Educate me: T/C Hawken, 13/16th 50 cal barrel 1:48 (1:50 measured) twist

This gun I built from a kit gifted to me by my first wife as a wedding gift in 1978. Kept the gun, lost the wife.

I haven't shot it in years as it is heavy. I am surprised how well it turned out even to this day. I have killed hogs and deer with it using a PRB back in the 70's and 80's and haven't shot it since. I have kept it cleaned and oiled with no corrosion, inside or out. Never got around to polishing the patchbox or nose cap. Might just do that soon.

I got to thinking about it's specs so I pulled it from the safe. 13/16" across the flats, 28" long and a measured 1:48 twist (1:50 measured) Six digit serial..112414 .

Does that sound right to folks as that is atypical nowadays?

Sounds like a standard TC. Nice that you took care of it all these years.

The barrel should be 15/16" across the flats.

Phil Coffins said:

Sounds like a standard TC. Nice that you took care of it all these years.

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Thanks. it was an "In the white", rough cast kit that took some work. I have a picture of the first kill...a whistle pig in Wyoming, where I was working on a sheep ranch as a sheep foreman. If I can dig the photo up I will post it, just for the hoot of it.

A 13/16" .50 would be feather light. As Gemmer said, 15/16" was the standard size of the T/C Hawkens.

chorizo said:

13/16" across the flats

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You may want to recheck your measurement. You can check the width of the barrel channel in the stock if you want, but as long as you are not swapping barrels, doesn’t really matter. Looks like a nice gun.

gemmer said:

The barrel should be 15/16" across the flats.

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Yes, it is. You are correct. I just checked again.

Thanks to all. I got my mind around it now.......should have waited until I had more coffee! If I can ever find some more #11 caps and some real BP, I just might take her out for a deer hunt next year.

chorizo said:

Six digit serial..112414 . Does that sound right to folks as that is atypical nowadays?

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If this was a kit, there will be the letter "k" before the serial number. It may be lightly stamped but it is there. I built a T/C Hawken kit rifle, and the letter is difficult to see.

ord sgt said:

If this was a kit, there will be the letter "k" before the serial number. It may be lightly stamped but it is there. I built a T/C Hawken kit rifle, and the letter is difficult to see.

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NOPE. No K, lightly stamped or otherwise, and my memory doesn't fail me that I personally built this from a kit.

That is strange. Mine kit has the 'K' and yours does not. T/C factory made rifles had a warranty on them. The letter "k" was stamped into the kit barrels so the kits couldn't be serviced like the factory made rifles. It doesn't make any difference now, since T/C went under. No more warranty work on anything.

IMO, if you built it from a kit, AND there's no "K" SN prefix, maybe it wasn't a kit from T/C.

Do you remember where you got it ?

W/O a "K" SN prefix, it might have been a regular production Hawken that was disassembled & boxed, then sold.

My Dad got me started in this. He built a Kentucky squirrel rifle in 32 cal, poorly done and quite the visual mess. But he built two more over the years each one improving as he had more time on his hands after he sold the sheep business, the last one a very nice and stunning rifle. My other two brothers took one each of those when my Dad passed a couple of years ago (they were unfired). I opted for the first one, that had been fired and used (but poorly cleaned also). I have rehabbed the bore over the years continually cleaning it and pulling out more rust. I may shoot it again, just because.

He got me started and when I was in school metal and wood shop, I took a cut off piece of that first gun's barrel, had it breech plugged, crowned, got a lock from Dixie and made a stock in woodshop and made my first muzzleloader...a pistol. I have fired it, but it went through an earthquake in 1983, fell from the mantel at my folks home and when they dug it out of the rubble of the fireplace, it had separated the barrel from the stock and they lost the ramrod. I am keeping that "As Is" as it has history. Made a kit derringer and this Hawken subsequently.

Pietro said:

IMO, if you built it from a kit, AND there's no "K" SN prefix, maybe it wasn't a kit from T/C.

Do you remember where you got it ?

W/O a "K" SN prefix, it might have been a regular production Hawken that was disassembled & boxed, then sold.

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Oh, it was a kit from T/C, no doubt about it. Until recently I had the box it came in, but it got trashed in the last move 4 years ago. I have a picture of the kit somewhere along with the ex-wife presenting it to me.

And it wasn't a taken apart production, I BUILT the damn thing. finish inletting, stock finish, fitting/finishing of the furniture and browning the barrel.

I started this thread because I was confused over barrel flat diameter and twist, not because of where I got it, how it was built and its provenance. The first sentence in the original post says it clearly.

Pietro said:

IMO, if you built it from a kit, AND there's no "K" SN prefix, maybe it wasn't a kit from T/C.

Do you remember where you got it ?

W/O a "K" SN prefix, it might have been a regular production Hawken that was disassembled & boxed, then sold.

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It is clearly stamped Thompson/Center on the barrel.

Fascinating that there is not a “k” serial number. I’m not doubting you at all but am curious about how you ended up with a kit gun with a regular barrel. Factory mix up? I have a four digit kit gun I built in the mid 70s with the k and another later production one built by someone else that also has the k. Now you need to get out and shoot it again.

ord sgt said:

If this was a kit, there will be the letter "k" before the serial number. It may be lightly stamped but it is there. I built a T/C Hawken kit rifle, and the letter is difficult to see.

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ord sgt said:

That is strange. Mine kit has the 'K' and yours does not. T/C factory made rifles had a warranty on them. The letter "k" was stamped into the kit barrels so the kits couldn't be serviced like the factory made rifles. It doesn't make any difference now, since T/C went under. No more warranty work on anything.

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Kansas Jake said:

Fascinating that there is not a “k” serial number. I’m not doubting you at all but am curious about how you ended up with a kit gun with a regular barrel. Factory mix up? I have a four digit kit gun I built in the mid 70s with the k and another later production one built by someone else that also has the k. Now you need to get out and shoot it again.

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Exceptions to every ‘rule’. Remember putting together some TC kits with an uncle and a buddy of ours (we bought them all at the same time), and I know the barrels that were in the white and did NOT have a K stamped in front of their four digit serial numbers. Mine was a 54 caliber and had a K stamped into the barrel channel of the stock, while I don’t believe the other’s stocks did. The only reason I remember this is later on we learned that TC was putting the K in front the kit gun’s serial number and thought it odd it was missing on our guns. No K on the barrel, the box the kit came in or receipt from the gun store.

Honestly see little importance to a K or no K on guns made 40 or 50 years ago by a company no longer making them that lost their records in a factory fire. These were and are guns intended to be shot, not collector pieces. The only thing that matters is the current condition. A carelessly put together TC and/or one that was neglected and abused will be worth less.

I had to look at my T/C kit rifle again. I bought it in 1983. Both the barrel and the stock are marked "K". A friend has a T/C Renegade factory-built rifle. While under warranty, he had the barrel replaced after the nipple blew out of the breech and had the stock replaced after the wood cracked through the lock area. Kit rifles did not have a warranty.
As I said earlier, it doesn't make any difference now since T/C went under. Noone has a warranty now.

I also understood that the K stamp on the T/C rifle meant that it was not covered by the T/C warranty. As @ord sgt states, there is no warranty now, so the K only indicates that the rifle is a kit.
When looking at a T/C rifle take a longer look at a K stamped rifle. Many will be better built than the factory rifle. I like to think my K T/C is a better rifle than the factory rifles. When I get critical, I have to see all the mistakes I made on a first build.