Is this old school...or old is cool?

[Wrench]

I have been looking to build a uber fun front stuffer. I have several but only a few special rifles. I built a knight mk85 that is a great shooter and fun to carry....but 300 yards is about the end of my capabilities on the short sight radius.

I have always been afraid of sidelocks. I assumed they were inaccurate, hard to clean and susceptible to weather.

I was wrong in all regards.

I found a tc hawken in a gun shop that was in great shape. I took it home and promptly swapped the sights for a 17ahb and williams fp hawken and a gehmann aperture. What happened after that was pure bliss.

I tried the Idaho lewis recipe of 80grs Swiss 2f, over powder wad and a 460gr bullet. What I found was that I could ding 10" steel at 200 with boring regularity. I was just using a fixed .050" aperture at that point....hardly ideal for hunting.

I had a gehmann in my goodie bag so I spun it on and headed back to bench to see what I could do.

Here's a quick vid of the results.

 

[Wrench]

The pics with my fingers were to show my 100 and 200 yard holds. I have enough elevation to get easily beyond 500.

the pic on the gong is a 3 shot group at 200yds. The system is coming together nicely.

 

[Wrench]

Cleaning a sidelock is as easy as pie. I submerged the breech in a pan of hot water. Pump it up and down with a patch and dry patch after followed by oil for the bore. I run a dry patch right before I load to make certain I don't have oil in the bore (stored muzzle down) and load.

The tang, hammer and side plates just get wiped with water then a bit of oil....easy peasy.

For accuracy sessions I squirt a patch with some water or spit between shots and follow with a dry patch. Results are worth the extra 30 seconds.

 

[Ditt44]

In my experience, there is nothing out there that is more elegant, more reliable, and more fun to carry and shoot than a TC Renegade. I have four of them, two each in .50 and .54 and each of those calibers is in Flint and Percussion. Once you find the load each gun prefers, it is boring I am a round ball guy. If it were not for the wife, I would likely own a couple dozen more. I have to avoid the auction sites or I come down with a terrible case of the jitters knowing that there are great quality and healthy TCs out there needing a good home.

 

[lazydrifter]

I had a really nice 54 Renegade that was an excellent shooter with 100 grains of pyrodex and and if I remember right a 435 grain maxiball. It would bruise my cheek when I shot it. Never have had a firearm do that before. Finally sold it and went to a knight.

 

[marshland_max]

Where did you find the Williams sight!!

 

[dsotm]

Where did you find the Williams sight!!

If you're looking for one the old model was FP-HAWKEN which shows up as out of stock, FP-1340 with screws or FP-1342 with target knobs are available online on a ton of sites. Just had a 1340 show up at the house yesterday that I'm throwing on my Hawken.

@Wrench what is the benefit of the Gehmann aperture? Just able to dial it smaller and larger?

 

[TaperPin]

Wow, that’s a blast from the past - I had one a couple decades ago and it shot great - kicked way more than I would have expected, but wow are they accurate.

 

[Wrench]

If you're looking for one the old model was FP-HAWKEN which shows up as out of stock, FP-1340 with screws or FP-1342 with target knobs are available online on a ton of sites. Just had a 1340 show up at the house yesterday that I'm throwing on my Hawken.

@Wrench what is the benefit of the Gehmann aperture? Just able to dial it smaller and larger?

I can dial the aperture to the most efficient use of available light. It makes a substantial difference.