It doesn't know if it's a
Reneken or a
Hawkagade.
Last week one of my "sidelock jugs" got a good bite and I landed a .54 TC Hawken for a good price.
It's what you would call a "beater" gun - banged up stock and rusty barrel. It even has a broken front trigger - not as in "it won't work" broken, but as in "the bottom half of the trigger is missing" broken. The seller said it was hanging on a set of antlers on the wall and the whole shebang fell and hit the floor with the antler still through the trigger guard.
The stock looked as though the gun had traveled more than a few miles in the bed of a pick-up - along with a pile of chain and miscellaneous tools. The outside of the barrel isn't too bad, but the bore is a "bit" rusty. Both sights are missing, and it's been drilled and tapped with four holes for mounting scope bases - two in front of and two behind the factory sight holes.
I haven't tackled the barrel yet. But I have refinished the stock.
That TC factory finish was a b-i-t-c-h to get off. But once I got it down to bare wood I was able to raise all of the dents with hot-hot water (there were no gouges fortunately). Then I hit it with some Minwax
English Chestnut stain and followed up with five very thin coats of Minwax clear satin water based Polycrylic, wet sanding with 600 grit paper between each coat. Of course, I had to polish the brass too.
It came out pretty good.
Now the .54 Hawken carries a 1" across the flats barrel, and I had a pristine .50 Renegade barrel sitting in the closet. So I married them up and took wedding pictures. Is it a Reneken or a Hawkagade?
My Latest Acquisition Is Confused
