Anyone use a T/C Hawkin?

[fly-in]

I decided to go Muzzleloader deer hunting this year, I don't have the money to buy one so I'm borrowing my father inlaws Hawkin (I really would rather have an inline but this will work).
I bought a bunch of stuff at Cabela's and Wholesale Sports on the weekend, it looks like the stuff that my father inlaw uses in his hawkin is not what is available today. He still has lead balls, and I bought some lead cast bullets that don't need a patch.

What kind of supplies do you guys who have Hawkins use?

(I do kinda hope this will be my gun one day, keep telling my brother inlaw he should get his gun license so he can take possession of at least his gun but he hasn't so far, so ALL the guns might be mine one day )

[THEOZON]

Stay with the round ball and patch. Take the bullets back, they will not spin out of gun but tumble.

[james]

Maxi balls,percucion caps,black powder,ball starter,bore butter,patches.

just for the record i would much rather hunt with that Hawken than the black diamond i own.
I have never had a hawken not go off when i have shot at deer.
with the black diamond you might as well flip a coin to see if it will fire or not.

james

[huntnfish]

James hit the nail on the head! I might only add a nipple wrench and cleaner because sometimes they get clogged up. That is a great firearm. enjoy it!

[caroga kid]

Spit patch and round ball..Works wonders..

[halfrack33]

just for the record i would much rather hunt with that Hawken than the black diamond i own.
I have never had a hawken not go off when i have shot at deer.
with the black diamond you might as well flip a coin to see if it will fire or not.

  hmm, i've used a black diamond for a few years now and never had a problem. You must have had some junk caps or something. I know its an older gun now and a paint to clean but mine shoot 1" groups at 75 yards and has dropped deer in their tracks. Shot a 175 lb 8 pointer last year with it that barely made it 50 yards with a marginal shot.

[Raquettedacker]

Do you mean one of these 50 cal. bad boys...

[james]

hmm, i've used a black diamond for a few years now and never had a problem. You must have had some junk caps or something. I know its an older gun now and a paint to clean but mine shoot 1" groups at 75 yards and has dropped deer in their tracks. Shot a 175 lb 8 pointer last year with it that barely made it 50 yards with a marginal shot.

for some reason the gun is a sponge. i dont know if its because its stainless or the bullets load realy easy leaving room for moisture?
the caps always go off in it though.
And it is the most accurate gun i have ever had.
When i put it on the bench to shoot with 150grs of pyrodex pellets the bullet holes touch each other.

I have killed deer with it, it just seems anything with a big rack comes along and she dont fire, could be my lousy luck too lol

[james]

I also forgot to add too the list a powder measure and some sort of speed loads.

[fly-in]

It was Maxiball's that I bought 320grain, I got pyrodex, #11 caps, a brush and swab, and some bore butter.

I'll borrow the rest that I need.

I've never shot this gun before, we were going to shoot it about 4 years ago. My father inlaw cleaned it and we went out to a field to shoot the gun, he loaded it and was going to shoot at a box about 40yds out. When he pulled the trigger, nothing happened, the cap went off but the charge didn't, I did think I saw the ball kinda lob out of the barrel, but with the charge not going off and an a cap won't fire a ball out of the barrel, its not possible. He put on a new cap and tried again, but still nothing. That night we tried to pull the ball and charge, we took out the nipple and tried to use a torch to set it off, tried to take the breech off (I remember it has some kind of cap at that end), we couldn't get the gun unloaded. That week he took it to the gun smith to get the load out, and the gun smith told him it wasn't loaded . So I guess some how it did go off, but with only enough pressure to lob the load and not make any sound or smoke.
I know you should mark the ramrod to indcate if there is a load, but my father inlaw never really got into hunting with a muzzleloader.

[drobertsinMaryland]

Do you mean one of these 50 cal. bad boys...

These pics just brought back one of the worst hunting memories I have. I was 15 at the time and my father took me out on youth day. He has a 50. cal Hawkin and we took this with us that day. I had shot the gun before and had confidence in it. We got to our spot around 1p.m. about 2 a nice 9 pt came down off the hill twenty yards in front of us. I have never killed a buck at this point in my life and was shaking like a leaf. I put the gun up and held of his front shoulder hit the set trigger and he stopped. It touched off a shot at this point. The deer did not even flinch and continued down the trail. We both watched in amazement my father says "How did you miss him"? I responded I have no idea I know I hit him. After about an hour of my telling my father I did not miss we went to check for some sign. About a 100 yards away were we last saw him we found a drop of blood. We tracked this deer another 300 yards across the road and jumped him.
  This was the last time I would lay eyes on my first buck I shot. I took it pretty bad the next few days and still do to this very day. My father kept checking the creek the next few days and never found him. A few weeks later during shotgun he was killed by a neighboring land owner. He had gang green so bad he was probably on his way out. At least my father got to see him one last time.
   My shot was good it went in behind the front should and out the other rear hind quarter. The maxi ball must not have done the trick. My advice is make sure you hit them in the shoulder.

[Madpuppy]

I have this gun, I got it as a kit from my Daughter and Son in law 2 Xmas's ago and still haven't put it together. I need to get it done and get using it. Shot one in my younger days and loved it, it was a friend of mines gun and it was a blast to shoot. I'm thinking of staining it real dark, maybe some black walnut stain. What do you guys think?

[Raquettedacker]

Sorry I brought back bad memories drobert. Thats to bad you lost your buck. It was given to me last year by my dad, he has had it as long as I can remember.I have not had the chance to take a deer with it but I know it is very accurate on targets.    Madpuppy I dont know if it is a kit gun or not.  It was given to my dad by a friend of his who owed him money. He thinks it was around 1971 or 72. Its still in mint condition and is fun to shoot. My dad never hunted with it, it always sat in his gun case..  Maybe after all these years this year it might get a chance to finely get some blood on it..

[fly-in]

I picked up the gun last night, its not a hawkin, its a T/C renegade, I don't know what the difference would be, the only thing I can see is it only has one trigger.

But I brought her home and gave the bore a good cleaning, I'll try to take it out this afternoon to see how it shoots.

[AD]

I carried a Hawkin for the first several years I muzzle loader hunted.   
First thing to do is mark the ram-rod so you will know when the have everything properly seated and be able to see/check/remember that it is or isnt loaded.       

I used greased buffalo bullets.    I could pattern just fine at 75 yards, and with iron sights and my eyesight I wont shoot any farther then that anyways.     

I carried a few speed loaders with powder in them, a round cap carrier, bullet starter, and a nipple cleaner/wrench.   

Never had any troubles with it not going off, on the real rainy or snowy days I'd jsut bring a spare glove to lay or the hammer.    Kept the moisture off and was easy to move if I had to get ready to fire.   

Never did end up getting a shot at a deer with it and have sense upgraded to a semi-inline, botu would have no problems picking it up and taking it in the woods again if I needed too.