Thompson Center .45 Cal Hawkin

This is my first and only muzzle loader.  I received it as a gift and I was a little too excited to work on it so I did not take a lot of pictures. It was my friend Ken's father's gun and he shot it as a kid, so I guess it to be from the 70s or 80s.  It is a Hawkin 45 Cal. made by Thompson Center.  Black powder is corrosive and must be neutralized and cleaned after every use. The breach plug and inside the barrel had the most rust.

I cleaned the barrel electrostaticly I inserted a 1/4" steel rod with small pieces of tubing on it down the barrel. The tubing keeps it from contacting the barrel and shorting.  Connect the negative cable to the barrel and positive to the rod, submerge in tub of water and washing soda and turn on the battery charger.

This process produces hydrogen, so I propped the end of the barrel up so the bubbles would come out.  After a few hours and some cleaning of the steel rod, I finished cleaning it up with a regular gun cleaning kit.

Reblued the parts that had rusted and finished

The hammer was rusty so I cleaned it the same way

I cannot wait to shoot it!

Boito O/U 12GA finished!

Cleaned up very well

Splay is all out

New brass screws

Much better fit

Before

After

Boito O/U12GA Action Restoration

I polished the ends of the hammer spring pins and the pockets they fit in to smooth everything out.

Polished the sears and the hammers to reduce the trigger pull and was able to get it down to 8-9 lbs so the kids can pull the trigger.  You can see where the butt stock is contacting the action only above the hole where the long stock mounting screw goes in.  It is why the stock was so misaligned.

This gun has extractors and they just needed a little cleanup.

The two cocking pins are what gets pushed when you brake the barrel, but one was bent and did not move freely so I removed it and turned it down a little, making it much easier to cock.

I replaced the upper firing pin and keeper (not shown).  I was able to find all the parts needed from Numrich Gun Parts Corp. The only part I really needed was the upper firing pin, but just in case I picked up a grip cap and screw, two new hammer springs, and two firing pin springs. A grand total of $35.00.  I went back to Frontierman Sports and discussed my displeasure with being told the gun was functional but was not.  They wanted to make good by ordering the part, but I had done that so they gave me two boxes of 12 gauge shells which made me very happy.

Boito O/U 12GA Stock Restoration

Steaming the dents and what is left of the old finish on the butt stock.

Steam bending the splay out of the action end.

Gluing the cracks on both sides.

Part of the stock was damaged from being loose, so I had to build it up with glue and sawdust for a binder.

Opened the crack on the bottom to get some glue inside

I wedged it open when the crack was glued and steam bent it to open it a little more so it would not contact the barrels.

One of the original screw fittings bound up and was spinning in the stock, so I found some brass replacements at the hardware store and glued them in.

Boito O/U 12GA Action

So let the work begin! The inside is as rough as the outside.

The two spring sections had been added to the hammer spring on one side, maybe to equal out the mammoth 15 lb trigger pull.

Upper firing pin and keeper. Note how steep the angle is.

Lower firing pin

You can see by the angle of the firing pin, when the hammer hits it, it's going to have a hard time going in. 

What no firing pin in the upper barrel?  The one cocking pin is bound, making it hard to cock open. 

Here you can see the damage done on one side from the stuck cocking pin.

Left is the lower barrel hammer and right is upper.  You can see the damage to the hammer as the firing pin angle got steeper and steeper until it broke.

Upper firing pin on top is missing the smaller tapered end, so I know this is not a working gun like I was told.

 Fore stock was shimed with tape and all the bluing was gone.

Boito O/U 12GA. Project

This is birthday present to myself. I picked it up at Frontiersman Sports for the low Kmart price of just $90. Boito was made in Brazil for sale at Kmart back in the 70s and 80s. Known more for it's poor fit and finish than anything else, this one definitely has its problems. I was told that the gun, although rough looking, was tested and worked. This turned out to be false - the firing pin for the upper barrel was broken.

The stock was stripped of its finish cracked loose and very poor fitting.

The stock was loose and fit so poorly that the barrel break leaver hit the top of the stock and cracked on both sides from movement when opening and closing the barrel.

The stock was splayed out on both sides, most likely from having no finish on it for so long.

Crack in the fore stock

Missing grip cap

Kmart quality fit on the fore grip

Very little surface rust on the barrel