round ball barrel for T/C Hawken

[sghart3578]

I will try both ways.

I had not planned on hunting with blackpowder but California does have some muzzleloader only special draws. Who knows?

[jjarrell]

Call The Gun Works in Oregon. Joe Williams will make a drop in up to 35" not including the breech plug, to whatever twist you want. And when I say drop in I mean all you have to do is put the barrel wedge and ram rod in and shoot. He doesn't need your breech plug. Only your stock so he can fit the barrel. I had him make a round ball barrel for me about 2 years ago. A 36"(with breech plug), .54 caliber with 1:79" twist. He finished in about 30 days. Cost was $350 in the white, and I couldn't ask for a better made barrel.

[45workhorse]

............................. and if your groups turn out better than mine, I like BBQ sauce with my crow wings.

Doesn't everybody.....

[sghart3578]

Update!

After looking around at my options I bought a 54 cal T/C barrel from a member here. It has the factory 1:66" twist and is marked "round ball twist-1:66". I put it in a T/C Renegade stock that I had.

At first I was hesitant about changing calibers because all of my stuff is .50 but I bought a new Lee RB mold and went to town.

I shot it today for the first time. I had about thirty minutes on my way home from work. I loaded 70 gr of GOEX FFg with a .018" pillow ticking spit patch and a .530" ball.

All three shots into a 2" orange stick on dot at 25 yards.

I was very happy. Next week my son and I are going to ring it out at 50, 75 and 100 yards but I have a feeling that it is going to work good.


Steve in N CA

[Tom W.]

That's good to hear. I use a .444 Marlin case for a powder measure and blue jeans pocket drill for patches with my TC Hawken, although it is a .45 cal. I can put three round balls into a Skoal can at 75 yards. Or at least I could before my ailment.....oh, I use Pyrodex P. I wonder if it is still being made?

[triggerhappy243]

that's good to hear. I use a .444 marlin case for a powder measure and blue jeans pocket drill for patches with my tc hawken, although it is a .45 cal. I can put three round balls into a skoal can at 75 yards. Or at least i could before my ailment























.....oh, i use pyrodex p. I wonder if it is still being made?

it is.

[jcwit]

To the OP, you need to look at "Track of the Wolf".

Google it!

[duckey]

I have a TC Grey Hawk with 1:48 twist that shoots maxis and RB very well out to 50 yards with real black and Pyrodez. It will shoot out to 100 but I mainly shoot at 50. Curious as to what dia RB and thickness of patch you are using etc?

[Eddie Southgate]

I never had any issue with the factory TC barrel shooting round balls . Could be because I have avoided trying to hot rod it with 80 or 100 grain charges . When my TC was new and I was in my twenty's I shot with a club that shot 50 yd offhand , 100 yd cross sticks and a 200 yd gong ( 6" x 3' steel strip ) and .015 ticking pushed along by 55 - 65 grains of Dupont FFg gave wonderful accuracy at all three ranges . I use the 65 grain charge for Deer hunting and have never needed more . I tried Minnies and Maxies in the .50 and a .54 and liked them so much I gave both molds away to a fellow in the club I didn't like much .

Eddie

[bedbugbilly]

Steve - I'm no expert on T/C by any means but I have learned a lot in regards to availability of parts, etc. in regards to a Seneca project I am trying to make a drop in barrel for as a drop in in a different caliber.

My understanding is that the GM drop in barrels are no longer available. If I remember correctly, the Hawken has a 15/16" barrel on it? Here is a link to GM but their 50 cal 15/16 are shown as unavailable.

IF you could locate a GM 50 cal barrel blank, you might consider finding a spare breech plug for it and having the barrel made up. The larger size T/C breech plugs seem to be more readily available - some listed on flabay once in a while. But, you'd have to consider all the costs involved. Barrel, breech plug, wedge tenor installed, underrib and thimbles and sights - it would add up fairly quickly.

As suggested, you might place an ad in the WTS/WTS section and see if anything shows up.
Another avenue to check to check with one of the barrel makers and see what they could do to make one in the twist you want.

Before spending a lot of $$$ on a different barrel though, try working with different patch thicknesses. I'm assuming you are probably using a .490 ball? Over the years, I've had different RB rifles that were finicky on what they shot well. Typically you'd use a .490 but I've know some 50s that shot better with a bit smaller ball and a thicker patch and some that shot better with .495 and a thinner patch. It takes time to figure it all out but every rifle is different. You might spend big dollars on a new barrel only to find out that it doesn't shoot any better than the old one. I just bought a new Lee 2 city mold for a 50 cal - .490 but it drops them at .489 - not unheard of. I have one 45 caliber that because of a tight bore (Numeric barrel), instead of a 440 RB I had to go to a .437 - still wasn't a good match and when I went to .435 and thicker patch, it shot well.

Good luck to you - you'll get it figured out.

[pietro]

Once I developed a rhythm it was very relaxing.

Except for not being able to hit anything.

There seems to be a lot of that going around........


.

[Good Cheer]

Just a couple of things for philosophizing and ponderation...

If you pour over the black powder loading, ballistics and trajectory tables the magic bore size for the most whoopee-doo in round ball performance is somewhere between .50 and .54. It's that density of lead versus surface area and volume thing. The deer just don't care but it's a fun factoid to argue over around the fire.

My .52 bore flinter started life as a TC .50 (TC grooves really are shallow).

[Boogieman]

Re boring to 52 cal. with a 1in 66 or slower twist would probably be the cheapest route. a 1 in 48 twist will shoot RB quite well but will have a much narrower range of accurate loads. TC barrels are shallow grooved a larger ball with a tight patch usually gives best groups

[Good Cheer]

The round ball molds are kinda scarce but I found a .515 diameter.

[reivertom]

I have heard of a lot of folks shooting .490 cal RBs in the TC 48/1 barrels with good results. If you dial down your powder to about 75 grains and use the tightest patch you can load without flattening the ball. Also make sure you use dead soft pure lead. Then shoot and shoot, adjusting your powder as you go. For deer hunting at RB distances, you don't need a "hot load". Also try different powder size granulation if you can, such as 3f instead of 2f. The old tried and true formula for RB is a powder charge 2/5ths the weight of the ball. This will give you around 1700 fps. The gains as you go up from there are harder to achieve and the "Law of diminishing Returns" kicks in. In other words, after a while, more powder equals fewer and fewer gains and eventually wasted powder. In a tighter twist like 1/48 faster usually means less accurate with a patched RB because it can strip though the lands and grooves. The only way to find the formula for your rifle is to spend enough time making smoke.

[Buttonbuck]

I like the shooting methods of Dutch Schoultz an old guy whom I believe passed recently however published a great tutorial on accuracy with a tc muzzleloader. Using the dry patch system that you use a base of Ballistol and water as a semi dry shooting and clean between shots patch.

[Buttonbuck]

http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/

[Buttonbuck]

Can you hunt with lead round balls in California? I had heard that green mountains military contract is up this year and may go back to making barrels. There is getz and coleron I will also vouch for Bob Hoyt.

[Buttonbuck]

Can you shoot lead round balls California?

[Maven]

All, The reports of Dutch Schoultz's death have been greatly exaggerated! Although quite elderly and suffering from macular degeneration, I'm pleased to say he's alive and well and posting on the Traditional ML Forum.