T/C Hawken

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1shot

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S. Ontario
New to the blackpowder forum!

Centerfire forever, but I've been drawn to the dark side.. :D
Just picked up a beautiful T/C Hawken, can someone tell me how to remove the barrel for cleaning. :confused: Wedgepin and two side screws maybe?

I'm looking at this load to start with:
.490 roundball, .15thou lubed tight patch, 60 grains of real blackpowder, cci #11 primer. Any other vanilla loads for accuracy to start load development? Twist is the "compromise" 1:48.

I keep reading online about "Pillow ticking" being common for patches (stateside) can anyone please expand on this?

Cheers!


1Shot
 
Pillow Ticking

Pillow ticking was made for pillow covers.It is a tightly
woven cotton material used to keep feather quills from
poking thru.You can still buy it and cut your own patches
or T/C sells a .018prelubed PT patches.
Regards,Jed.
 
You can also use any tight weave 100% cotton material of the appropriate thickness. Just bring your calipers tothe fabric store next time your wife goes and start measuring - lol. For load development, I'd recommend trying scraps of the following thicknesses to see what shoots better.

.012"
.015"
.018"

When you find what thickness works best, go buy a bunch of it and cut it into about 1" squares, give or take. Cheaper than ordering round pre-cut patches and frankly, the square ones shoot as well as the round ones do.

If you're just plinking a couple rounds at the range, you can spit lube your patches but you'll have to wiep the bore with BP solvent every couple of shots.

I personally just buy Hoppes No.9 Plus for black powder and lube my patches with it. Then there is no wiping required between shots.

At the end of the day, I clean with good old hot soapy water and coat the bore in ballistol for storage (it's water soluble and prevents rust). Wipe the bore out before the next range session ;)
 
Pillow ticking.........

Here's a picture of some pillow ticking.You can still purchase it new
or cut up some old feather pillows from auctoins,etc.
P9040014A.jpg


Here's some store-bought ones from the Bass Pro Shop:p
P9040015A.jpg


Here's one of my T/C Hawkens(.50):)
P9040016A.jpg


Welcome to BP shooting 1Shot!:cool:
Regards,Jed
 
Thanks for the great response guys, I'll use your info and hit the range wednesday evening.
I'm really looking forward to this!

1Shot.
 
T/C Hawken Part Two.

So I got out to the range tonight and fired my new toy, what a riot using blackpowder and patched ball.. (This 34 year old kid is having fun again!)
Fearsome "Whoooosh!" and impressive orange sparks spewing forth- the rifle has charactor and feels like its alive! (Can you tell I'm happy?)

Got her sighted in at 50yards before the darkness came, three rounds into about 3" which will do for a first outing.

60gr Goex FFg .490 ball over .15 lubed patch. Had a couple of small "cracks" no "Whoooosh!" Dug crap from nipple dropped a few granules of powder in there and off she went. Maybe I'll get a Hotshot nipple/Magnum primers?

But my issue tonight was the amount of force in ramming that patched ball down the hole, after a shot I'd spitpatch and drypatch followed by a lubedpatch before loading up- I found it easier to bang the ramrod onto the projectile rather than choking up on the rod and possibly break it!
Are they really that hard to seat? (I'm 6'4" 240lbs etc)

Anyhoo I'm having fun again, long live the black sparky stuff.


1Shot
 
1shot said:
T/C Hawken Part Two.I found it easier to bang the ramrod onto the projectile rather than choking up on the rod and possibly break it!
Click to expand...
Banging is bad... and you're beginning to see why I only use unbreakable ramrods. Driving a couple of feet of splintered, dirty hickory ramrod through your hand/forearm puts a real damper on the proceedings.

You need to learn how to deal with patching and bore fouling issues. And as I stick to conicals pretty much exclusively in my .36 and .54 muzzlestuffers, that part I can't help you with
 
I do not swab between shots, and using Wonderlube patches I have no problem shooting 10 shots or more. I have just switched over to Ballistol and so far find it a very good patch lube as well.
 
Ballistol rocks! Too bad it's so hard to locate in Canada, and pricy when you find it. I also use it as a preserving coating on all my guns, as a bore protector in BP rifles, as a disinfectant, and 1000 other uses :)

I have to try it out, but they say you can cut ballistor 50/50 with water and soak your patches in it, wring them out, and then air dry them for a couple of days. You get slippery patches that aren;t really "wet". Shouldn't affect powder humidity either.
 
Primers

Did you "snap" any caps off before loading?
If not:Hold muzzle down near leaf,blade of grass,used patch,etc.
There is enough pressure in a cap to move said debris if
route is clear.If no movement you can clean out nipple area
before loading the rifle.:)
Regular P.caps is all you should need!:D
Regards,Jed.
 
One thing often overlooked is oil or solvent in the breech plug. It can/will wet your powder to cause unreliable ignition if you don't dry your bore with clean patches before shooting.
 
I'd suggest getting a stainless steel ramrod for range use (no risk of breaking it) They generally have a large hardwood ball at the end, which facilitates seating your load).

Mark the rod with a felt pen so that you know how deep a normally seated load should be. That way, you'll know if your loads are fully seated.

I use TC's Wonderlube on my patches. Wonderlube is, as far as I know, a mixture of tallow and probably some beeswax (they say it's all "food grade" ingredients). This stuff is applied over bare hot metal (after flushing the barrel with boiling soapy water). This works like seasoning a cast iron skillet. After that, hot water with a bit of dish washing soap is all that's required for cleaning. Hoppe's #9 (or any petroleum based solvent) will remove the lube, requiring a re-application, so if you use the TC product, avoid Hoppe's.

The Wonderlube works as a preservative and allows you to shoot several shots without cleaning. Running a wet patch (soaked with something like moose milk) every few shots will help keep the bore clean and will help make loading (i.e. fully seating the bullets) easy.

I keep a paper clip (or a thin wire twist-tie) in my possible's bag to clear the nipple of any fouling between shots. That ensures that the flame from your cap goes through to the chamber. I switched to a Hot Shot nipple early on and find that they work fine.
 
A-zone said:
I'd suggest getting a stainless steel ramrod for range use (no risk of breaking it) They generally have a large hardwood ball at the end, which facilitates seating your load).

Mark the rod with a felt pen so that you know how deep a normally seated load should be. That way, you'll know if your loads are fully seated.

I use TC's Wonderlube on my patches. Wonderlube is, as far as I know, a mixture of tallow and probably some beeswax (they say it's all "food grade" ingredients). This stuff is applied over bare hot metal (after flushing the barrel with boiling soapy water). This works like seasoning a cast iron skillet. After that, hot water with a bit of dish washing soap is all that's required for cleaning. Hoppe's #9 (or any petroleum based solvent) will remove the lube, requiring a re-application, so if you use the TC product, avoid Hoppe's.

The Wonderlube works as a preservative and allows you to shoot several shots without cleaning. Running a wet patch (soaked with something like moose milk) every few shots will help keep the bore clean and will help make loading (i.e. fully seating the bullets) easy.

I keep a paper clip (or a thin wire twist-tie) in my possible's bag to clear the nipple of any fouling between shots. That ensures that the flame from your cap goes through to the chamber. I switched to a Hot Shot nipple early on and find that they work fine.
Click to expand...

I've surprisingly never had a problem with a properly maintained Lyman or T/C nipple, though I now use the Treso nipples myself as they seem to clean easier.

"hoppes 9 plus" is a BP solvent/lube that is not petroleum based like Hoppes 9 rifle solvent. It should not remove bore seasoning products in your muzzle loader.

Butches black powder bore shine is also not an entirely bad product that Lyman endorses for use in their rifles. In fact, the Great Plains rifles now come free with a bottle of it, starting this year. I have some, but haven;t tried it yet myself.

Lastly, I would recommend a brass range rod over a stainless one. The stainless rod could damage your muzzle crown if you're not careful to use a bore guide, while the brass rod generally won't.
 
"hoppes 9 plus" is a BP solvent/lube that is not petroleum based like Hoppes 9 rifle solvent. It should not remove bore seasoning products in your muzzle loader.
Click to expand...

mea culpa. :redface: Back when dinosaurs walked the earth, Hoppe's #9 was just one thing. I hadn't noticed that they made BP stuff. Live and learn...
 
Perhaps I was getting Borebutter from the third cleaning patch obstructing the ignition, I'll keep that in mind- also snap some caps.. (Thanks 3Beavers/Claven2)
Just a nightmare jamming that .490 ball down the hole over a .15 ox-yoke patch!
Maybe there's crud in this shiney but used barrel that I can't see, I gently worked a quality new .50 bore brush down there last night but had a hellish time pulling it back out- had to use "The force" and everything I knew to remove it.

So tonight I'll give it the good news and also buy some .10thou patches just in case!

Cheers!
1Shot.
 
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