Just picked up a .54 caliber TC Hawken...

[willtill]

Congrats! Nice gun. If you don't shoot the rest of the rust out, I've found a little Kroil with some steel sponge wrapped around a bore brush works for me. Have a great shoot tomorrow.

 

[Grampa G]

I have a TCH lefthand 54. great rifle

 

[smdub]

There is no practical way to quiet the movement from half cock to full cock. That sear is snapping down on the tumbler and the routed out part of the stock where the action is helps to amplify the noise.

Can one pull the trigger while cocking it?

 

[John from MD]

Can one pull the trigger while cocking it?

That is not a good idea when it is primed. If you slip, it will discharge.

 

[smdub]

That is not a good idea when it is primed. If you slip, it will discharge.

No cifferent than decocking a gun with your thumb on the hammer. Keep it pointed in a safe direction and pay extra attention. I'll assume the deer won't report your ND if you miss

 

[Doco Overboard]

Yeah, this why you have a thumb. And, the hammer has a place for it.
I suspect, Colt SA revolvers operate in a similar manner.
May discharge would be a better term.
A hammer/frizzen cover is a useful implement.

 

[IronEye]

Jeremiah Johnson Approves

Isn't that Hatchet Jack's rifle?

 

[John from MD]

No cifferent than decocking a gun with your thumb on the hammer. Keep it pointed in a safe direction and pay extra attention. I'll assume the deer won't report your ND if you miss

Hunters aren't known for paying extra attention to much except getting their prey. That's kind of why there are so many hunting accidents.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Hunters aren't known for paying extra attention to much except getting their prey. That's kind of why there are so many hunting accidents.

Sounds like Fudd lore with no basis in fact for decocking a muzzle loading rifle.

 

[willtill]

When shooting my Lyman Great Plains rifle standing up, which has a similar stock shape, I stand with my feet basically shoulder width apart and inline with each other. Chicken wing that arm straight out and maybe even up some.

Place the curved buttstock on the shoulder joint on the bicept side or even further so the points curve around your upper arm. No pain. Adjust your feet position to get a good cheek weld.

Now shooting sitting from a rest, I usually place a towel between me and the butt plate if I’m gonna shoot more that a couple shots.

ETA: maybe I have skinny shoulders/arms…

I will try that chicken wing arm procedure later this morning.

 

[Vic]

I second Docos statement about scalding hot water. Pull the barrel, stick the breach in hot soapy water and pump the water in and out of the nipple port using the ramrod absinthe pump. Clean it really well and never use petroleum lubes again. If you just use bore butter it wont foul to bad. I can shoot mine almost indefinitely without cleaning. I use T7 too because it cleans easily with water based cleaners. Bore butter is good stuff. I learned all this from a TC tech.
I have a 45 and 50 mzl. Wish I had a 54. Man that is a thumper.
Have fun.
V

 

[willtill]

Well, so far so good. This is my initial three shots out of it @ 25 yards. Using 40gr Triple 7 and .530 lead balls with .015 prelubed patches.

My little setup out here at the AGC

I did look at some of the fired patches shortly after shooting the first several balls. A little shredded

Once you set the trigger on this sucker; if even so much about thinking of pulling the trigger…. It fires.

I have experienced several misfires with the No 11 CCI percussion caps; I do have some Remington No 10’s with me though and they haven’t had any issues. Yet.

I’m going to hang out here and eventually try the “chicken wing” technique. Guess that’s Gangsta style for the old days. Ha!

 

[John from MD]

You may have a peened nipple or the wrong nipple as number 11's is the correct cap for it.
You can smooth out some of the pitting by using a shotgun bore brush wrapped with bronze pads from West Marine. A bore brush alone won't do much.

Bronze Wool Pads | West Marine

Check out our Bronze Wool Pads and more from West Marine!

www.westmarine.com

 

[AlBeight]

When shooting my Lyman Great Plains rifle standing up, which has a similar stock shape, I stand with my feet basically shoulder width apart and inline with each other. Chicken wing that arm straight out and maybe even up some.

Place the curved buttstock on the shoulder joint on the bicept side or even further so the points curve around your upper arm. No pain. Adjust your feet position to get a good cheek weld.

Now shooting sitting from a rest, I usually place a towel between me and the butt plate if I’m gonna shoot more that a couple shots.

ETA: maybe I have skinny shoulders/arms…

I’d NEVER recommend chicken-winging while shooting any stocked firearm, ever. You’re opening the shoulder joint to that impact, and immediate or long-term injury. Not to mention you’re not as stable muscularly with that arm lifted up like that, the more stable position is with the arm down, letting the meat of the pectorals and shoulders form a nice soft pad to protect that joint and provide a solid, relaxed shooting platform. Just my $0.02.

 

[willtill]

You may have a peened nipple or the wrong nipple as number 11's is the correct cap for it.
You can smooth out some of the pitting by using a shotgun bore brush wrapped with bronze pads from West Marine. A bore brush alone won't do much.

Bronze Wool Pads | West Marine

Check out our Bronze Wool Pads and more from West Marine!

www.westmarine.com

It’s a new nipple. It will fit a No 11 loosely, but the No 10 fits snug. When I meant misfire, the CCI caps were going off, but the fire was not getting to the powder charge in the chamber. I pulled the nipple after waiting a minute and the fire hole was clear. Normally CCI‘s run pretty hot.. could be that the looseness on the nipple is preventing the bulk of the flame from being concentrated into the nipple. I dunno…

 

[willtill]

In closing for today, here is my target at 50 yards (I took the pic after pulling it from the range and while packing up my truck).

But here’s the interesting thing going on at 100 yards. Holding dead on at the target, all of my rounds were going a foot to the left into the berm. I had no idea where the hell they were going until an RSO helped me spot them (hard to see what’s going on through all of that smoke anyway). The below pic is hard to see, but if you look to the left of the target you will see the darkened soil where they were impacting. It’s very strange how the round balls start curving to the left from 50 to 100 yards…

Anyhow, it will be fun in the near future to try to remedy that with the various loads. I really enjoy shooting this smoke pole. Will be cleaning it a bit later tonight. I’ll wager the bore is going to look a bit better too…

 

[willtill]

I’d NEVER recommend chicken-winging while shooting any stocked firearm, ever. You’re opening the shoulder joint to that impact, and immediate or long-term injury. Not to mention you’re not as stable muscularly with that arm lifted up like that, the more stable position is with the arm down, letting the meat of the pectorals and shoulders form a nice soft pad to protect that joint and provide a solid, relaxed shooting platform. Just my $0.02.

Did not chicken wing today. I think I’d rather have a shooting stick though, if firing long range … this barrel is a bit heavy to hold a bead long on a distant target.

 

[Doco Overboard]

That little black dot where the ball was seated is what your looking for. No burn through or complete tear.
The tattered outside edges are no concern.
The misfires could partly be due to the cap being not seated entirely or a little crud left down in the bolster/snail from prior cleaning and storage. The nipple or tube will break in if its new and get hammerd down a little bit the more you shoot it and become more reliable. make sure its tight, but not gorilla tight.
What you want to look for on them, is the hole at the underside becoming burned and ragged over time. Thats what destroys accuracy.
Boiling hot water a couple of quarts and a good squirt of dawn liquid dish detergent for cleaning afterwards.
Once you patch out the too hot to touch barrel, squirt liberally some wd 40 and push it out the snail/tube with a cloth patch. Follow with motor oil. Use air if you want to blow the remaining water out from under the sights dovetails etc with the wd 40 that got into it.
Use toothbrush and picks/ scrapers to clean the hammer inside and lock plate with hoppes, Kroil gunzilla whatever you prefer. Oil.
That lock plate will accumulate powder fouling with a bunch of shooting so its a good Idea to pull it off and inspect for rust if your not going to shoot for a while.
Set the hammer down on an oily patch wadded atop the nipple if you store it vertically.
Pull the barrel and wash it out with that cheap brake cleaner and some dry patches when prepping for shooting. Snap a patch covered cleaning jag bottomed in the bore and then with it slightly raised a 1/4 inch to ensure trouble free ignition. Twice, three times maybe if your hunting or have weak caps. By doing so it will lay carbon in the breech plug snail etc and dissipate the oil/break cleaner.
Do not, ever stick a shotgun bronzed tight patched brush down the bore. Its an unnecessary risk that does not need to occur and theirs no need to do so.
Shooting the rifle and cleaning like I described above is all you need to do.
Owning and shooting a traditional style black powder rifle is not for I dont need to clean my gun crowd for sure. I have buckets of junk from those types.
Increaqase your powder charge to keep the ball straight or stop looking to see how tiny your group is!

 

[willtill]

That little black dot where the ball was seated is what your looking for. No burn through or complete tear.
The tattered outside edges are no concern.
The misfires could partly be due to the cap being not seated entirely or a little crud left down in the bolster/snail from prior cleaning and storage. The nipple or tube will break in if its new and get hammerd down a little bit the more you shoot it and become more reliable. make sure its tight, but not gorilla tight.
What you want to look for on them, is the hole at the underside becoming burned and ragged over time. Thats what destroys accuracy.
Boiling hot water a couple of quarts and a good squirt of dawn liquid dish detergent for cleaning afterwards.
Once you patch out the too hot to touch barrel, squirt liberally some wd 40 and push it out the snail/tube with a cloth patch. Follow with motor oil. Use air if you want to blow the remaining water out from under the sights dovetails etc with the wd 40 that got into it.
Use toothbrush and picks/ scrapers to clean the hammer inside and lock plate with hoppes, Kroil gunzilla whatever you prefer. Oil.
That lock plate will accumulate powder fouling with a bunch of shooting so its a good Idea to pull it off and inspect for rust if your not going to shoot for a while.
Set the hammer down on an oily patch wadded atop the nipple if you store it vertically.
Pull the barrel and wash it out with that cheap brake cleaner and some dry patches when prepping for shooting. Snap a patch covered cleaning jag bottomed in the bore and then with it slightly raised a 1/4 inch to ensure trouble free ignition. Twice, three times maybe if your hunting or have weak caps. By doing so it will lay carbon in the breech plug snail etc and dissipate the oil/break cleaner.
Do not, ever stick a shotgun bronzed tight patched brush down the bore. Its an unnecessary risk that does not need to occur and theirs no need to do so.
Shooting the rifle and cleaning like I described above is all you need to do.
Owning and shooting a traditionl style black owder rifle is not for I dont need to clean my gun crowd for sure. I have buckets of junk from those types.

Good stuff. Thank you.

 

[John from MD]

In closing for today, here is my target at 50 yards (I took the pic after pulling it from the range and while packing up my truck).

View attachment 430375

But here’s the interesting thing going on at 100 yards. Holding dead on at the target, all of my rounds were going a foot to the left into the berm. I had no idea where the hell they were going until an RSO helped me spot them (hard to see what’s going on through all of that smoke anyway). The below pic is hard to see, but if you look to the left of the target you will see the darkened soil where they were impacting. It’s very strange how the round balls start curving to the left from 50 to 100 yards…

View attachment 430376

Anyhow, it will be fun in the near future to try to remedy that with the various loads. I really enjoy shooting this smoke pole. Will be cleaning it a bit later tonight. I’ll wager the bore is going to look a bit better too…

How much powder were you using? At 100 yards, you would have to increase the amount of powder to keep the ball velocity up. My 100 yard loads were 80 grains of 2F.