TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

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barnlek

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I am getting a TC FIREHAWK 32 cal . For $200....

? What is the loads for the gun. (Exa 30 gr to 150 gr)
In the tradition Davy Crockett squirrel gun say minimum load about 10gr of 3-F to max load 25 gr of 3-F.

I am excited

Here is some pictures of the TC fire hawk 32 caliber

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Thank you
 
Re: TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

Very cool. Your going to have a lot of fun with the .32. They are cheap to shoot and very little recoil. The Inline .32s are very hard to find. I just built one because I was tired of looking for one. TC also had a barrel for the System One Rifle too. Can't say I remember the Firehawk. Sounds like a good find and if it is in great condition you may have gotten a fantastic deal. :yeah: Lets just say I would have grabbed it for that price as long as the bore is good, Though that one looks great so far.

Any idea what the rate of twist is? A lot of .32's were 1 in 48 and could take a little heavier load to get them to shoot good, say 20 to 30 grains. I built mine with a 1 in 30 twist and can get great groups with 20 grains of Pyrodex P and get pretty decent groups as low at 15. They are usually considered a 35 to 40 yard rifle. Mine is grouping well at 50. You are definitely not going to shoot 150 grains of powder. :wink: I would imagine you'll find a load in the 20 to 30 grain range. Watch the ball size and patch thickness plus how much lube you apply to the patch. They all play into the load.

I use Hornady .315 diameter round balls patched with pillow ticking. I lube with Hoppes #9 plus and squeeze most of it out till it just feels a little damp. You can get a couple yards of Pillow ticking at JoAnn Fabrics. I saw 3 different versions. I think 2 were the same just one was red and the other blue then there was one that felt much heavier and that is what I bought. Then wash it one time and dry on high heat. Then cut strips 3/4" wide. You can find some TC Pre-lubed patches but they were a tad thin for mine. I like the Strips of ticking myself, but I might make a punch to cut some 3/4" patches for hunting.

Does the Firehawk have a #11 or 209 ignition?

Here is an article with some good info on the .32.

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlsmallgame2.html
 
I believe it's coming with a number 11

I was researching rate of twist of the TC FIREHAWK . I seen on hunting net it was 1:38 .
But the person has a .50 cal
? Would the rate of twist be the same for the .32 cal ?

Thank you for the information Shawn T
 
Re: TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

The .32 firehawk is a 48 twist. you will want a pistol measure for the small charges. almost all my 48 twist .32 with a roundball settle in with 22-25 grn charge. for the cherokee and seneca, TC lists max charge as 50 grn (goex) for both roundball and maxi. I doubt Ive ever shot over 35 grn in any .32
Shawn pretty much covered it, and there is a lot of good info in the link he posted. :yeah:
 
Re: TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

I never got a chance to look up the Firehawk. But Squeeze is well versed in the .32. :prayer: I sort of though that it might be a 1 in 48. Either way you will have a ton of fun with it. I was out 2 days this weekend with mine and it is shooting great at 20 grains. But then mine has the 30 twist.

Here is a link to the Measure Squeeze mentioned. It is a sweet little measure, I tried loading with a regular measure and a small funnel. While not hard to do this little measure it well worth the money and works fantastic with the small calibers.

http://www.tdcmfgstore.com/agora.cgi?ca ... 75&p_id=z- PMRS&xm=on&ppinc=search2
 
Squeeze said:
The .32 firehawk is a 48 twist. you will want a pistol measure for the small charges. almost all my 48 twist .32 with a roundball settle in with 22-25 grn charge. for the cherokee and seneca, TC lists max charge as 50 grn (goex) for both roundball and maxi. I doubt Ive ever shot over 35 grn in any .32
Shawn pretty much covered it, and there is a lot of good info in the link he posted. :yeah:


? What is the difference between the FIREHAWK ,Cherokee and the Seneca .

Thank you
 
Re: TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

barnlek said:
Squeeze said:
The .32 firehawk is a 48 twist. you will want a pistol measure for the small charges. almost all my 48 twist .32 with a roundball settle in with 22-25 grn charge. for the cherokee and seneca, TC lists max charge as 50 grn (goex) for both roundball and maxi. I doubt Ive ever shot over 35 grn in any .32
Shawn pretty much covered it, and there is a lot of good info in the link he posted. :yeah:


? What is the difference between the FIREHAWK ,Cherokee and the Seneca .

Thank you
Firehawk is an inline. The Seneca and Cherokee are both sidelocks. Seneca came in .36cal and .45 with a 1 in 48 twist and the Cherokee came in .32 with a 1 in 30 twist.

There is a picture of the Seneca in that Link in my post above. The Cherokee would be similar to it. Here is the pic of the Seneca.
 
Re: TC FIREHAWK 32 cal

cherokee and seneca are the only factory .32 in the 1-30 twist. they are sidelocks, built on a bit smaller frame. almost a kids or ladies gun. Discontinued after most of the machines were lost in a fire just over 25 years ago. they have 13/16 octagon barrels, and are light at about 6-1/2 lbs. The cherokee was typically available in .32 and .45 (the .45's even lighter with the same barrel just a bigger bore) seneca was a bit more fancy, with a patchbox and a bit more brass. It was typically available in .36 and .45. But it is not uncommon to find either gun, factory custom in any above caliber. Many were switch barrel, with an owner commonly having 2 or all caliber barrels. Your firehawk, typical of many guns fitted with a smaller bore barrel, yet keeping the same outside barrel diameter of a larger bore barrel, has the usual weight and balance additions on a small bore, large diameter barrel. (To fit the same channel in the stock, and mate to the action, as its .50 cal original) They end up much heavier, and usually front heavy. Almost all .32 cal factory guns were a 1-48 twist. TC was the exception with the 1-30 the theory was to load as light as possible, while still retaining accuracy. It was designed as a working squirrel gun. Head shots are always desired, but a body hit, with some heavier loads would split a squirrel clean in 2, spoiling a lot of usable meat. A typical .32 roundball comes in at around 40-46 grains, closely comparing to a .22 rimfire. the .30 twist can be loaded down to 10-15 grains and still retain great accuracy, yet be in the ballpark of a .22 rimfire short for ballistics. It can also be loaded hot, (30-35 grains powder) putting it up near the ballistics of a .22 WMR load. This can be pushed even farther by loading a .32 maxi ball (108 grain) and making a very capable short range varminter. Any .32 can be just as accurate. Its just that the 30 twist for a .32 cal seems to be a sweet spot for across the board accuracy with across the spectrum loads. the typical 48 twist just requires a bit more load development, and has a much more finicky palate for exacting charge size for optimum accuracy performance. Anything small caliber are for the most part discontinued, so the price and demand skyrocketed. Especially anything inline. there are still a few present day available sidelocks (traditions crocket/ deerhunter, etc) available in .32 but getting harder and harder to locate. Barrel makers just dont do production runs anymore for the small caliber stuff, so most people end up paying high prices for a custom. It is also much easier to find custom builders, who work in the sidelock/traditional field. most of these types scoff at anything "modern" or inline. It is much harder to find a gunsmith willing to create a custom modern. those with the talent are already heavily booked, and hesitant to take on much new contract work. first it requires a custom barrel and parts order, that could take months or years just to assemble the desired parts list, then to schedule it into the smiths workload. Many are even just part time gunsmiths, with a garage machine shop, and a full time career going already, just doing smith work after hours and weekends. The better they are, the more in demand their services.
 

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