Green Mountain .58 barrel for TC Hawken

[Jamie from Alberta]

Hey,
I just bought a drop-in a.58 cal G.M. barrel that is 1:70 twist, 32" long, 1" accross the flats to replace my .54 cal barrel.
Anyone have the same set-up? Anyone have a hunting story they can share?
I look forward to reading what you have to say,
Thanks

 

[necchi]

Did you get it to fit?

 

[rushlake1]

90 grs. ff goex...1/8" op card..24 thou. cotton duct patch..Hoppe's lube...570 rb.. zeroed at 85 yards
2" high at 50 yards...

homemade peep sight mounted on the barrel tang.
I use the full 32" sight plain.

Mounted on a modified t/c Renegade.
Had the pure-suction breach plug changed to flint.
Moderate recoil good groups...

Had a big "box car" doe and 2 yearlings at less than ten yards this evening..
They came in behind me..
This never occurred to me ..

BUSTED BIG TIME..

Been hunting this doe since I missed her with my bow 3 weeks ago..
Hunting 99 % boredom 1% panic.

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Did you get it to fit?

Necchi, I just bought it lastnight and it will be mailed tommorow. It should arrive by the time I get home this Saturday.

How much fitting required?

 

[rushlake1]

The under rib may need to be shortened.
I removed the rear sight and plugged the holes
filed the front sight thin.
removed the big round front sight ball..just filed the sides flat.
Added a home made 2 dollar brass peep sight.
Polished the crown..220-320-400-600-1000 wet and dry paper well lubed.
I use solid brass ram rods on all my rifles with a bore protector.

Yes I like this barrel.. :grin:

 

[BrownBear]

I have one of about half a dozen of them in our neighborhood. All were straight drop-ins on TC Hawkens.

Every single one of them was a little sharp in the crown and tended to cut patches on first loadings. Easily dealt with laying a piece of 320 grit over the muzzle, pressing down with the pad of your thumb and roating half a dozen times.

All of them really didn't "come alive" accuracy-wise until loads passed 90 grains of 2f or 80 grains of 3f, whether Goex, Pyrodex or Triple Seven (some of each being used in our group). All of us settled in on either 100 or 110 grains of 2f, 100 grains of 3f, or 90 grains of T7.

Whole lot of deer, three elk that I can recall and two moose have fallen to the group of us using those barrels. I don't recall any that weren't one-shot kills.

The most spectacular was also the embarrassing to the shooter. Bud of mine got completely, totally fooled by a nice deer in the alders. Couldn't get close and couldn't get it to leave for the best part of a couple of hours of serious tracking.

My bud got really frustrated and backed out of the alders to join us on he overlooking hillside. We were sitting there consoling him when the deer finally popped into view on the far side of the alders, a good 300+ yards away. My bud impulsively raised his rifle and let off a frustration shot. We were sure he missed, but after waiting forever the deer collapsed where it stood! Hiked over there to discover the RB had entered the ear hole and blown up its brain.

Years later we're still calling the guy Long Shooter, simply because he hates it so much! :blah:

 

[Semisane]

You will love it.

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Awesome. Thanks Brownbear and Semisane. Thanks all
Some good tips and sweet pics.
So I did good with another impulse buy lol.
:hatsoff:

 

[BrownBear]

So I did good with another impulse buy....

Oh yeah. A whole lot of folks I know would have beaten you to that impulse if they'd had half a chance.

Only problem with a 58, it's usually only your first. The 50's and 54's in your rack get lots of rest, turning into trading stock if you get as crazy as me and my buds.

 

[Jim C]

That's some dog gone fine shootin' there Mr. Semisane. Now don't do like necchi and make me feel all inadequate by telling me you fired that group offhand at 50 yds. LOL!........I can do a one hole 5 shot grp at 50 yds, but only from the bench. Which is nothing spectacular, but I do think it says a lot for the accuracy of an almost two hundred yr old design. On the other hand, an offhand grp like that speaks volumes for both the design, and the skill of the shooter.

 

[Semisane]

I coulda` likely put them all somewhere on the paper offhand mtmanjim, but that was from the bench for sure. :grin:

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Well it arrived :grin:
I had just purchased a TC .50 Hawken as well so I compared the two in this pic;



Then off to the range yesterday. Temperatures were in the -3 to -12 Celsius (26.6 - 10.4 F) with windchill. Two other shooters there were frigidly firing their Glocks & Berretta Storm while I patiently measured out each charge, seated the ball and rammed it home. I should add that it did take some force due the patches being 0.020 which I thought were .015. But they still worked and for next time I used a thinner patch.
I got some Daisy patches .010 which I tried but were too thin for the 110gr charge as they show signs of burn through even used in conjuction with wasp nest.


I was also able to dig up a few of the rb's and they kept a good percentage of weight. A cast ball was 285grs. The recovered balls were 286.7grs, 284.2grs & 280grs.


I was shooting my TC .50 as well and decided to see how they were hitting at 100yds. the 50 had a 100gr charge of Pyrodex RS and of course the 58 was 110gr Goex 2F. Both shots were fired off sand bags on the bench. There was a a wind from the right but I aimed straight and center of target. My sight picture was basically the whole front bead of the sight covering the green ring portion of the target. Here are the results;

The other holes are my 30-30.

And last but not least I did a standing & kneeling shot at 50yds.


The cold wind got the best of me that day so I packed up. I'd like to go back out on a warmer December day while I'm off so this range report ain't done
Cheers All :hatsoff:

 

[Don Steele]

Looks like you're going to be alright if you're charged by a Prairie Dog...!!! :thumbsup: :wink:

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Looks like you're going to be alright if you're charged by a Prairie Dog...!!! :thumbsup: :wink:

They're all fangs and claws up here in Canada. Heard tell of 'em making off with house pets and small kids.

 

[Dphar]

Just find the load and it will shoot. Being a GM it will even shoot harder lead since the narrower land load easier.
Avoid "replica" Powders, the barrel is not replaceable and will serve a lifetime with blackpowder.

Dan

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Thanks for the tip, only the Holy black will be used.
I'm in the process of changing the GM rear sight to the TC peep.

 

[nkbj]

Hey,
I just bought a drop-in a.58 cal G.M. barrel that is 1:70 twist, 32" long, 1" accross the flats to replace my .54 cal barrel.
Anyone have the same set-up? Anyone have a hunting story they can share?
I look forward to reading what you have to say,
Thanks

Jamie,
Please post what you find works well for you. There's one of those barrels sitting here neglected in the rack that's never had a cap popped through it. If you try out balls cast from scrap lead or something with a little hardening please do post your results.

 

[qcml]

To necchis question. Did you have a Hawkens with a 1 inch channel or did you try to fit it into a 15/16" channel.

 

[BigAl52]

Nice find I wish I could find one in 54 or 58 cal with that twist I sure would like to own one. Al

 

[Rat Trapper]

I had to cut the under rib a little to get a GM 54 cal barrel to fit. Two other GM barrels required nothing, just dropped in. Still looking for a stock for the 54 GM barrel so I do not have to take my other 54 cal barrel off. A GM 58 is a nice find, but I currently have more guns than I can shoot.