Need some help. TC Hawken

[flteng]

Need some help. TC Hawken

A number of years ago I bought a .54 TC Hawken and being a newbie I didn't inspect the barrel. I was pitted but shot very well both conical and PRB. I shoot 80 gr of fffg with TC Maxi balls, great plains hunters and PRB. At 50 yds they all hit about the same the same spot. Every year this gun is spot on. This year long story short it will not shoot PRB to save itself. It will do fine with conical's. PRB all over the paper and I'm using all the same components. I noticed when running the conicals down I feel a roughness in the barrel and some resistance. When I clean the barrel it takes forever to get it clean and even after applying a good CLP I still get dirt and some rust on a dry patch. I figured the barrel has finally had it. Any suggestions on conditioning it? I was thinking about just dropping a green mountain barrel in it. This gun has ALWAYS been dead nuts on the money. Yesterday I disassemble the locks cleaned and lubed, scrubbed the heck out of the bore and started from ground zero. No improvement today. Also I recovered some patches and discovered they are getting torn up. Any input would be welcome.

 

[MLN1963]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

Do you have any Kroil or PB Blaster penetrating oil? Soak that sucker down good, better yet fill it up and let it sit for a couple days and then get back after it. See if that won't loosen up whatever is catching on your patches.

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

You need to make sure that the barrel has no lead fouling in it as well.

And if that doesn't work get the GM barrel.

 

[flteng]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

Do you have any Kroil or PB Blaster penetrating oil? Soak that sucker down good, better yet fill it up and let it sit for a couple days and then get back after it. See if that won't loosen up whatever is catching on your patches.

One other thing I noticed. I can scrub it until the patches come out white. Then as I run dry patches thru it it picks up dirt, the drier the patch the more dirt and rust.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

If you can't get the barrel working. You can bore it out to .58 cal. I believe it cost around $100, and you can make it a slow twist for a PRB. Half the price of a GM barrel.

 

[exMember]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

No, get some remington 40x bore cleaner. I bet you theres a rough spot in there that has been collecting load from the conicals over time and its just shredding your patches on the way out. I have a cva mountain stalker with that same issue right now and i can feel a real good lead ring towards the bottom of the barrel. It may take an hour or 2 worth of scrubbing, but it needs to be done.

CLP is good stuff, but probably not the best stuff to use for a heavily fouled barrel with lead build up in it.

Also check the tang screws, tighten those up as well.

 

[MLN1963]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

The Kroil or PB Blaster will get under the crud and do the lifting for you.

 

[flteng]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

Soaked it down with PB blaster and and a bore brush, swab, use sweets and hoppe's copper and lead solvent been alternating through out the day. I can actually feel a difference when running the patches down the bore. Got the brush stuck down the bottom of the bore once, came off the rod. What still surprises me is the patches still come out so damn dirty. Well I'll let you know how it works out after the next range trip.

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

When metal rusts it will get porous and retain some of the stuff we put down the barrel so it might just be possible that the dirt you see now is bleeding out of them pores .

 

[Muley Hunter]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

You should try polishing the bore with JB. The pitting might be tearing up the patches. How do the patches look after shooting them?

 

[flteng]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

You should try polishing the bore with JB. The pitting might be tearing up the patches. How do the patches look after shooting them?

What patches I could find were torn up. Plus I had to pull one load and pulling the ball was a bit difficult, the ball kept hanging up and the puller screw came out.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

I'd JB the hell out of the bore, and try a PRB again. If it still won't shoot. I'd bore it out to a .58 slow twist, or if you want to spend more money, get a GM barrel. Do they still make them? I thought I read GM stopped making the drop in barrels? Just a rumor?

Just my .02

 

[exMember]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

They stopped, they are drying up pretty quickly so buy one if you can find one.

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

Like pete said boring it to .58 might just be the best option , or just use conicals in her.

 

[MLN1963]

Re: Need some help. TC Hawken

Did you let the PB Blaster soak over night? You would be surprised what it can remove if you give it time.