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Barrel swap?

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pepperbelly

45 Cal.
Joined
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I have thought about changing the barrel on the TC Hawken I found. I remember from a few years ago about the debate about the barrels with a 1 in 48" twist rate. While they will shoot rb, they don't do it as well as a rb barrel with a 1 in 70" rate will.
If I get a Green Mountain barrel for round ball I might as well change from .50 caliber too.
Is the .54 caliber that much of an improvement over the .50? How about a .58 caliber?
If I do any hunting with this rifle it will be on Texas sized deer, and they don't take much to kill. This rifle will be used mostly for fun at the range and plinking. I am guessing the .58 would be a lot more than I need, but what about the .54? Are the balls and aother stuff more expensive or harder to find than .50? Is the .58 harder to find stuff for?
Is there a barrel length that works for rb better than another? Do Green Mountain barrels come in different lengths?

Thanks,
Jim
 
IMHO if your willing to develop a load, you can get very good accuracy with a 1:48" twist. If you want to conserve on money stay with the .50 cal RB if the largest thing you going to shoot is deer. The others are fun but your going to be spending a little more for the RB's and possibly powder. It really is a personal choice.

Oh and I like my barrels to be a min. of 30" or more. :thumbsup:
 
The .50 cal Thompson Center Hawken barrels are 15/16 inch octagons while the .54s are 1 inch octagons.

I haven't looked so perhaps someone is making a 15/16 inch .54 caliber barrel but if they are not, you will probably have to stick with the .50 caliber.
 
Would a Green Mountain .50 with a 1 in 70" twist for rb be a big improvement over the stock TC barrel?

edited to add: TOTW lists a: "barrel, .54 caliber, 15/16" octagon, 32", 1-70" twist, 5.22 lb, blued, percussion for T/C".


Jim
 
I have tested both barrel side by side and see no difference in a GM or a T/C when shooting R.B> True I have older t/c barrel from the 70's and for sure they are not made by t/c either Douglas or Sharon hear report the barrel s from t/c which have there model on them yes they are t/c made and yes they don/t shoot RB with heavy charges of BP.
I sold a early barrel to a member here a few weeks back renegade 50 cal. 4 digit serial number The gentleman said the barrel will drive tacks with patched RB'S.
my 50 cal flinter shoots 90 to 100 grains of 3F goex
My renegade 54 likes 95 grains of 3F goex.
 
The T/C barrel will give perfectly adequate hunting accuracy shooting prb with the 1:48 twist. You probably won't win at Friendship with it, is all.

Having said that, the Green Mountain barrels are excellent (I currently own two).

A couple of things to think about - .54 will give you a bit more oomph but, like you said, you will be hunting average or smaller sized deer. .50 is fine.

If you ever plan to hunt those mule deer you have in your state, think hard about that .54, but if you're mostly plinking and hunting whitetails, save yer money. Given the situation you describe I wouldn't even consider the .58.

Good luck with it, whatever you decide.

Spot
 
If you're going to buy another barrel for the same stock as the .50cal and want a .54cal, then you'll have to go with the GM 15/16" .54cal barrel.

If you're just thinking about getting a .50cal round ball barrel you can get TC's 15/16" x 1:66" x 32" round ball barrel...TC's Fox Ridge store at 800-243-4570.

But you've already got a .50cal, and I know from experience that 1:48" twists shoot full power deer hunting loads just fine, so I'd recommend getting the .54cal.
 
lonewolf5347 said:
I was wonderig if GM makes a 15/16 in 54 in a flinter barrel?
percussion yes but flint?
Click to expand...
They actually had a special run of .54cal 15/16" drop-in Flint smoothbores made which I bought...and to get any of their caplock barrels in Flint, they'll swap plugs for you.

Example - they don't ordinarily make a .58cal 1" x 33" x 1:70" RB drop-in Flint barrel but I had them put one together for me...outstanding barrel.
 
How much are the TC rb barrels? If they are about the same as a Green Mountain barrel I might go with the GM.
I do not plan on changing the stock- yet. I do like the look of a maple stock though and may buy one later. If I buy the .54 barrel would it be better to wait until I get the stock too and buy both for 1" flats instead of the 15/16"?

Jim
 
green mountain has them heres the page you can get them on line,its the 2d from the bottom you wont.$223.95 15/16 1x70 twist 32" long
bernie :thumbsup: [url] http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/catalog.aspx?catid=1516-InterchangeableBarrels[/url]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
LW, that is the price I saw too. I think the price at GM is their msrp, and if they sell to the public they can't sell for less than that amount or their vendors would stop carrying their products.

Jim
 
pepperbelly said:
I have thought about changing the barrel on the TC Hawken I found. I remember from a few years ago about the debate about the barrels with a 1 in 48" twist rate. While they will shoot rb, they don't do it as well as a rb barrel with a 1 in 70" rate will.
If I get a Green Mountain barrel for round ball I might as well change from .50 caliber too.
Is the .54 caliber that much of an improvement over the .50? How about a .58 caliber?
If I do any hunting with this rifle it will be on Texas sized deer, and they don't take much to kill. This rifle will be used mostly for fun at the range and plinking. I am guessing the .58 would be a lot more than I need, but what about the .54? Are the balls and aother stuff more expensive or harder to find than .50? Is the .58 harder to find stuff for?
Is there a barrel length that works for rb better than another? Do Green Mountain barrels come in different lengths?

Thanks,
Jim
Click to expand...


A .58, 32", roundball twist at Midwayusa
 
I'm not in a hurry. I want to wring this one out first to see if I even need to replace the barrel. If this one is fine I won't change it just for the sake of change. The stock barrel might be OK. I'll know later.

Jim
 

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