Was a the range on Friday and was shooting my beloved Hawken's Carbine .54 cal. I was working on coming up with a good conical bullet to ease the cost of shooting Barnes sabots. They are the only thing that this barrel shoots great.

So anyway, about have way through my fun time I notice that the barrel is really dirty or something about 6 or 7" down from the crown. So this is what I was shooting: Lee Molded Mini-balls, TC Maxi Hunters, Buffalo Bullets (460 gr) R.E.A.L bullets and even tried a couple of White bullets. I used a fiber wad on the R.E.A.L and White bullets. Rifle seemed to shoot fine and no problems. Neve once did I remember anything out of the ordinary. Each load was rammed all the way down the barrel and I didn't load the gun and talk at the same time. I went to the range because I knew it would be a very quiet day with not too many guys bothering me to shoot the schmidt.

Well I am getting a ling winded. I get betsy home and start to clean her. I notice that when I move the ramrod down the barrel there is a voided area about 6 inches from the crown. I inspect the barrel a little more thoroughly and realize that the barrel has a bulge in that area! I am sick. I love this gun.

Any thoughts guys. What the hell did I do wrong. I have been shooting BP guns for years and never had this happen before. I will have to replace the barrel, but I don't want to have this happen again. I got to know how it happened.

HELP!!!

That is a shame. Hard to say what happened. Unless there was a flaw in the barrel. is the bulge obvious on the outside? You can send the barrel out to a gunsmith I recommend to have the barrel sleeved and rifled to any twist rate you want. He may be able to mill off the bulge on the outside refinish the outside too.
Drop me a PM and I will give you his name and number so you can call him and discuss your issue.

I took some photos:






I looks worse then the photos show. And you can definitely see the bulge from inside the barrel. Not sure if you can see the bulge, but the bulge runs a little over an inch long. Very pronounced!

I went to the Green Mountain website and they didn't have my barrel. They did have a .50 cal barrel in carbine length (21"). I did write them an email and will see what they say. That .50 barrel was only $149.95. A great price, but I have a .50 cal barrel already.

I looks worse then the photos show. And you can definitely see the bulge from inside the barrel. Not sure if you can see the bulge, but the bulge runs a little over an inch long. Very pronounced!

I went to the Green Mountain website and they didn't have my barrel. They did have a .50 cal barrel in carbine length (21"). I did write them an email and will see what they say. That .50 barrel was only $149.95. A great price, but I have a .50 cal barrel already.[/QUOTE]

I think they stopped making .54 caliber barrels for some stupid reason. If that is true, we should try to do something to get them to NOT stop making them. Who else makes a long, .54 caliber, slow twist round ball barrel?

First Thompson Center stops carrying the .54 caliber barrel and now Green Mountain stops making them? What's that all about?

By the way, sorry about the barrel. If that's a Thompson Center rifle that came from the factory with that barrel on it, I don't believe Thompson center will replace it with another .54 caliber barrel. They will probably send you a .50 caliber barrel instead.And that's a shame.

It is an InvestArms rifle. And trying to work with the importers is a joke. I might get a response from Lyman. They get their guns from InvestArms. I will check it out!

OH NO!!!!!

Not the 1-24 twist 54cal. Those are so unique, finding the same barrel will be a major pain.

Bummer for sure. If you put a straight edge along the outside of the barrel you should be able to detect it readily. Maybe a rebore to .58?

The one and only!!!

As far as the .58 goes, I got one in the form of a TC Big Boer. I'm screwed.