Drop in barrels from Oregon????

[oldracer]

A friend of mine suggested buying one of the 50 cal "drop in" barrels from the Gun Works and put it into my very old Hawken kit from Thompson Center. The round balls will hit 1 inch groups at 50 yards and he said to try one of the longer, faster twist 15/16 inch barrels and shoot 500 gn bullets out to much longer distances. He said a 1 in 8 twist would be great and they usually stock 32 inch barrels as lots of shooters try this and they come with the TC hook breech plug and under lug.

So my question is, has anyone here tried this and if so how did it work out? My Hawken kit was made in the first year TC started making them and was never assembled and has a beautifully figured piece of walnut for a stock. Thanks for the help.

[Omnivore]

Hmm. Your gun has never been assembled, and yet you shoot 1" groups with it? That's some trick, there! :-P

Never heard of an 8" twist in a 50 cal. That's more like a fast twist in a .223 rifle. Maybe you meant to say 18". If you need a moose rifle, the heavier bullets would be a good idea. What is your current twist? A lot of the TC Hawkens have the mid range 48" twist, which is good for more than 300 grain bullets, but I don't know about the earliest ones.

One inch at 50 yards is pretty good. That's a good 100 to 130 yard or so deer hunting rifle as it is.

[Fly]

You have a great rifle as is.You most likely have a 1-48 twist & will shoot patched
round ball or mini ball, which ever you chose.

JMOHOP Fly

[oldracer]

Picky, picky, picky.....The kit was assembled about 4 years ago when I bought it finally. I actually called TC and they had no record of the serial number and said it was pretty old. And yes, I did mean 1 in 18 twist, not 1 in 8 as I missed the "1" it seems! I am looking to get close to what the Pedersoli Gibbs shoots although it is a 45 caliber and shoots a .451 very long bullet about 550gns. The idea of the replacement barrel that drops in seemed pretty interesting and a neat way to experiment some?

[Good Cheer]

I'm using a New Englander modified by Hoyt to a 24" twist with a .458" bore diameter so as to load as cast boolits. The twist appears to be plenty quick for 400-450 grainers. Works for me and this fall I hope it works for some freezer filler. Got my fingers crossed on getting to do some hunting.

[OverMax]

I just seen your #4 thread. 1-18. I've never run across one of these either. Quite possible that twist could be special ordered though. Wish I could have been more helpful Sir.

[Boerrancher]

I would try some conicals out of the barrel you currently have. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results. I am betting that it is the same TC Hawken that I have. I have never shot anything out of it myself other than PRBs, but the fella I got it from shot quite a few conicals out of it when he had it, and claimed that it would shoot as good as his 30-06 with them. I have never seen how his 06 shoots, but I do know that about 15 years ago he killed a nice bull elk with it using a commercial T/C Maxi, at about 250 yards away. There was several witnesses to the shot, but heck for all I know it could have been just pure blind luck.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Boz330]

I would try some conicals out of the barrel you currently have. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results. I am betting that it is the same TC Hawken that I have. I have never shot anything out of it myself other than PRBs, but the fella I got it from shot quite a few conicals out of it when he had it, and claimed that it would shoot as good as his 30-06 with them. I have never seen how his 06 shoots, but I do know that about 15 years ago he killed a nice bull elk with it using a commercial T/C Maxi, at about 250 yards away. There was several witnesses to the shot, but heck for all I know it could have been just pure blind luck.

Best wishes,

Joe

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. At that distance with a Maxi, range estimation would have to be dead on. I would say that luck entered into that shot. There aren't many ML hunters that I know of practice that sort of distance.

Bob

[Boerrancher]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. At that distance with a Maxi, range estimation would have to be dead on. I would say that luck entered into that shot. There aren't many ML hunters that I know of practice that sort of distance.

Bob

Bob,

The fella that made that shot is an avid golfer. It is 105 degrees here and I bet even now he is either on the course or driving range. Everyone in the neighborhood jokes about him being a non-laser, laser range finder.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Boz330]

In the old days that is what it took to be a rifleman. Range estimation is critical with those rainbow trajectory's.

When I was working in South Africa I dealt with a number of military folks. They were using Bushman troops up on the Angolan border and they said they had a tough time teaching them to shoot the FAL, they aimed too high. Because they survived hunting with a pretty weak bow they were used to high trajectory weapons and could put a mortar round in a tea cup by eyeball.:shock:

Bob