Virgin Thompson Center .54 Hawken

I walked into LGS in Regina Saskatchewan Canada looking for Williams FP sights for Marlin 444 and walked out with a brand new TC Hawken in 54 cal. Pre-QLA too.
Standard 1:48 twist.
As soon as I saw the price tag :sok2 I said “ya I’ll take it”.
I don’t even know if I want to shoot it its so new and pretty.
Ya maybe a minor scuff but thats it. Came with user manual too.
Still no Williams FP sight. Guess I’ll mount a scope instead.

Here she is;







Clean bore/muzzle and untouched ramrod

Clean nipple and hammer striker




Nice grain!


om/onuat.jpg[/IMG]

And lastly the signed TC staff inspection tag;

WOW! That's really sweet! I've been looking for one like that myself. Even a nice used one. They just are not available around here. Shoot it, clean it well and oil it correctly. You will have a good shooter there.

That is a good looking rifle.

A guy I shoot muzzle loader matches with has been after me to buy his used .54 caliber TC Hawken. I have been involved with muzzle loading less than one year and I already own three rifles, so I have been dragging my feet.

Wow! Congratulations my friend. I always love to hear of these kinds of finds that rarely come along?

I’m with ya! Don’t know if I’d wanna shoot her either!! lol

Very nice my friend. Thanks for sharing!

Respectfully, Cowboy

Nice score but, if ya ain’t gonna shoot it, a picture of it would be just as useful & take a lot less care & space.

That's my rifle, right there. Except I bought mine as a "put it together yourself" kit in the 1980's/early 1990's. Been trying to wear it out ever since. You DO know that if all you do is allow it to collect dust at your place, like the previous owner did, you're committing a crime against humanity, right? It was made to be a shooter, not a work of art hanging on a wall. Just sayin'...

That's a fine caliber for when more than deer are on the tag list. Being from Alberta, depending on where you are in the province, elk and moose hunting isn't too far away. My brother works at CFB Suffield and does a fair amount of elk hunting. Get yourself a mould and you're good to go.

I bought the Lyman #540619 conical/ball combo mould when I bought the rifle. I never developed any love for the round balls, which leaves me swimming against the stream with most folks here. But that 425 grain conical proved to be a heck of a shooter and has flattened out the elk and moose I used it on with authority. I probably could have sorted out the round ball, but the conical looked like a superior choice for elk and moose hunting so I focused on that.

I did remove the factory sight and installed the simple rear aperture sight T/C made to install on the tang. Didn't need it as much back in my 30's, I was mostly looking for best accuracy. But now that I'm in my 60's I really feel the love for any and all rear aperture sights versus buckhorns or other barrel mounted open sights. I have no idea how easy it is to find one of those for sale on fleaBay, or if something similar is out there. Or if you don't care of what it looks like, so you go to a suitable Williams or other rear aperture. But they really improve accuracy for most people.

Nice score; good on you.

Very nice wood on that one!

After putting together 2 kit rifles, and making the mistake of selling both of them, i bought a nice used .54 cal Thompson. Then, found a 50 cal as well i couldn't live without, lol. Started collecting lead, and molding my own bullets. Both round ball and conical. Have to admit, i like the 450 grn conn with the 54. To my surprise it groups very, very well. Was shooting at 85 yds and was able to actually cut other bullet holes. I was amazed, the guy who went with me was really amazed, lol. We were shooting off a bench and trying different loads, it worked great. I shot a nice buck with it last year. We came around a corner, i made the comment, ''this would be a great place to see a buck''

Sure enough, one standing broadside at 107 lazered yds. I stepped to the side of the road, cocked the rifle, took aim and just brushed the trigger, it went off, and knocked him about 4 ft sideways. My buddy about went crazy, ha,ha. He couldn't believe it. He told me, he thought i'd ''freeze'' and miss it. I told him, I've gone over this situation a thousand times in my mind. It all felt perfect and natural. Needles to say i was tickled to death to see the deer, let alone knock him down, and, have a witness to verify it happened the way it did, at the distance it did. Shoot the heck out of your new rifle, take care of it, and really enjoy the sport, you'll never be sorry.

With proper care and attention this beautiful rifle will last your life time and more. Congrats!

Those are the best pictures of a T/C Rifle I\ve seen.






To get started in the neighborhood of where you'll end up use about 80 grains of 2ƒƒ powder and a .535 ball and a patch cloth that requires a bit of force to run the ram rod home on the powder charge and you whole world will change for you.

Congratulations!

Dr5x

Jamie from Alberta said:

I walked into LGS in Regina Saskatchewan Canada looking for Williams FP sights for Marlin 444 and walked out with a brand new TC Hawken in 54 cal. Pre-QLA too.
Standard 1:48 twist.
As soon as I saw the price tag :sok2 I said “ya I’ll take it”.
I don’t even know if I want to shoot it its so new and pretty.
Ya maybe a minor scuff but thats it. Came with user manual too.
Still no Williams FP sight. Guess I’ll mount a scope instead.

Here she is;

Clean bore/muzzle and untouched ramrod

Clean nipple and hammer striker

Nice grain!

om/onuat.jpg[/IMG]

And lastly the signed TC staff inspection tag;

Click to expand...

Now that these are long out of production (and replacement parts are not available anymore from TC) i would NOT shoot it!. It may be worth double or triple + what a good used one is worth.

Thanks all for your replies.
So I did end up taking it out to the range. 80grs Goex 2F and a TC Maxi-Ball and I was punching out the center bullseye at 50yds.
Round ball was another story but I blame that on patch thickness. I was using my brothers Blackpowder stuff and he grabbed the wrong patches. There was little to no resistance seating the ball. She sure was nice to make smoke with.
She is now resting with her other TC Hawken mates until the next Range outing.


*Pic top to bottom;
1) TC Hawken (was 54) .58 Green Mountain barrel
2) Lyman GPR 54 kit slow twist
3) My new TC .54 Hawken
4) TC .50 Hawken kit
And leaning against the wall is my CVA .50 Kentucky rifle.

Yesterday I pinned the ramrod

ends and when it warms up I’ll cast some more pure lead TC Maxi-Ball.


Rickjlowe, I’m just north of Edmonton. I have a contact in Grande Cache that has elk problems so over Christmas I might take a trip up there

Thanks again all.

Very nice!! I found a brand new very old stock T/C Renegade this past summer, my daughter and I both killed a nice buck with it this year and man is it accurate!! I too was a bit hesitant in shooting it and "messing it up" but got over that as soon as I got home from buying it!!

I only paid $400 Cdn for it plus tax

When i saw the price I knew right off the bat that it would be coming home with me.

I've had a number of T/C muzzleloaders over the years, all of them 50 cal. except the Cherokee. I've told myself if I were to ever purchase another it will be a 54. Excellent find for you and hope you enjoy many years of use out of that rifle.

I have a TC Renegade .54 that I built from a kit. It will print 1” cloverleafs at 100 yards all day long.

I also have the TC Hawkin in 54 cal. I use 70 grains of FFF under a 530 ball with 18 ticking. Shoots in the bull at 100 yards consistently. Nice find.