Question about T/C Hawken stock ?

I have a newly acquired T/C Hawken stock and I just noticed that the tang is not properly fitted to the stock. When the tang is placed into the stock and the 2 screws are tightened the tang is "pushed away" from the rear of the barrel channel so that the rear of the octagon part of the tang is not in contact with the wood at the rear of the barrel channel. It appears that the two screw holes where the tang is screwed to the stock were drilled SLIGHTLY too far toward the muzzle which in turn forces the tang forward.The gap is only about the thickness of a credit card and is not noticable unless you're looking for it but that is not my main concern. What I am wondering is if this condition will increase my chances of a cracked stock in the future ? It seems to me that with the tang not being tight against the "meat" of the stock that this would put excess pressure on the two screws during recoil. Am I overthinking this ? Is it okay like it is or should I fix it ? The only 2 ways I can think of to fix it would be to dowel/re-drill the screw holes (which seems like an awful lot of trouble) or to make a thin shim of some sort to put between the tang and the rear of the barrel channel to fill the gap. What do ya'll think ? All help is greatly appreciated!!

I believe your concern is legitimate.
Filling the current holes and redrilling is not a big chore. That is what I would reccomend and do if it were me. In this ml game one needs to get used to doing for himself. A task like that is simply part of the game.

Not a problem...owned several T/C Hawkens and a few of them were like that.
It's simply a case of the tang mortise being made slightly larger than it needed to be.

The front of the tang assembly...which has the large block of steel with the square cutout in it for the hooked breech...slides down in front of the main stockwood of the tang area.

Recoil is directed back against the tang's block of steel, which is up against the main stockwood right there.

The tail of the tang has the screws basically to hold the tang in place on the stock to anchor the rear end of the barrel...the other anchor point is the wedge pin in the forearm.

I had one similarly "set up." I became aware of it because the head snapped off one of the forward tang screw and I went to diagnosing....

But I went t'other way in my solution. Seemed like too much trouble to reset the screws and all that. I just bedded it and was done with it. Note: To aid in that, I put a small dab of epoxy between barrel and tang to make it a single unit, then did my bedding. Once set I added a little heat and broke them apart. Perfect fit, and no further issues.

I think roundball misunderstood your explaination,

You said there is a gap the thickness of a credit card between the stock and the rear of the "tang's block of steel" as he mentioned,

That's a problem, if it's not addressed you could have the issue BB had and/or the rifle will be a real cheekslapper with extra kick.

Bedding or a perminate shim in that gap works as well as the re-drill method, but somehow you want that gap to be no existant and solid to the wood stock.

necchi said:

I think roundball misunderstood your explaination,

You said there is a gap the thickness of a credit card between the stock and the rear of the "tang's block of steel" as he mentioned,

That's a problem, if it's not addressed you could have the issue BB had and/or the rifle will be a real cheekslapper with extra kick.

Bedding or a perminate shim in that gap works as well as the re-drill method, but somehow you want that gap to be no existant and solid to the wood stock.

Click to expand...

You are correct Necchi,roundball must have misunderstood me because the scenario he described is what I DO NOT have. That being said,this stock is a warranty replacement from T/C which I waited about 2 mos. to get. In ya'lls opinion should I send it back to T/C again or cut my losses and fix it myself ?

My apologies...I obviously misread / misunderstood the description.

Something to consider...if you modify something and then let's say the stock splits...(as they are sometimes known to do)...even though it might have nothing to do with your fix T/C might no longer honor a free warranty replacement stock assembly.
If it was me, I'd send it to T/C to correct under warranty.

As I see it you have couple options: (1) send it back to TC for repair. (2) glass bed the whole area.

Super glue the tang to the barrel, then glassbed the tang and a few inches into the barrel bed. I would be more concerned with accuracy problems than cracking the stock.

Ditto, I'd fix it myself and not worry about a split stock.
Unless;
I was comfortable waiting another few months for a repair/replacement from T/C.

In other words if it was my only gun I'd fix it, if it was just another in the locker I'd send it back.

Kind of a sad statement too the current situation of T/C under new Mgmnt,,

I am going to agree with Rifleman1776, lord what is happening to me? :shocked2:
If it were mine and I woke up in the morning with this situation at hand, I would plug the holes and re-drill it correctly. Get some hardwood dowels and some super glue and fill the holes tightly.
When you re-drill you can use a VIX bit and get them perfectly centered every time. :thumbsup:
Make sure the hooked breech end (front of the tang) is firmly against the stock. It may be what caused the tang to be screwed in place too far forward. :hmm:

Thanks for the validation on my idea. This is not a big deal as I see it. I would fix and forget. Not even big enough deal to post and talk about, really. 'stuff happens' in the ml game. Learn to adapt and move on. Pretend yer in the woods alone. Injuns and grizzle bars are coming at you . A fix must be done or ye die. Ye will git real resourceful real quick. :wink:

ebiggs said:

I am going to agree with Rifleman1776, lord what is happening to me? :shocked2:
If it were mine and I woke up in the morning with this situation at hand, I would plug the holes and re-drill it correctly. Get some hardwood dowels and some super glue and fill the holes tightly.
When you re-drill you can use a VIX bit and get them perfectly centered every time. :thumbsup:
Make sure the hooked breech end (front of the tang) is firmly against the stock. It may be what caused the tang to be screwed in place too far forward. :hmm:

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I've done that before to repair a boogered up used stock I'd bought off Ebay...the issue isn't the difficulty of the fix to me...the issue is this guy has a brand new T/C stock...and you know the chronic 'crack" problem that exists on Hawken stocks through the bolt hole.
If he monkey's around with this stock, THEN happens to have a crack problem 6 months from now, T/C will say sorry.
New T/C stocks are easily $250-$300...I guess money is more of an issue to me and I wouldn't roll the dice when it could simply be sent to TC to get it done for free, AND preserve the warranty.

Others mileage may vary...

Remember, the TC has a barrel wedge. The underlug will also move backward and the wedge may be out of alignment with the underlug, as well as the underrib at the nose cap.
Mark

Papa said:

Remember, the TC has a barrel wedge. The underlug will also move backward and the wedge may be out of alignment with the underlug, as well as the underrib at the nose cap.
Mark

Click to expand...

Good point. A small file will elongate the lug hole and/or the key can be narrowed. Again, not a big deal.

Glassbed. With bedding the stock won't crack and whatever accuracy it has will be insured.

Not a big deal. Drill them out bigger and glue in some hardwood plugs. Plugs, not dowels. That is because of the direction on the grain.

I've had to do that on 3 of my rifles. Easy to accomplish. Just be EXTRA sure to drill the new holes properly. You don't want to have to do it again.

Good luck.

HD

If he monkey's around with this stock, THEN happens to have a crack problem 6 months from now, T/C will say sorry.
New T/C stocks are easily $250-$300...I guess money is more of an issue to me and I wouldn't roll the dice when it could simply be sent to TC to get it done for free, AND preserve the warranty.

Click to expand...

As any one that has read many of my posts on this subject, I to recommend going to TC first.
But he sounded like maybe he was played out with their service. And of coarse the best avenue is to always make sure TC is done with warranty work before you modify anything. :thumbsup:

Also it didn't sound like he would be moving the barrel far enough to make the wedge not fit. But if so, it isn't difficult to correct that either.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions guys!! Sorry I have not been here the last couple of days,I don't have internet at home,just here at work so I can't be here on the weekends.Taking all the feedback here into consideration I think I am going to call T/C back and return the stock to them again for repair. This is not my only rifle so it's not a big deal if I am without it for a while. Ya'll raised a good point about me tinkering with it and voiding my warrranty so I'll let you know what T/C does. In the past T/C has always been a great company to deal with but I'm not sure what to expect now that S&W bought them out. When I originally sent the first stock back because of a chip behind the tang after the first range session,I waited approx. 2 weeks after shipping it to them and I gave them a call just to check on the status of the repair. After holding on the phone for at least half an hour,A lady answered and told me there was no record of me having returned the stock. She gave me the number for a lady in recieving who did a little research and she found that my stock was sent to the wrong dept. within the company but she assured me that it would be taken care of. Long story short I finally got a new stock back and now this. If I had known this I probably would have just kept the original stock.Oh well,thanks again for all the help and I'll let ya'll know what T/C says.