TC Bone Collector - very tight barrel
 

Having a dickens of a time with my TC Bone Collector barrel. I bent 3 ramrods trying to load this thing. Start with clean barrel, then swabbed with bore butter. Loaded 100 grn Blackhorn 209 with TC Shock Wave 250 gr. bullets and yellow SuperGlide Sabots. Loading was difficult, it took 2 hands with lots of pressure to get it to seat. Finally got it loaded and fired a shot. Tried to load the second shot without swabbing and found it almost impossible. Lucky I didn't bend another ramrod. Am I doing something wrong or is it a defective barrel? I read scuttlebut that said TC's were notorious for tight barrels. True or false? HELP!

The first thing you need to do is ditch the Bore Butter. If you need to swab with BH209 you need to use another product like Hoppes #9 cut 50/50 with 91% rubbing alcohol. I can load some crazy tight sabots without ever swabbing when shooting BH209. Super Glides are one of the smallest loaded OD sabot ive seen. So yes its possible you have one of the crazy tight T/C barrels. The red 3 petal sabots that come with the Hornady SSTs might load easier for you.

First question that needs to be asked is....Did you scrub the snot out of the new barrel before shooting it?
2nd?....What did you use to lube the bore after cleaning it?....Please dont say you used Bore Butter. :D

BH209 is a nitro based propellant (nitrate ester) and you should be using common centerfire solvents and lubricants with it.

The most common solution for tight T/C bores is a jar of JB Bore Cleaner and some Kroil. This might take 100+ passes and several patches to see an improvement.

I lied to you. Not Bore Butter, I cleaned with TC #13 bore cleaner then lubed with T17 seasoning patches. Sabots want to hang up going down the barrel. Usually about 3 times on the way down I seem to hit a tight spots. I ordered some Harvester Crush Rib sabots and they did load a little easier. With the Crush Ribs I can get a second load without swabbing. Third load...forget it.

TC #13 is a water based cleaner for black powder and other subs like Pyrodex.....Use something else for BH209. Seasoning a modern ML barrel is a myth. One of the main features of using BH209 is to eliminate using water based products.

I agree with Gm54-120 you are using the wrong products for BH209 take his advise. I have a tight CVA Optima V2 Nitride rifle, 1:28 twist like your T/C, an can shoot multiple times with 90 gr. BH volume, no swabbing with no problems loading. I shoot a 300gr. XTP in Harvester crushrib sabot, very accurate for me. Did you clean out all the crusty residue in your breech plug formed by BH209? That can/will cause accuracy issues as well.

Well, tomorrow is first day of ML deer season. Too late for Hoppes #9 If all I need is one shot I'll be OK. Thanks for the replies, I have learned a lot. Will let you know how I do tomorrow or Sun.

Nra,

​​​​​​I'll be out in Trumbull county tomorrow. North East corner of the state.

How about you? Good luck.

-Jake

heading out today in lorain county for opening of the muzzleloader season. good luck with the rifle & sounds like it need to be worked on with the jb bore paste. good luck to all heading out today looks to be a beautiful day cool in the morning & sunny in the afternoon . best day so far for firearm's season this year.

Update.........went out Fri. Spent 9 hrs in my blind. Got a nice doe at 5:30pm. Heart shot at about 50 yds. Fell over like she was hit by a truck, never went a foot! Went out Sat. morning got another doe, double lung shot. Same results, never went a foot! No heart hit this time........I must be slipping but not bad for a 75 yr old.

Try a tight fitting rag on cleaning rod and use Flitz... they claim it's non-abrasive. But it makes a load glide down the bore.
Take your time and swab until you make a difference.
It won't happen quickly.
Basically your using a light polishing compound to smooth the bore's machining marks left on the walls of the lands and grooves.