with the T/C adjustable sight so I bought a set of their primative, found a load, drifted and filed them in about 40 years ago. As I recall my hunting load 80 grains of 2FG, a .490 ball and a .015 to .018 patch. Today I loaded her up with 70 grains 3FG with the same patch and ball combo using good ol' spit lube. With a jury rigged rest at 50 yards here's what she was able to do with my 67 year old bifocal lenses, or maybe the muzzleloader Gods were just being good to me.

I'd be interested in hearing about your first, muzzleloader.

 

[Urban Coyote]

I dug mine out a couple days ago, reflected on memories and took her to the range today for the first time in a few years, I was not disappointed.

We began our relationship sometime around 1974 and after about two years of watching the .50 Thompson Center Hawken, a cap lock, on a local hardware store rack I was able to pay her bail. Serial number a hair, just a hair, over 92,000.

I learned, as most do, a lot of lessons with my first. I could probably lay down line after line of experiences, good and bad, this gun and I have shared but the one thing I've always done is keep her clean. With the exception of an ill fated loan to a once trusted friend she's been well maintained.

This was my one and only muzzleloader for a number of years and I don't believe an estimated round count of 2,500 to 3,000 would unreasonable. All I ever changed, the sights. I seemed to be having trouble maintaining sight settings with the T/C adjustable sight so I bought a set of their primative, found a load, drifted and filed them in about 40 years ago. As I recall my hunting load 80 grains of 2FG, a .490 ball and a .015 to .018 patch. Today I loaded her up with 70 grains 3FG with the same patch and ball combo using good ol' spit lube. With a jury rigged rest at 50 yards here's what she was able to do with my 67 year old bifocal lenses, or maybe the muzzleloader Gods were just being good to me.

I'd be interested in hearing about your first, muzzleloader.

Oh, the range 50 yards.

 

[yonderin]

My first was also a TC Hawken in '84. Brand new.....until I found a cap in the patch box. I was in the process of moving about 600 miles away and didn't find it until later. Best I recall it was right around 400 bucks.

Things intervened, a year later I finally got around to trying it out. Didn't have a mentor or a clue so the results were disappointing to say the least. A couple months later a very kindly gent took it off my hands for 100 because.....it had a bad bore.

He later lost a couple fingers in a muzzleloading accident. Karma?

 

[VA Hawken]

My first was a T/C Hawken .50 cal as well. S/N #79223, also 1974 or there about, and still have her. Sadly, I don't have the original sales receipt any more.

 

[Slinginslugs]

TC white mountain carbine. I was 12 and it was the baddest gun on the planet. Grandfather gave it to me. Haven't a clue where it came from. It wasn't new but it was mine. I still cherish it. The only thing I have ever stuffed in it is a 275 maxi. 85 grns of 2f and it would kill a t-rex. Back then anyway. Now a day it just sits in the safe and begs for action...

 

[Ninering62]

TC white mountain carbine. I was 12 and it was the baddest gun on the planet. Grandfather gave it to me. Haven't a clue where it came from. It wasn't new but it was mine. I still cherish it. The only thing I have ever stuffed in it is a 275 maxi. 85 grns of 2f and it would kill a t-rex. Back then anyway. Now a day it just sits in the safe and begs for action...

Good gun, nice story.

 

[Ninering62]

My 1st muzzleloader was the same as the fathers & one of my brothers - a TC .50 Hawken back in the early 80's. I had it a cpl yrs then sold it along with ( ML #2 that I had less than a yr ) a Pa. rifle in .50 too. I had no attachment to either. I wish I'd have known back then about the TC High Plains Sporter & bein able to get custom barrels in diff cal's & twist rates made to swap out the slow twist round ball barrels in .50. Thats one semi-traditional ML that I would have kept.

 

[mushka]

My first was a TC .54 cal. kit in the #range of 5000 about 1985 as a Christmas gift from my wife. I was shooting serious High power competitively and didn't have the time to put it together. Winter of 87 or 88 was a bad one so then I put it together. It was fun and I learned quite a bit about stock work and metal finishing. I got it al together with a really nice plum browned barrel. Took me about two weeks to get it done. Got the powder and balls and other stuff needed. In the spring when it got decent to shoot I took it to the range I belonged to and shot it. Can't remember how many times but I remember that Iiked the gun except for the brass curved butt. My wife shot it but it was too heavy for her without a bench, she said that she liked the BP shooting but the weight was too much. I cut the Butt and made it flat and put on a plastic shotgun butt plate and I've been happy ever since. I bought her a .36 cal. Seneca and she was happy with that little gun. Got back shooting high power and laid the TC aside. Retired and moved from Md. to AZ and only shot my TC a few times until about three years ago. Got tired of the hustle and bustle of the modern fast shooters and broke out my TC and shot it one day and here I am a BP maniac with an ungodly number or BP guns. I will never part with the TC I got as a gift from my wife, or her Seneca they are very special to me.

 

[Ninering62]

My first was a TC .54 cal. kit in the #range of 5000 about 1985 as a Christmas gift from my wife. I was shooting serious High power competitively and didn't have the time to put it together. Winter of 87 or 88 was a bad one so then I put it together. It was fun and I learned quite a bit about stock work and metal finishing. I got it al together with a really nice plum browned barrel. Took me about two weeks to get it done. Got the powder and balls and other stuff needed. In the spring when it got decent to shoot I took it to the range I belonged to and shot it. Can't remember how many times but I remember that Iiked the gun except for the brass curved butt. My wife shot it but it was too heavy for her without a bench, she said that she liked the BP shooting but the weight was too much. I cut the Butt and made it flat and put on a plastic shotgun butt plate and I've been happy ever since. I bought her a .36 cal. Seneca and she was happy with that little gun. Got back shooting high power and laid the TC aside. Retired and moved from Md. to AZ and only shot my TC a few times until about three years ago. Got tired of the hustle and bustle of the modern fast shooters and broke out my TC and shot it one day and here I am a BP maniac with an ungodly number or BP guns. I will never part with the TC I got as a gift from my wife, or her Seneca they are very special to me.

The TC Senecas are cool little guns. I say " little " bc they are more suited for youth or womens body sizes than a full grown mans body. I had a .36 rebored to .40 fast twist to shoot 10mm pistol bullets out of. As much as I liked the gun, I didn't like shooting it & sold it after about a year of owning it. I'm having my TC high plains sporter rebarreled to .40 with a faster twist to replace the Seneca.

 

[hanshi]

I still have my first. A mid 1960s .45 Heritage Model H&A underhammer.

 

[Jetmech]

I still have my first. A mid 1960s .45 Heritage Model H&A underhammer.

Was that deer taken with that rifle?

 

[Surrywoodman]

Cool thread. My first was a TC Hawken .50 bought new in about '94 after shooting a friend's at a local range. It was a no joke tack driver, killed my first BP deer with that gun and won a BP shooting competition with it. Sold it to a friend's wife because she wanted to gift him a BP rifle for Christmas in about 2002 or thereabouts and I had recently bought a Penn Long rifle (which I still have) and was enamored with the style. A few years later they split up and he pawned it, broke my heart because I would have bought it back in a heart beat, and given him way more than he got at the pawn shop. Regrets, I have had a few and that is one of them. Bought another TC Hawken about 6 or 8 years ago (still have it), hoping to rekindle the flame, but it just does not shoot as well, it is Ok but it is just not as accurate.

 

[Hawk54]

My first BP rifle was a TC Hawken 50 caliber that I bought as a kit in the JC Penney store in Anchorage, Alaska in 1977. Put it together on the kitchen table. Friend of mine had a .50 Hawken which got me interested. I still have the rifle.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

My first rifle was a CVA Mountain Rifle kit back in the 70s. Shot it for a couple years until I built my first rifle from parts. Never could get good with it, just didn't fit me. I've never been a collector so after it hung on the wall for several years, not being used I decided it was time to find it a new home. I took it apart and fixed the mistakes I had originally made and refinished it with an artificial tiger stripe on the stock. Hung it on the wall of the club house at a shoot and it found a new home in less than an hour. I was honest the sign on it clearly said it was a fake tiger stripe.

 

[oldwood]

Hard to believe , but in 1969 , Pennies Dept. Store sold these H and A under hammer rifles. I wanted one sooo bad , but I had just built a house , no money. In the Dixie catalog , there was a full scale percussion Hawken rifle print, As funds became available , (my lunch money) , I sent for a Numric Arms barrel in .58 cal , 1" oct. , 36" long. (not the best , but what was affordable. The Numric barrels were raw , unthreaded ,and with bore run out) Dixie had a Belgian cast patent breech plug , and dear old Dad , took the plug and barrel to the coal mine machine shop , and lathe threaded it . My uncle had given Dad some dark colored fine grained , Greene Co. , Pa. walnut planks from over head , in his barn , for modern unmentionable shotguns Dad restocked. I snagged one of those for the Hawken stock. Stopped into Bob Kern's m/l shop in Ligonier , Pa. , and bought one of his hand made percussion locks. Dixie catalog had a barrel rib , and the rest of the stuff to assemble the Hawken. I had an unfinished room in the new house to use as a workshop , and went to work on weekends on the cobbled up kit. By Spring it was a rifle. A Dixie GW red handled cast iron mold , (don't remember the specs) , cast balls for the odd Numric button rifled bore. It shot good enough , my buddy borrowed it to use for a Hide , and Critter shoot in Lycoming Co. , Pa. , and won prizes w/it.
The gun was an 11 lb. gun , and I learned volumes building it. It ended up in the Most southerly town on Hudson's Bay , in Canada. A young American school teacher working there , bought it to shoot caribou , and keep the Polar bears away from his house. Lost track of the rifle from there. The teacher came back stateside , with the rifle when his teaching contract was up. From there , dunno? For me ,it was a first rifle , and the fire was lit to build many more , over the years. I got to meet Turner Kirklin , as well. ........Hope this tale was of interest to someone..Enjoy....oldwood

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My first was a used .50 calibre CVA Mountain Rifle that someone of mediocre skill built from a kit. I picked it up at a PawnShop when I was 13. It was my only front-stuffer til my mid 20’s…when I picked up a .50 calibre Pedersoli Alamo Rifle.

Beware the man that shoots only one gun…

 

[Josephg]

My first was a used .50 calibre CVA Mountain Rifle that someone of mediocre skill built from a kit. I picked it up at a PawnShop when I was 13. It was my only front-stuffer til my mid 20’s…when I picked up a .50 calibre Pedersoli Alamo Rifle.

"Beware the man that shoots only one gun…"

Yes, he's probably in a bad mood.

 

[ohio ramrod]

My first was a 29 dollar 28 gauge Spanish made shotgun in the early sixties. It still gets rabbits

 

[roundballman]

Mine was a 50 cal T/C Hawken kit I bought back in the 1970's when muzzleloading hunting seasons were starting. It is vey accurate with a 490 ball, 013 patch, and 80 grs 2f. I have many more that have become mine over the years but still have the Hawken and always will.

 

[bang]

First try was a Makwell Arms Kentucky 45 around 1976. Never could shoot it straight. Turned out bore was crooked. Smoothed out the bore and used as a shotgun.
My real first was a TC Hawken 45 kit in 1981. Shot out the barrel and now it's a 50 GM barrel.
Still have shootable first revolver. A Rogers and Spencer.