Bought my first black powder rifle today.

[Uzi2]

Bought a Thompson Center Hawken Cougar rifle this morning. Rifle is new and unfired but no box, in beautiful condition with just one small ding on the stock.
It came with a whole tackle box of accessories and tools, 5 small cans of caps, 5 new nipples, a couple of different nipple wrenches, a flushing kit, bore butter, cleaning rods, brushes, bore mops, patch material, 9 powder charge containers, a brass powder measure, funnel, a small container full of jags, cork screws, and 10cans of Goex black powder, 5 lbs of Pyrodex all unopened, a bullet mold in what looks like .357(don't know why but the guy threw it in with the package. All for the tidy sum of $375.00

Looking forward to touching off a few rounds in the coming days.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Very nice looking rifle.

Keep in mind that pre-lube patches go bad.
Percussion and flintlock rifles work much better with real black powder. Goex and Swiss are good. I generally use Goex. All substitute powders had a higher ignition temperature than the real black powder and are generally the cause of misfires.

There are three general twist rates found in BP rifles:
1:66 for round balls (PRBs)
1:48 is a compromise twist
1:28 sabots. Generally found in inlines

Enjoy,

Bob

 

[Palladin]

Score. What caliber?

 

[Arto]

Now you have to start memorizing Jeremiah Johnson lines....
"He was looking for a Hawken gun, .50 caliber or better. He settled for a .30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawken, and you couldn't go no better. "

 

[mac1911]

Nice fun stuff

 

[Uzi2]

Score. What caliber?

.50 cal

 

[Uzi2]

Very nice looking rifle.

Keep in mind that pre-lube patches go bad.
Percussion and flintlock rifles work much better with real black powder. Goex and Swiss are good. I generally use Goex. All substitute powders had a higher ignition temperature than the real black powder and are generally the cause of misfires.

There are three general twist rates found in BP rifles:
1:66 for round balls (PRBs)
1:48 is a compromise twist
1:28 sabots. Generally found in inlines

Enjoy,

Bob

Thanks, its the prettiest rifle I've ever owned for sure.

Ok on the pointers. Got ten lbs of Goex and five lbs of pyrodex in the deal.....$5 a lb. all unopened each in a ziplock bag.

Wonder if Thompson Center has records on this rifle. Curious as to date of manufacture.

 

[DitchDigger]

Holly Jeremiah Johnson,,,, sweet lookin’ firearm !

 

[md2020]

TC use to make conversation nipple so you can use 209 shotshell primers? Poke around to see if can find one. Way hotter in case your powder gets damp from condensation. There are other threads on here about that. YMMV

 

[HorizontalHunter]

TC use to make conversation nipple so you can use 209 shotshell primers? Poke around to see if can find one. Way hotter in case your powder gets damp from condensation. There are other threads on here about that. YMMV

As long as he uses Goex (real BP) there is no need. All of the subs, including Pyrodex, have much higher ignition temps than real black powder.

I hunted all day in rain, sleet, and freezing rain with mine and at the end of the day the rifle went bang without a problem. I tape the end of the barrel with electrical tape and if it is going to be a steady rain I will use a single layer of Saran Wrap in between the nipple and the cap.

Bob