Hello Forum Members,

I have a 50 Cal TC Hawken which was purchased on the cheap. The barrel was rusted and I did my best to save it. It shoots Conicals very well, however, PRB's are a different story.

The question? Is it a rookie stumbling at PRB technique, or is the barrel beyond repair.

Below are my targets, patches and a picture of the bore.






The pillow ticking was one I loaded with no powder and blew out with a little nipple load. I just added this to show you how I seat the ball. The torn patches are prelubed wonder - cotton. I tried Hornady lube on .15 pillow ticking with similar results.



Is this barrel shot? I think the picture makes it look worse than it actually is.



Thoughts and suggestions please.

Thanks in advance.

wow that looks like a fat girls butt with all those dimples and wrinkles.

I would maybe try a .20 patch and see if that would work. If you have a Cabelas around they have pre lube patches at that size. As for the actually barrel its hard to say. I know lots of people with a pitted barrel and can shoot like no other. If it really bugs you, you have two options. Send the barrel back to TC and see what happens. More then likely they send you a new barrel free. Or buy a GM replacement barrel to the twist that you want. OR better yet, DO BOTH. Then look for another Hawken stock. Thats what i did with my Renegades. hehehehe

Some rifles shoot conicals and some shoot roundball. I would just shoot conicals with this rifle. Maybe look for a good replacement barrel and see if you can get a roundball barrel with that.

Ditch the pre lubed patches and make your own...Until you get patches that look like you can use them again you won't have good groups...

I'm assuming you are using Pyrodex RS??? If so, drop on down to 50grs of powder, no need to waste until you get her grouping...

There are several reasons for blown patches...
Too much powder
Too thin a patch
Wrong material (use only cotton or linen)
Poor lube
Rough bore
Loose ball/patch combo

One quick check...Put a buffer between the powder and ball and see what the patch looks like...You can use hornet's nesting, pre lubed wads or even another patch rammed down on the powder...If the patches still burn or rip, your bore is probably to blame and needs lapping...

This should get you started...

You might try lead lapping it. If that does not do it the its either ream and line or replace.
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/catalog...erriflebarrels
May be the easy out.

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I'm shooting Pyro RS.

How does one " lead lapp "?

I've given is about 200 strokes with JB's.

That barrel is pretty bad. You might consider having it bored out to .54 cal.

You might also consider putting a replacement Green Mountain barrel on it. You can get a fast twist for modern ammo, or do like I did and put on a 32" 1-70 twist PRB barrel on it. It will shoot the same hole if you do your part.

Pre lubed patches can go bad with age. That is why I never use them anymore. Like nchawkeye said, get some 100% cotton pillow tick at a Wal Mart or Fabric store. Its called red stripe or blue stripe. Them try some different lubes... olive oil, bore butter (I don't like), moose milk, and there are a lot more of them.

There are a lot of ways to lapp a bore. Fire lapp is done by getting some conical bullets like maxiball. Then remove any factory lube. Next you coat them with valve grinding compound as the lube. Shoot about ten to fifteen of them, clean the barrel and you have fire lapped the bore. Or you can hand lapp the bore. The way you used the JB Bore paste, use valve grinding compound instead. Do about 50 strokes, clean it and shoot it.