Removing TC "Hawken" breech plug.

[hawg]

He had an International TD 14 with a cable operated blade and a TD 15A. He had some smaller stuff that used grease.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Wow, that takes me back! I ran a Cat 6 with a cable blade for a while in Texas. Was pushing scrapers, TS14 double barrels, also some time on a small international dozer, don't remember the number. If you got the cat with the cable blade stuck it was loads of laughs getting it out.

 

[hawg]

Wow, that takes me back! I ran a Cat 6 with a cable blade for a while in Texas. Was pushing scrapers, TS14 double barrels, also some time on a small international dozer, don't remember the number. If you got the cat with the cable blade stuck it was loads of laughs getting it out.

My dad had an Int. 340. That's the one he used the most. He bought a newer and bigger John Deere I think it was a 440. I couldn't believe how weak it was. It wouldn't push half the stuff that 340 would. He had some kind of tiny two cylinder John Deere we used to push stuff around the junkyard with. It looked so funny. The seat stuck out behind the crawler.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Those old corn binders were decent machines, strangest complaint I heard was they were too heavy and had too much power, how can you have too much power?

 

[hawg]

Those old corn binders were decent machines, strangest complaint I heard was they were too heavy and had too much power, how can you have too much power?

You break stuff, expensive stuff like bull gears.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Those old corn binders were decent machines,

So were the trucks. I had Travelalls, Scouts, and a variety of pick-em-ups. Had a pick-up made from three different years. Kind of like the Johnny Cash song. Even had an ex-"High Rail" crew cab, before crew cabs were cool. The High Rail was a true BEAST, had military tires on it, truly went "anywhere". Except, of course...wait for it...past a gas station. 15 gallon gas tank and 8mpg made for a lot of gas-stops.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Ta-da! She's done. Front sight, rear sight, ready to test fire. I got the ram-rod a hair too long, but not gonna change it. Was a "better make it too long, then not long enough situation". Enough work into this barrel. Just what I needed...NOT...another Trekking gun. But it sure feels good, carries nice, nice balance. Weighs six pounds nine ounces, but feels much lighter. With the 385 grain "Great Plains" bullet and 85 grains of Swiss, she should pack enough punch to ruin Mr. Angry Bear's day.

I do need to tack it up, just a little, using the Farmer's (the armored one) TC as a model. The TC "Convertible" says" Thanks for listening!!

 

[woodnbow]

View attachment 1125546
Ta-da! She's done. Front sight, rear sight, ready to test fire. I got the ram-rod a hair too long, but not gonna change it. Was a "better make it too long, then not long enough situation". Enough work into this barrel. Just what I needed...NOT...another Trekking gun. But it sure feels good, carries nice, nice balance. Weighs six pounds nine ounces, but feels much lighter. With the 385 grain "Great Plains" bullet and 85 grains of Swiss, she should pack enough punch to ruin Mr. Angry Bear's day.

I do need to tack it up, just a little, using the Farmer's (the armored one) TC as a model. The TC "Convertible" says" Thanks for listening!!

Man I like this gun! Just the ticket for dark timber, like a muzzleloaders version of a Model 94…

Needs one thing though. Get one of these, drill and tap the tang and voilà! Ghost ring rear! Fast and accurate!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Man I like this gun! Just the ticket for dark timber, like a muzzleloaders version of a Model 94…

Needs one thing though. Get one of these, drill and tap the tang and voilà! Ghost ring rear! Fast and accurate!

View attachment 1125571

Yes, as you can see, the sight radius on it is not...long. Almost kind of pistol length. And, I see why TC usually mounts their sights pretty high above the bore, as there is not enough drop to the stock to really get your head down enough for lower, more traditional sights. Or at least it's "minimal", you can't really "creep up" on the stock, which I tend to do. So, a peep could be an upgrade. Let's see how she shoots at 50 yards, as 50 and under is her purpose in life...before I put much more time into it. Nice to get more range than that, but we'll see. On one hand the lands are quite "micro" pitted, but overall the rifling is strong. I worked the bore over some more today with steel wool-wrapped wire brush, and it is smoothing up pretty good.

Yep, my exploring/trekking/hiking/woods-bumming territory is spooky dark timber and cedar jungles. No place I'd rather be. Little pockets of paradise here and there along the cricks and elsewhere.

 

[Oldschool shooter]

If you can get it in your neck of the woods, try a product called Krax-it. I removed nuts and bolts from a 70 year old set of discs using this stuff with almost zero trouble. Many didn't even need heat. I just kept spraying the stuff on for about a week and let it do its job.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

If you can get it in your neck of the woods, try a product called Krax-it. I removed nuts and bolts from a 70 year old set of discs using this stuff with almost zero trouble. Many didn't even need heat. I just kept spraying the stuff on for about a week and let it do its job.

Never hear of that. Thanks for the tip. I won't be removing this breech after all, I can tell the flash channels are nice and clear, and I've got the bore feeling reasonably smooth all the way to the breech. I also think that smoothing the bore up further will just start wearing the lands down. And again, it's really just a throw-away barrel. Might be able to shoot it today, see if the slugs fly straight or key-hole. As a "bear gun", if I can keep them on the paper plate at 50 yards, that will be "good enough". Not desirable but worth the effort. I actually expect it to shoot better than that, as the rifling is "strong", as mentioned.

 

[AJumbo]

STOP. PUT DOWN THE TORCH AND THE BREAKER BAR.

What if you just fill the bore with Kroil and see if that will lift the black stuff out? Isn't that what it's for, getting between the metal and the crud so the crud can be scrubbed away?

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Never hear of that. Thanks for the tip. I won't be removing this breech after all, I can tell the flash channels are nice and clear, and I've got the bore feeling reasonably smooth all the way to the breech. I also think that smoothing the bore up further will just start wearing the lands down. And again, it's really just a throw-away barrel. Might be able to shoot it today, see if the slugs fly straight or key-hole. As a "bear gun", if I can keep them on the paper plate at 50 yards, that will be "good enough". Not desirable but worth the effort. I actually expect it to shoot better than that, as the rifling is "strong", as mentioned.

I would look at the crown real close, a pitted bore doesn't mean the barrel won't shoot but a dinged or pitted crown will cause problems with accuracy. One of my ROAs has a pitted bore, it was rode hard and put up wet, touched up the crown and it's one of my most accurate pistols.

 

[woodnbow]

I would look at the crown real close, a pitted bore doesn't mean the barrel won't shoot but a dinged or pitted crown will cause problems with accuracy. One of my ROAs has a pitted bore, it was rode hard and put up wet, touched up the crown and it's one of my most accurate pistols.

Yeah but this one was crowned by what you might call a professional…

 

[woodnbow]

STOP. PUT DOWN THE TORCH AND THE BREAKER BAR…

?

Some people just want to suck the joy out of everything… ;-)



;-)

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I would look at the crown real close, a pitted bore doesn't mean the barrel won't shoot but a dinged or pitted crown will cause problems with accuracy. One of my ROAs has a pitted bore, it was rode hard and put up wet, touched up the crown and it's one of my most accurate pistols.

I have re-crowned it, and did my best. I think the crown is good. Unless someone snuck into my house, and dinged and pitted it!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

STOP. PUT DOWN THE TORCH AND THE BREAKER BAR.

What if you just fill the bore with Kroil and see if that will lift the black stuff out? Isn't that what it's for, getting between the metal and the crud so the crud can be scrubbed away?

Ha ha, I got the black stuff out already. She's ready to rock. I am not going to remove the breech, change of plans. The barrel is all done.

 

[woodnbow]

View attachment 1124467
There's the look. I've got the bore feeling pretty good with lots of steel wool on a brush, and many many passes. I think it might shoot okay. She'll be ready to rock after I order a couple of front sights that I needed anyway, and cut the dovetail. I seriously considered just putting a shotgun bead on it, but just in case it shoots "okay" I think I'll take advantage of sights. The rifling looks strong enough to me that it should shoot "okay" at least out to 50 yards, and in the past I've seen some pretty bad bores that shot good.

Ever order stuff from "The Gun Works" in Oregon? You push the "purchase" button, then you hear the UPS truck coming up the driveway two minutes later. Well...almost.

Just a fun project. She will wear the long barrel most of the time. Or it might look cool hanging on a wall like that. The "TC Trapper". !!!

Shoot me a PM with your address and I’ll send you a TC bead sight if you need it. Nice work!


Well, duh! Day laTE and a dollar short!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Thank you. We'll see how she shoots. If it shoots like a smooth bore, or the slugs go sideways, we'll need the bead. But if it shoots okay I'll just stick with what I've got on it now. Thanks again.