T/C Hawken. Kind of disapointed

[pv74]

I bought a new T/C hawken on the recomendation of a friend who
has had his since the early '70s. There were many lower priced guns to choose from, but I decided to go with T/C because of the recomendation, and because I have heard so many good things about them.
I ordered a rifle, when it came in, I noticed the lock was binding a bit. Okay, so I disasembled it, stoned off the high spots on the interior lock plate, and lubed it with molly slide. I then noticed hotglue on the interior of the stock. I removed the hotglue globs. I then put the lock back on. Still binding! The hotglue acted as a shim! I then carefully examined the situation. The lock was binding against the stock! I took my dremel tool and carefully inletted the stock. I again replaced the lock. A little better this time, but STILL binding! I disasembled the lock again, and found that the shaft that the hammer connects to is way too short, the hammer just rubs against the lock plate. To me, the design of the lock is just flawed. What a piece of junk! I took it to the range, and tried to sight it in for the upcoming BP deer season in NE. It took an average of three tries to get the thing to go off!

I had also ordered a tang sight for the gun. I drilled and tapped the sight on the tang of the gun. I had occasion to remove the tang in doing this. Surpise, there is a plastic shim under the tang!

The fit and finish on this gun is okay, but by no means excellent.
The fitting on the end of the ramrod was misaligned. The patchbox has no provsion to open the thing! It is as if this gun was thrown together. The gun is almost like a cheap italian replica! I could have paid much less, and gotten the same thing in a cheaper gun. For the price range, the quality control on this gun is just unnacceptable.

I ordered an L&R RPL aftermarket lock. I have heard that these are the best things going for these mass produced guns. I overnight expressed it so I have time to fit it, and get the gun sighted in for deer season. I have a trapdoor springfield and the lock on that 110 year old gun is a work of art! It never fails to go off! I have no time to futz with T/C's poor excuse for a lock, especially if it is going to play a crucial role in the success of my hunt!

I will eventually get rid of this thing, and go with a handmade gun, or just build one from a decent kit.

[Iggy]

This is the poor man's custom rifle.

I know quite a few folks that shoot this one and like it.

[pv74]

I glass bedded the tang, and fitted an L&R RPL replacement lock. It now goes off every time I pull the trigger. Besides, it improved the trigger pull tremendously on the front trigger. I found myself not using the set trigger! Lock time is reduced with this lock, as the hammer travel is shortened.

Extensive inletting is required to get this thing to fit. The front plate is the exact same profile as the factory, but the inner workings are much much heftier. This thing uses a big leaf spring, and has a hefty lock cylinder. The RPL lock is basically a 19th century gunlock. It is beautifully made. It comes with a bead blasted finish, in the white. The metal polished up nicely, applied cold blue for now until I can get around to having a better finish applied. The hammer centers perfectly on the nipple.

Replaced the front site with a Williams fire sight. Replaced the nipple with a T/C musket nipple. The musket caps are much easier to handle. After the shot, the cap tends to stay together; it is very easy to remove the remnants. The T/C musket capper does not work very well though.

I will have to admit, it is quite acurate. I managed to hold a 2" 10 ring at 75 yards off hand sitting using patched round ball, spit patching between shots. I used 90 grains of 3F.
The T/C bore butter is good stuff too. The gun is very easy to clean after a day at the range.

I know several people who like this gun too. Maybe my expectations were too high. I did not expect a presentation grade gun, but I expected something that would be fully funtional out of the box. It certainly turned into a poor man's custom gun. Im poor, and I customized it! I know that I will be confidant in the abilities of my rifle when I go hunting this Sunday.

[Tropical Z]

CVA's offer the best bang for the buck.

[4V50 Gary]

Nahh, my $45 Markwell Arms kit was the best bang for the bucks. I hope to pour a pewter nose for it sometime soon.

[Jimmy Mac]

CVA is the Highpoint of the blackpowder world.

Cheap and good for those that don't know any better.

[Tropical Z]

Yah Right!
Time to wake up!
The last thing anybody wants is an affordable gun that always goes bang when you pull the trigger.

[Alex Johnson]

You didn't say where you got the gun. I personally find it hard to believe that TC would send a gun out of there factory that is like you describe. Possibly it's a kit gun that somebody screwed up, or in the worst case it's one of the worst guns TC has released from the manufacturing floor in two decades. I only own one TC, but I've handled and shot several more, they have always impressed me as a company committed to turning out high quality firearms. Your rifle, whatever it's background, is not typical of TC's normally excellent quality, before you gripe too much, give them a call and talk it over with them, if all is as you say, I'm sure they would be happy to fix or replace your ailing rifle. The Lyman Great Plains is a great rifle also, I have two of those, but the TC is still a better gun. Give them another chance, I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

[Sixgun Symphony]

I am wondering if he really had a rifle made by T/C and not one made by Traditions or CVA.

[mcneill]

Sixgun, I think you may be right that it was not a TC. Or as Alex Johnson said perhaps it was a kit gun. I have two TC Hawkens (caplock and flint) and they are both top quality. Was having some trouble with the flintlock not firing. Called TC technical department and they sent me a new touch hole bushing with a larger diameter hole (free) and that fixed the problem.


Jim

[Tommy gunn]

I am wondering if he got a used Kit Gun that someone messed up.

[torpedomanusn]

if this gun is a t/c put it in a box and send it to t/c and it will be fixed but it doesen't sound like the t/c that i know i have a 54 renegade (first yr production) a part broke and one phone call had a new part air shipped on the doorstep in two days. in fact they sent a complete to upgrade the lock which had been changed in the thirty yrs i have owned it.will shoot touching holes at 100yds and has never misfired.

[Bill Siegle]

I picked up a .45 TC Hawken used at a local gun show and she had issues firing reliably.That's probably why I got a good deal on it. I talked to a friend with a lot of experiance in these things and after switching flints and drilling the flash hole to 5/64in,I get a reliable,accurate flintlock. It was very dissapointing that 1st trip out though. I was real glad I had good friends available on the weekend. I was gonna call TC on the following monday but a new drill and flint were a lot cheaper than shipping charges

[Jbar4Ranch]

I've had a TC Hawken .54 cal for many, many years, and it's been perfectly fine. I recently bought a Green Mountain .32 barrel for it and it fit perfectly with no fitting required anywhere at all. The .32 is a ball to shoot, it's like the .22LR of the muzzleloading world.