Tc .54

[JEFFSTER]

If you could do any upgrade to this rifle would you change anything? I will pick my Hawken on Thursday. I was thinking a Green River barrel. thanks. Jeff

[rimfirematt]

Not much to do really until you shoot it. I actually like the T/C barrels better than the Green Mountain ones. But only cause of length. I find the short barrels are really nice through the brush.

Those Hawkens are great guns, really not much room for improvement. Maybe get a synthetic ramrod is about the only thing I upgrade too.

Are ya getting a Flint or cap?

I should see my new T/C hawken on my doorstep here this week. I got a .54 too in flint. I have a green mountain smooth bore barrel to go with it also.

[shearej]

I agree with Matt, there isn't too much to improve right off the bat with the T/C Hawkins. My buddy has a T/C .54 in percussion and I've shot it a fair amount. Nice gun. One area to consider possibly modifying is the sights, especially the front post. The front post tends to be a bit too wide for 75-100 yard shooting. At least for my eye sight anyway. Exact same problem with my Cabelas Hawkin, front post blocks out a pie plate at 75 yards. My buddy and I each filed our front posts narrower and that greatly helped. I'm considering putting a rear peep and hooded front sight with a fine cross hair on. Everyone I've talked to who has switched to a peep sight has remarked about how much their accuracy improved.

Jeff

[BrownBear]

I agree with Matt, there isn't too much to improve right off the bat with the T/C Hawkins. My buddy has a T/C .54 in percussion and I've shot it a fair amount. Nice gun. One area to consider possibly modifying is the sights, especially the front post. The front post tends to be a bit too wide for 75-100 yard shooting. At least for my eye sight anyway. Exact same problem with my Cabelas Hawkin, front post blocks out a pie plate at 75 yards. My buddy and I each filed our front posts narrower and that greatly helped. I'm considering putting a rear peep and hooded front sight with a fine cross hair on. Everyone I've talked to who has switched to a peep sight has remarked about how much their accuracy improved.

Jeff

I'll affirm the value of a good peep. TC makes a dandy you can buy online or sometimes in SW. Depending on the age of your specific Hawken you might have to drill and tap a single extra hole in the tang, but no biggy. TC's sight is a whole bunch smaller than the Lyman 57, cheaper, and centrally located on the tang rather than hanging off the side. Much more convenient all around. Once I discovered it, I replaced all my Lymans.

I've been around a lot of GM replacement barrels as well as TC barrels, and a couple of themes have emerged. The GM has a slower twist, ideally suited for round balls but too slow for most conicals. That's a plus if you're a serious RB shooter in search of the last little improvement in accuracy, but frustrating if you also want to shoot conicals.

GM barrels have deeper rifling, and when new some tend to cut patches and compromise accuracy until the sharp edges are worn a little. Lots of folks fire-lap the GM barrels to speed the process.

GM barrels tend to be very sharp at the crown, also resulting in cut patches. Some folks recrown, but I "cone" the muzzle using a simple handtool available from online sources. This produces a long tapered entry into the barrel, greatly easing loading of tight PRBs with no loss of accuracy. Think of it as a slowly tapering version of the TC QLA system.

The longer GM barrels result in a more muzzle-heavy feel to the gun, which serious target shooters prefer for offhand shooting. It definitely slows your swing for quick shots and makes the gun slightly more unwieldy. I don't find the longer length to be that much of a tangling issue in tight brush, but do object to the slower swing when I have to shoot fast in close quarters. Kind of like the TC 1:48 rifling twist is a compromise between fast and slow that allows you to shoot both PRBs and conicals, barrels in the 28"-32" range are a compromise between long and short for MLs. Maybe it's a feel you like and maybe it isn't.

[JEFFSTER]

I am getting the cap and not the flint. I had one years ago got rid of it and regretted it since. Now the fun of digging up my old gear for it. forgot what my loads used to be though.

[rimfirematt]

Well then theres no sense checking to see if you got the old style flintlock then!

If your inclined about the peep brownbear mentioned then that would be a good upgrade.

[kyle76]

Congratulations on the Hawken. One thing I do on all new coil spring locks is replace the factory sear spring with one that's lighter and longer. You can experiment a little and get a lot better unset trigger pull that away. of course I like to polish out the whole lock as well. You can really work wonders on a TC or Lyman lock with some effort. I also agree with the previous posters in that I like to put new sights on these rifles, especially a good blade front. I can never hold good elevations with those cast bead front sights. There are a few other things I do, but good sights and trigger are a start to really improve these rifle's shootability. Good Luck, Kyle