TC Hawken PCap 50 Price?

[armexman]

Hi, I never thought I would ask a noob question.
Is ~$200 a good asking price from a Pawnshop. A local pawnshop (Boulder Cnty. Co) has a TC hawken for $229.00 and I have permission to purchase from SWMBO.
Have 4 50cal mold for MZLDR, all Lee. A REAL 250, a Minie 360 (?), a .490 and .495 RB. Pyrodex (R) and some GOEX 2F are what I would use.
I might even look for a .54, as where I go elk hunting (unit 181) there are many loose cows;)
Thanks

[fouronesix]

Very good price IF: the lock and trigger function properly and it has a good bore. Take a cleaning rod and one of those little bore lights with you to the Pshop. Clean the bore and drop the bore light down and have a look.

[armexman]

"Take a cleaning rod and one of those little bore lights with you to the Pshop. Clean the bore and drop the bore light down and have a look".
Fouronesix thanks; with the condition of their guns, I may even bring a sign that says "will work for guns" and do a cleaning on 90% of the guns on display!
I will take a rod and 20ga brush with me and hope I can find one of those lights in the Grainger catalog.
Muchas Gracias

[bubba.50]

$200.00 is a fair price if it's in good shape. DO NOT try to put a 20 gauge brush down that barrel to clean unless you for sure want to buy it as you'll hafta take it home with you to try to figure out how to get it out after it jams up in there. in fact I recommend not usin' a brush at all but get a proper muzzleloading 50cal cleanin' jag, yer favorite bore cleanin' solution, & some cloth patches. or use a 45cal jag with some steel wool or green scotch-brite wrapped around it & yer bore cleaner. and use a long rod so ya can get a grip on it. 'cause if there's much crud in the barrel it'll take a bit of leverage to work it in & out. luck & have a good'en, bubba.

[fouronesix]

I hear ya about dirty guns for sale in some stores! And pay heed to the warning about using a brush. They act like a barbed jag and will get stuck. If you use one, use only that size specified for a 50 cal muzzleloader. Some gun stores that carry the "usual" basic inventory of muzzleloader accessories may have the little drop-in bore lights.

[Maven]

"I will take a rod and 20ga brush with me and hope I can find one of those lights in the Grainger catalog."

armexman, If you have a well-stocked sporting goods store nearby, look for [fishing] float lights aka bobber lights. They make excellent bore lights IF the nonreplaceable battery is charged.

[fouronesix]

If you do end up getting the 50 T/C rifle- it will do fine on elk with one of the conicals. The caveat being it still needs to be accurate. The 54 would be the better roundball choice for elk. In either case they are 100 yd or less hunting rifles.

[Sergeant Earthworm]

Years ago I bought a percussion TC Hawken that "looked" like a great deal at $225. Externally the gun was in very good shape, but the bore was a disaster. My guess is that somebody shot it and didn't clean the breech area well enough. I couldn't tell by looking into the bore with a flashlight, but a local gunsmith scoped it and the breech area was just a mess. The best shot group I could get with it was about 5 inches at 50 yards.

The lesson learned for me is: Never buy a used muzzleloader unless I can shoot it first or return it if it won't shoot. The Hawken I have now, also bought used, shoots about 2 1/2 inches at 100 yards using a tang mounted Lyman peep sight.

[armexman]

Sargeant, I will see if Grandpa's Guns has a return policy. A friend has let me borrow a "hawken" to learn on at GMSClub. I will be going with a Guru of the holy black to have him teach me about shooting with a Muzzleloader.
After casting , shooting and handloading for 30 years I am finally coming to the realization that this may be a discipline of shooting I must experience before working on the bucket list.
Then I will take the suggested accroutments and check the rifle they have at this pawnshop.
Thanks for all your help to a BP noob.

[idahoron]

Have you seen the price of the parts on ebay? Even if the barrel is junk the stock with all the goodies is worth over 200 dollars by it's self. Ron

[johnson1942]

ron, i was looking at the c sharps site the other day and what cost 4,500 dollars a few years ago now cost 8,500 dollars. im glad ive got what ive got i couldnt afford to replace them.

[idahoron]

I agree!

[Lever-man]

Wish I had seen this thread a few days ago......... I just bought a T/C Hawken 50 cal, externally it looks great, good blue, lock works perfectly, but the barrel is junk!! I paid $150 for it, so maybe it won't be too bad to replace the barrel. Like Idahoron said just the stock and goodies are worth $200.

[dondiego]

Lever-man - Do what you can to clean that bore and shoot it a little bit. You might be surprised. I have cleaned out some really nasty looking bores with steel wool and a worn out brass brush of proper size and they shot great afterwards. Don't give up just yet. There are also guys that can "refresh" the bore for a reasonable fee that is less than a new barrel. Good luck!

And Merry Christmas to all!

[idahoron]

I have bought a lot of stocks. Mostly the one's I look for have everything except the barrel. I have paid 125 to 200. As long as the stock is not cracked and in good shape you got a good deal at 150. Clean it with JB bore paste and see what happens. Ron

[Kylongrifle]

Wish I had seen this thread a few days ago......... I just bought a T/C Hawken 50 cal, externally it looks great, good blue, lock works perfectly, but the barrel is junk!! I paid $150 for it, so maybe it won't be too bad to replace the barrel. Like Idahoron said just the stock and goodies are worth $200.
You can have that barel rebored for about $100 with shipping.

[Lever-man]

Good information..... didn't know that there was any hope for a badly pitted barrel. When I cleaned it up, and got all the rust out it shredded the patches, and were really hard to get out. I will try shooting it, as well as the other suggestions, can't hurt at this point. Nice to know that it can be rebored too. That may be the best option.......... Bore it out to a 54 cal. Is that possible?

[bubba.50]

sign up over at www.muzzleloadingforum.com & look around til ya find the contact info for Ed Rayl in Gassoway West VA or Robert Hoyt in Pennsylvania. they don't have websites but both are primo at reboring rusted out t/c barrels & can advise what can be done with yer barrel. luck & have a good'en, bubba.

[Lever-man]

Thanks, Bubba. Will look for them, and see what they say. From what I'm feeling pushing a patch through it, that may be the only solution short of a new barrel.

[TCLouis]

Just an opinion, but this time of year the gun should go out the door with you for 200 bucks.

Worth more, but this is not the ON season for such a shootin iron.

[bubba.50]

Robert Hoyt contact info :

Robert Hoyt
Freischutz Gun Shop
700 Fairfield Station Rd
Fairfield, PA 17320
phone # : 1-717-642-6696

evenin's probably best & when ya call let it ring as he may hafta shut a machine down to answer phone. still lookin' for where I wrote down Mr. Rayl's info. luck & have a good'en, bubba.

[scattershot]

Sounds like a good price to me. If you can't find one of those drop in bore lights, you can drop an empty .45 case ( nickel works best) inverted into the bore and shine a regular flashlight downbore to see what you need to see.

Bob Hoyt rebored a barrel for me a few years ago for $65.00, and did a beautiful job.

[kenyerian]

Seems that somewhere I read something about fire lapping a barrel to smooth it out after all of the rust had been cleaned out. Probably some one on here would know the pros and cons of it. Green mountain used to make a drop in barrel for the hawken but I'm pretty sure that they don't anymore. I checked Track of the Wolf and they are out of stock on them. Dixie might be a palce to check.

[kenyerian]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?132243-Recutting-Rifling-to-freshen-or-deepen-lands-amp-grooves Here's an older post on freshening barrels.

[Lever-man]

You are right about Green Mountain not making the drop in barrels any more, just like T/C isn't making the Hawken any more either. Pecatonica River still had a few of the Green Mountain barrels left, so I ordered one of them, the last 50 cal they had, at the time they still had a few 45 cal's left, but when they are gone, they are gone. I'm still going to contact Robert Hoyt and see what he can do with the one that came on my rifle.

[idahoron]

If they have a 1-30 twist 45 in a stainless I would HIGHLY recommend you get one ASAP. Ron