What barrel would you buy for a T/C?

Well I think the barrel is shot on my hundred buck Hawken. There is a rough spot near the breech that makes fully seating a roundball rather difficult, and I just dont feel comfortable with the situation.One lapse of attention and not seating the projectile fully and I could have a bulged barrel or somthing much much worse :shocked2: ! I have a green mountain barrel on my .54 Renegade caplock and I am very happy with it, but with all the negative press they have been getting around here I am not so sure. I you were to get a new barrel in .50 for your Hawken flinter, would you get a GM roundball barrel, or would you go ahead and order a T/C roundball barrel from Fox Ridge?

Thanks,
Scott.

That's kinda of a toss up for me. Probably the TC. What does the barrel look like with a drop in bore light? Maybe it's just a burr issue and something that can be corrected by yourself.

there is often some nearly new t/c hawken barrels on ebay, and of course at times on the classifieds here, too.

There is a barrelmaker in Gassaway WV named Ed Rayl. His phone number is (304) 364-8269. He recently rifled a smoothbore for one of the forum members for $65. Others on this forum have mentioned that he is very good at freshening old barrels. You might want to give him a call. He could possibly give you a better product at a considerabler savings over buying a new barrel.

Also, have you considered lapping the barrel with steel wool and JB Bore paste or valve lapping compound to get the rough spot out? Here are som instructions that I found on the net:

Barrel lapping:

If the need for barrel lapping exists use the following technique;

Remove the barrel from the stock.

Place the barrel in a padded vice to hold it securely.

Lube your bore with a good gun oil.

Wrap steel wool (or a lapping compound impregnated cleaning patch) around the cleaning jag in your ram rod.

Make sure that the ramrod handle ROTATES.

Be sure that the steel wool or patch fits the bore tightly.

Carefully run the steel wool or patch back and forth through the barrel a half dozen times or so. Remember that you are only trying to smooth the rough spots and/or sharp edges of the lands.

Do not over do.

Repeat this process as needed.

Thoroughly clean the bore when you are done.

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When seating a patched round ball, it stops almost 2 inches from being seated fully and then it takes considerable pressure to seat it fully. In fact it takes enough pressure to seat it that I have to use the palm saver that I carry but never use! When I drop my bore light I cant see anything down in the breech but the bore light may be obstructing the view of that area. Overall the barrel interior does not look all that bad considering the condition the gun was in when I found it. There is some moderate pitting about an inch to an inch and a half in from the muzzle.
As far as accuracy issues go, my rear sight is bottomed out and I still hit 6-8" above point of aim. It also strings shots horizontally, some of that however could be a flinching issue. I feel good an solid without the flinch on about 90% of my shots. I am getting 100% ignition and have only had a few hangfires when I forgot to clear the touch hole.

I may try to seat a ball and then pull it to see if the rough area in the breech deforms the ball. Patches that I have recoverd down range didnt seem to have any damage. Just a black ring where the ball sat.

Sorry for the rambling post,

Scott.

What are you shooting for powder and using for lube? Have you tried cleaning between shoots.
Is it possible your getting a crud ring and it's difficult to push past it?
It sounds very much like a crud ring.
I recently shot up some wanna be real black powder given to me and encountered the crud rings. This was Pyrodex rs and it sucked so bad I dumped it in my 55 gallon burning barrel and got one hell of a blaze. :grin: Try Real BP if your using one of the wannabe's.

I am shooting 65 grains of Goex 2f Black Powder and using Goex 4f for the prime. T/C pillow ticking patches and crisco for lube. Even with a clean barrel it takes some pusing to seat the ball the last inch or so.

Scott.

I would order a T/C barrel if I was going to buy another barrel for 2 reasons:

1. It's a quality product
2. Because of the service they have given their
customers over the years, kind of like
dancing with what you brought.

RDE

lakota said:

I am shooting 65 grains of Goex 2f Black Powder and using Goex 4f for the prime. T/C pillow ticking patches and crisco for lube. Even with a clean barrel it takes some pusing to seat the ball the last inch or so.

Scott.

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Is the crisco patch so wet that it is causing a crud ring. Try a different lube or a dryer patch. It sounds exactly like a crud ring problem to me. Swab between shots and see if that helps. Try rubbing alcohol on a patch between shots. Let me know how you make out.

Does the T/C Roundball barrel have the QLA system? If I order a barrel I want to get a roundball twist.


Scott.

No QLA on the TC 1:66" RB barrels...I have them in .45/.50/.54...tack drivers

Have you got into the barrel with a brush and solvent to be sure the tight spot isn't just some crud?

Back to the subject. Can't beat TCs warrantee, but if you'd like a 54 cal 15/16 barrel then GM is an option, look out for helicoils from GM.

Sound's like somebody left it loaded to long and it drawed damp, I have run across this. Some that are not to bad have shot then and smooth back up. Yours sounds like it might take more work. Try the tips here before you give up. I have cleaned up some with bore brushes and solvents. Dilly

What sort of solvent would you suggest? Would any regular BP solvent work or should I try something like Hoppes No. 9? My cleaning routine is to fill up a bucket with hot soapy water. I then scrub the bore with a brush wetted with the soapy water to break up the fouling. I then pump the water through the bore for a few minutes. Then I rinse the bore with hot water through a funnel down the muzzle. After that I finish it off by alternating patches wetted with T/C No 13 bore cleaner the a dry patch. I switch between wet and dry until the dry one comes out clean. I then lubricate the bore with Hoppes gun oil. I really hope the barrel can be salvaged. I put quite a bit of time in browning it!
Scott.

A friend thought his TC barrel was shot out - called TC and they said send it in. He did and they sent him a new barrel, free of charge - apparently covered under their warranty? Depends whether you want a replacement barrel or a RB barrel, or what you want to spend . . .