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Thompson/Center Hawken

• advanced
• Shop tier 2
• medium confidence
• Muzzleloader
• muzzleloader
• percussion
• side lock
• fixed breech
• traditional
• black powder

field strip ~10 min · reassembly ~15 min · detail strip ~45 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• A muzzleloader cannot be unloaded by opening an action and looking. Once powder and a projectile are down the bore, the firearm is loaded until the charge is fired or physically removed. This is the single most important difference between a muzzleloader and everything else in this database.
• The standard way to verify a muzzleloader is unloaded is to mark a ramrod at the muzzle with the bore known empty, then compare that mark against where the rod sits now. If the rod goes deeper than the empty mark, the bore is clear; if it stops short, there is something in there. Mark your rod and keep it with the gun.
• NEVER look down the muzzle of a muzzleloader to check it, and never place any part of yourself in front of the muzzle while loading.
• Use only black powder or a propellant explicitly labelled as a black powder substitute. Smokeless powder in a muzzleloader will destroy it and can kill the shooter. There is no partial exception to this.
• Follow the charge weights in the manufacturer’s manual for your specific firearm. Do not extrapolate loads from another gun.
• Black powder fouling is hygroscopic and corrosive. It draws moisture and will rust a bore within a day. Same-day cleaning with hot soapy water is not optional.
• This is a TRADITIONAL side-lock percussion rifle with a FIXED breech plug. Unlike an inline, you cannot remove the breech plug to look through the bore. Your marked ramrod is the primary check and there is no more conclusive one available in the field.
• Removing an unfired charge from a fixed-breech muzzleloader requires a ball puller or a CO2 discharger. If you do not have one and cannot safely fire the charge, the rifle stays loaded — treat it as a loaded firearm and get the right tool.
• The half-cock notch on a traditional lock is a loading position, not a safety. Percussion locks have been known to slip from half-cock.
• Never cap the nipple until you are ready to fire and the rifle is pointed downrange.

Under spring tension

• Mainspring in the lock
• Set trigger springs where fitted

Easily lost parts

Nipple · Lock screws · Ramrod · Tang screw

Tools

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among muzzleloaders, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Hooked breech and a single wedge make the barrel easy, but the coatable job goes into the percussion lock with its strongly compressed coil mainspring (needs a coil mainspring vise) and fly for the double-set triggers, plus the set-trigger assembly that must be re-adjusted. Moderate.

No sourced part count yet.

Bench time: about 30 min to strip, 45 min to rebuild (estimate). Estimated: wedge pin and barrel, nipple and breech plug, sights, lock off the stock and stripped with a coil-mainspring vise, double-set trigger assembly, trigger guard; brass furniture (patch box, nose cap, butt plate) left on unless coated. Rebuild longer for the lock (mainspring, fly, sear) and set-trigger adjustment.

What comes off for coating

• Barrel: ramrod, wedge pin (through the escutcheons), barrel lifted off the hooked breech, nipple, breech plug (anti-seize on refit), front and rear sights — nipple wrench, breech plug wrench, small brass drift for the wedge
• Lock: lock bolt(s) and lock off the stock, hammer, coil mainspring and plunger, bridle, sear and sear spring, tumbler and fly — coil mainspring vise
• Triggers and furniture: tang screw, double-set trigger assembly (triggers, springs, adjustment screw), trigger guard, thimbles/ramrod spring as needed — fitted screwdrivers (wood-screw slots)

Special tools

• Coil mainspring vise (TOOL-VISE-COIL or similar) — Compressing the T/C coil mainspring to strip the lock
• Nipple wrench — Percussion nipple
• Breech plug wrench — Hooked breech plug
• Fitted gunsmith screwdrivers — Lock bolt, tang and trigger-guard screws in the wood

Known pain points

• The lock’s coil mainspring is strongly compressed and needs a coil-mainspring vise; improvised pliers are the novice mistake. (both)
  Source: Track of the Wolf parts search: mainsprings (Coil Mainspring Vise, TOOL-VISE-COIL; Mainspring Vise, TOOL-VISE) — Track of the Wolf trackofthewolf.com [3] — “Novice gun owners may try to disassemble a coil mainspring lock using a needle nose Vice-Grip®”
• Set-trigger engagement is set by a screw in front of the rear trigger and must be re-checked after the trigger assembly has been out. (reassembly)
  Source: Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010) — Thompson/Center Arms tcarms.com [2] — “The adjustment screw located in front of the rear trigger controls the amount of set trigger engagement.”
• Thompson/Center limits owner disassembly to wedge-and-barrel removal. (both)
  Source: Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010) — Thompson/Center Arms tcarms.com [2] — “NEVER DISASSEMBLE YOUR FIREARM beyond the procedures outlined in this manual. Improper disassembly or re-assembly of your firearm may be dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Set-trigger engagement re-adjusted; single-stage pull and set pull both safe — T/C sets the triggers at the factory with the screw in front of the rear trigger.
  Source: Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010) — Thompson/Center Arms tcarms.com [2] — “The adjustment screw located in front of the rear trigger controls the amount of set trigger engagement.”
• Hooked breech fully seated in the tang slot before the wedge goes in; wedge snug — T/C: heavy resistance means the hooked breech is not seated.
  Source: Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010) — Thompson/Center Arms tcarms.com [2] — “stop and check to see that the hooked breech plug on the barrel is fully seated in the breech plug slot in the tang.”
• Breech plug threads with anti-seize — T/C asks for anti-seize on refit.
  Source: Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010) — Thompson/Center Arms tcarms.com [2] — “Re-install the breech plug, making sure that you have lubricated all of the threads with an anti-seize lubricant”
• Lock half-cock and full-cock notches hold; lock seated in its inletting without binding; screws not overtightened in the — Entry reassembly warning on wood screws; a lock that binds in the inletting will not fire.
• Sight re-zero — Sights come off for coating.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "Re-install the breech plug, making sure that you have lubricated all of the threads with an anti-seize lubricant like T/C's Super Lube." (Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010), PDF p. 40) "The pin should fit snugly, and may have to be gently tapped into position for full engagement." (Safety & Instruction Manual, T/C Hawken Muzzleloading Rifle (10-30-2010), PDF p. 41)

Function check

• Verify the bore is empty using a marked ramrod before each check.
• Confirm the hammer holds at half-cock and full cock.
• With the hammer at full cock, engage the safety if fitted and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall cleanly.
• Confirm the nipple or breech plug flash channel is clear by firing a cap or primer with the muzzle pointed at something light — grass or leaves should visibly move.
• Confirm the ramrod moves freely down the bore and seats against the breech.
• Confirm the lock is securely seated and its screws are snug.
• If the rifle has set triggers, confirm the set trigger sets and releases correctly and that the rifle can also be fired unset.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Lock internals (a light film, applied without disassembling the lock)
• Nipple threads (anti-seize)
• Hammer pivot
• Barrel exterior

Cleaning notes

Traditional muzzleloaders are cleaned with hot soapy water, flushing from the nipple seat, then dried completely and oiled. Black powder fouling is hygroscopic and corrosive and will rust a bore within a day. Never leave a black powder gun dirty overnight.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 25 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Nipple (a consumable — replace when the flash hole erodes) · Mainspring · Hammer and sear notches · Ramrod

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: T/C Hawken, Renegade, and Pennsylvania Hunter · Most traditional side-lock percussion rifles follow this pattern. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• CVA Optima
• Traditions Kentucky Rifle

Legal notes

Sourcing