Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Bear with me

I ask for your patience and forebearance,

I have a flintlock TC Hawken my dad bought 30 years ago or so. Shot it some as a teen, took it in the woods but never shot anything besides a target. I haven't shot it in a long long time. My son was pestering me to shoot it, and it kinda sparked an interest. All I ever shot out of it before was .490 round balls and .15 patches, the yellow ones pre-soaked with lube, over 80 grains 2f and 4f in the pan. Never really had any trouble making go bang. As I go about looking for the parts and pieces to play with it again I am not finding much locally, aside from a box of Hornady balls. I do have some 4f and 3f I kept in an ammo can and should be good. Aside from powder, can you guys point me in the right direction for components? Might shoot a yard deer with it, but really just something to have fun with.

Thanks

Once I learned how crappy the sawn "flints" worked for me, I switched to knapped English flints from Track of the Wolf and had much better success. I'm sure there's several other sources as well, October Country sells them for sure.

Roundballs will be fine. You might find the recommended .015 patches a bit tight for fun shooting, but .010 and .012s are easy to find. Get a jar of Wonder Lube to lube your own, or you can use a Ballistol/water solution as “spit”. Come to think of it, a big can of Ballistol should be in every BP guys shooting box.

You’ll also need a short starter, a ball puller, a patch puller, and a range rod is a good thing to have for cleaning and also for loading at the range. I usually drill a hole in the short starter handle so it will fit over the end of the regular ramrod as a hand saver too. Brushes and a jag for cleaning, a piece of wire for picking the vent, and lots of good cotton cleaning patches.

Have fun!

Thanks guys, I'll post again when I get her running.
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Gruff, if you're just plinkin' in the yard you don't need a heavy charge like that. 50 grains will serve your purposes just fine and maybe you can drop it down a bit further. Back in days of old a widely used rule of thumb was grains = caliber......it works.

You might want to check the twist on the barrel for a good bullet choice, most were 48 but some were 66. Here in Pa we can only use flintlock and my in-laws had and still use the Hawkens from about 42 yrs ago. The Maxi-Balls performed very well in the 48 twist with a lot of penetration albeit little expansion. My first ml deer in 1980 was with an in-law borrowed Hawkens. The Pa Conical is another very good alternative to a ball in either twist, no patch or lube needed. In my TC renegade flint with the 48 twist I eventually ended up shooting powerbelts. So I know they will shoot well with probably any full bore bullet.


Pa Conical

Maxi Ball

Maxi Hunter

Thanks DD, would make the powder stretch out too.

Tundragriz, we got it in order to hunt back home in PA. Carried it some but never shot anything with it. I "believe" it's the 1 in 48. Thanks for the links.

Last I knew the ones that were 1 in 66 twist were labeled as such on the barrel normal is 1 in 48. Mb

Season is going on now. Took a doe on Monday but using a Lyman GPH now.

Well I finally got around to shooting my rifle. Found some roundballs here local, and some TC bore butter. I used an old cotton tshirt for patches, lubed with the bore butter and it worked! Was a hoot, my son enjoyed the hell out of it too. I need to get some new flash hole bushings, and find someplace locally that sells black powder. No joy on that front yet.

The bore was in pretty poor shape, but just even just funning around my son and I both kept them in 6” at 30 yards. Hopefully after a more thorough cleaning I can get it on some bags and really see how she does. I’d post a quick vid but can’t figure out how to do it via the Imgur app on my phone.

Capital Sports in Helena has some black powder. I shoot a lot black powder in my schuetzen rifle and buy it by the case from Buffalo Arms in Sandpoint, ID. I have Swiss 1.5 and some 3F Schuetzen and would part with a couple pounds if you're interested.

Thank you very much for the offer. I’ll do more looking here locally and see if I can’t scare any up. If I can’t find any I may take you up on buying a couple pounds of that 3f.

So, before I shot it I scrubbed it with a brush and solvent, and a patch and hot soapy water for awhile to clean what I could. I knew I wouldn't get all the rust out but it was certainly good enough to shoot. After shooting it, I again went after it with the hot soapy water to get rid of the blackpowder residue, then solvent and a brush to attack the rust that was still there. It was way better than it was, but with a tight patch it still feels like it's catching about midway on some pitting.

I'll absolutely shoot of the bench and see what kind of accuracy I'm getting, but I'm wondering if my approach of scrub it, shoot it, scrub it, shoot it is the right way to go or should I dedicate an afternoon to absolutely removing as much rust out of of it as I can? I'm not probably doing a great job describing it. It's not like it's been buried in salt water or anything, the rifling is deep and I think (hope) the barrel isn't shot. If it were a centerfire I'd have serious reservations. But that being said, I have a .222 I bought with some pitting in the bore that is probably the most accurate rifle I own.

Just curious if you guys have any input. Proof'll be in the pudding when I put it on bags, but there are so many variable with patch thickness, compression on the powder, etc I'm just trying to eliminate whatever variables I can if the damn thing ends up only being a 40 yard gun.

Been so long since I shot it, I had in my mind the lock time was slower than it actually was. Damn it's fun to shoot.

To remove rust try Ballistoil. BUT after using it you will need to clean out the oil with alcohol and hot soapy water, then reapply 1000+
For flash holes, the Uncle MIke's is best.
What is the gun? Based on that you have we can give you an idea as to ball and patches. I run a .530 and .020 patchs in 54 cal and .490 and .020 in 50 cal. A .015 patch is easier to load but I get better accuracy with the thicker patches. I buy the pre-cut lubed with 1000+

T-shirts make lousy patches. For best results use tight cotton twill sold for the purpose, or pillow ticking that’s been well-washed to remove the sizing. Problem with pillow ticking is unknown thickness. You can measure at the store, but after washing, who knows?

The patch is the key link between barrel and ball. If you want good, consistent results, don’t scrimp on them. While no doubt fun, 6” groups are just awful.

restore that bore for ease of cleaning and loading.
get a range rod with a jag that will fit with a patch of scotch bright pad , green or purple.
any polishing compound works. about 100 swabs will bring you much joy when the crud ring starts to build.

make white smoke!.

Lots of good advice here. I'm with Digital Dan...light loads, 50-60 gr of 3F. Cotton twill patches, any patch lube, I am fond of Murphy's Oil Soap/water for repeated shooting, animal fat for days long hunting. Avoid petroleum based products. Patch fit is everything...recover your fired patches, ideally they will be re-useable, no shredding, no burns, no holes. Then you will have achieved top accuracy and consistent velocity. If you have corrosion (different from fouling) of any kind in the bore, a little abrasive paste (JB is too fine) Clover Compound, fine grade, rubbed into your patches, usually 10 to 20 shots is more than sufficient to fire lap the bore. You will find the ramrod pressure, uniform and smooth and undamaged patches will be your indicator of when to stop fire lapping. Personally I am not a fan of abrasive scrubbing with a range rod, no matter how careful, you will bellmouth the muzzle, arguably the most critical portion of the bbl for accuracy.
The Thompson barrels 48 or 66", when fed a proper diet will shoot with any barrel out there, the snooty custom gun makers hate that fact.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Yeah, I know tshirts aren’t woven tight enough but they miked out at .15 and I figured they’d hold up enough just for some fun shots just to see. I forgot to add I use copper chore boy scrubbing pads that I shred and wrap around a brush to remove lead from my leverguns. I did that a couple times too. Looks like some more elbow work and some better patches are on the to do list.

Guy could probably have Hoyt ream that out to a fresh 54 caliber roundball twist for around $150. If it shoots good enough as is, then rock on for sure.