TC Hawken twist?

I just got back into muzzle loaders after a hiatus of several years. This seems to be a good place for info.
I built my Thomson Center Hawken from a kit in the late '70's. I've been trying PRB's, and jacketed bullets with sabots to see what will give the best accuracy.
My research revealed that these barrels had a 1:48 twist as a compromise between round ball and conical bullet stability. When I checked my rifling it appears to be 1:36!
Does anybody know if early barrels were different than 1:48. The serial number on the barrel is K107766.

Never seen a TC Hawken that didn't have a 1:48 twist....

My T/C Hawken kit from the late 1970's has a barrel with the 1 in 48" twist.

Much later there were T/C barrels from its custom shop, Fox Ridge, that had deep grooved round ball 1 in 66" twist.

I don't know about Hawken but they did make a 1=38 twist on some other guns.

Jacketed bullets and sabots are a no no on this site, go to our sister site modern muzzleloaders to discuss them.

Unless it is from the Fox Ridge custom shop all TC Hawkens no matter the caliber are 1 in 48 twist. White Mountain Carbines and some of the inlines had faster twist from 1 in 28 to 1 in 38.

What is the length of the barrel? And how about a photograph of the barrel and a closeup of what is stamped on the barrel?

I've never heard of the TC Hawken barrels having anything other than 1:48 either, that's why I posted the question. Measuring the twist doesn't seem like rocket science but I have made mistakes in the past. Last year I actually made two!
I inserted the ramrod with a tight patch just into the barrel by about 2 inches and marked the rod. then pushed it further in until it rotated 180 degrees and marked the rod again. The two marks were 18 inches apart.
I'll take some photos to post.

It has a 28 inch barrel.

28” barrel. Earlier barrel as it doesn’t have Hawken stamped on it. Assuming it still 50 caliber, but don’t believe you told us the caliber. You sound confident in your measurement method. But it just doesn’t add up to the known factory Hawken barrel twist rates. Would expect one half of a revolution (180°) in 24”. Could you possibly check again to confirm? Maybe mark two points 24” apart on your ramrod and connect with a straight line before checking?

I checked again with a different ramrod, jag and a tighter patch, but had the same result. 180 degrees in 18 inches.
What did you mean by "connect with a straight line"?

Old drafting table thing. Mark a straight line connecting l each mark. Maybe cover the ramrod with piece of masking tape. Put the ramrod on a flat surface, like a table. Run a Sharpie or similar market pen straight down the length of the ramrod. That line will be your reference to observe the rotation as you push the patch covered jag through the bore.

Understood. My process was similar. I taped a 4 inch length of stiff wire across the end of the ramrod. With the barrel and rod horizontal on the table the wire was vertical when making the first mark. Pushed the ramrod in observing the wire rotate around to vertical again to get the 180 degrees in 18 inches of ramrod travel.
We may never know how this came to be but with the fast twist rate what type of projectile would be best suited? I plan to spend a day at the range with PRB's and some Maxi- balls but I suspect round balls won't work with heavy charges.

In a TC Hawken 50 one should get pretty good accuracy with a .490 ball, thick patch(.015-.20) and 70-80 grains of black. You might try it and see what happens. My old TC seems to shoot well with around 50 grains for targets at 50yards or less and I've used 80 for hunting and longer ranges. I usually us 2f, but many here like 3f.

Just a possibility to mention.
On a rebore, the rifling in a TC .50 will clean up with very little metal removal.
I shoot one that was rebored to .52 with 28" twist.
Perhaps the barrel on the TC in question has been touched up.

I recently was given a TC Hawken Kit rifle that someone had built many years ago and it has a 1:48 twist rate. I’m not sure about the dates of manufacturing by the serial number but mine starts with K27xxxx.

I've had this rifle (40 years) since new. It hasn't been touched up.
There may actually be others like it out there with a 1:36 twist. I measured the twist rate out of curiosity and realized it was a bit of an oddball but most people probably just shoot them without knowing the rifling details.

I bought a 50 caliber TC Hawken Kit in 1977 Serail K432XX. Has 1 in 48 twist.
Ron

know_fear said:

I just got back into muzzle loaders after a hiatus of several years. This seems to be a good place for info.
I built my Thomson Center Hawken from a kit in the late '70's. I've been trying PRB's, and jacketed bullets with sabots to see what will give the best accuracy.
My research revealed that these barrels had a 1:48 twist as a compromise between round ball and conical bullet stability. When I checked my rifling it appears to be 1:36!
Does anybody know if early barrels were different than 1:48. The serial number on the barrel is K107766.

Click to expand...

Per your OP, what projectile gave you the best accuracy?

As far as the barrel’s twist rate, see two possible scenarios. You have a unique TC barrel with a fast twist, or you somehow incorrectly measured the twist (no offense intended). At the end day, doesn’t matter what actual twist rate is. How does it shoot?

I hope to get some range time in next week. I have some maxi-balls (360 gr. i think) to try out and I'll try some PRB's at lower charges.
I'll post back with observations.
Thanks for all the replies gents.