I was given a TC Hawken .45. The bore is so bad as to have no visible rifling after all efforts to salvage it.

Barrel liners are more than a new rifle.

Can I bore it out slightly and then recut it to .50 myself?

I see rifling cutters for not much money.

What can a guy good with tools do in his garage in this regard?

Rifled barrel liners are $8 per inch on TOTW:

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/638/1

The short answer is yes.  A guy in a garage with a hammer and file can do amazing things, however, enormous amounts of time may be consumed.  It is not practical and there is a high probability of failure.

Money would not be saved doing such a project.  It would be better to get a part time minimum wage job, work a few hours and make enough buy a new barrel, liner or complete muzzleloader.  Far less time will be consumed.

It could be turned into a smooth bore as another option.

A persistent person might justify it for the challenge alone.

True. But I can buy a used Hawken at a pawn shop for less than the cost of a 30” liner. But that’s no fun.

It’s all about the challenge.

@GFransisco

I wish I could find a good used barrel.

Is it reasonable that I could smooth bore to .45 or would I have to move up to .50?

Yeah, a challenge.

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What could go wrong…..

"Reasonable" is a subjective term and its context must be considered.

To make it a smooth bore would be to drill it out to at least the existing groove depth, whatever that is and possibly more if there is deep pitting.  This alone will not be easy and you would need to fabricate some type of extension for drill bit (this may not be successful) or purchase expensive tooling to bore it out.  It would however be far easier than rifling.

Even it it was to be rifled at a larger size, it would first require drilling/boring as described prior to rifling.

In the distant past before mass production existed, rifles were sometimes reamed out and sized up when bores were worn and damaged.  In those days the barrels formed from flat strips of iron hammer forged around a mandrel then rifled.  This required great skill and time.  Reboring and rifling alone required great skill and time, but was still less effort and cost than making a new barrel from scratch.

@AeroE

Removed the plug. Barrel is a rusted sewer pipe.

I’ve soaked and brushed and brushed. There is no rifling.

Unless someone really wanted to see if they could rifle a barrel just for something to do I don't think it would be worth the time, effort or cost of all the tooling to rifle a barrel.  It would make far more sense to just buy a new barrel if you want a rifled barrel.   Even if you want to turn it into a smoothbore it would still be easier to just buy a barrel.

Considering all the time and effort involved in doing anything with the rusted out barrel, a fellow could probably work at a fast food place earning minimum wage and buy a barrel from those wages easier than rifling the old barrel.

Green Mountain black powder barrels are a little over $200.  I'm guessing they are not a drop in part, but shouldn't be much trouble to adapt to a Thompson Center.

That might be worth it as a cheap new Hawkins style muzzleloader runs at least twice that.

Send it to Bobby Hoyt to have it rebored. A buddy of mine does that all the time, guy does incredible work, and it's not insanely expensive.

https://www.gmriflebarrel.com/black-powder-muzzle-loader-barrels

Some are even in-stock, which is surprising in general for GM.

I picked up a couple cheapie bp guns in similar condition. Use chemical methods to remove rust. Iron oxide vs. brass brush is.... Slow

I'm wagering that it won't shoot much better if rebarrelled. Let's face it, those aren't sniper weapons anyway. Shoot it and see if there's a problem, before you fix the problem.

I picked up a couple cheapie bp guns in similar condition. Use chemical methods to remove rust. Iron oxide vs. brass brush is.... Slow

I'm wagering that it won't shoot much better if rebarrelled. Let's face it, those aren't sniper weapons anyway. Shoot it and see if there's a problem, before you fix the problem.

@jos51700

It’s been suggested to me to try a 50/50 mix of muratic acid to remove the rust.

What do you think?

There are many methods for removing rust on anything.  The trouble is what is left afterwards.

How about honing it out and making a smooth bore shotgun?

I believe they come out to be around .62 cal which is 28gauge.

You could ream it out to the minium to get clean metal then do electro chemical rifling. Given the low volume shooting BP lends itself to who cares of it ends up 47.6 call, easy enough to cast bullets for it.

@tontoGoldstein

Can't hurt! I'd be conservative with it. Have you tried a bore brush on a drill? Because this is no virgin bore, you get to cheat. Don't forget that. I picked up a wingmaster .22lr that had ZERO rifling. That bore was as smooth as glass. Every time I brushed it, patches came out black. I brushed n' patched, brushed n' patched. Eventually, it started to look like a hexagonally rifled barrel. Drill n' borebrush became a thing. Chunks started coming out. It took a whole bag of patches, but that bore looks like a brand new one now. I really do think it was closer to .17 cal when I got it.

It's occurred to me to ask: Have you tried boiling it? That's how I clean my bp barrels (and I NOT an expert in this). It sounds like you've gotten all the loose rust and that will convert any remaining to 'black rust'. Any rifling at all will impart some spin, and the plastic sabots will seal in a rough bore that would leak like a pornstar's rectum in a smokeless powder rifle.
On my two beater boomsticks, I was just going to boil 'em, brush 'em, and blast 'em.

As long as they're not too rough to ram a bullet down the hole, I figure it's good enough. If they're wildly off target, then I'd look at the other stuff like sleeves and re-barreling. Remember, people survived a long time ago with rifles made from a lot less. What are you wanting to do with the gun? Let that guide you.

I'm thinking about welding a suppressor to the end of my trash bp guns. It's BP muzzleloader, so I can do that and Uncle Sugar can't say shit about it. Worst case, hang gun on wall, move on with life.

Get it to where you can shoot it, and see where you are. You don't know where to go if you don't know where you are.

Drills work great for shotguns and tubular magazines  For quick cleaning and honing of barrels with questionable rifling just to get them where you can see how they shoot, buy Attached File
one of those Sawzall hex drive adapters.  I made a hex to rifle cleaning rod adapter.  At least then you aren't tearing up the little rifling you do have with the rotating action of a drill.  

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This^

Honing to a smooth bore is one option, or a starting point for rifling.

There are multiple videos on youtube about rifling with electrolysis, most are oriented to shorter barrels with 3d printed mandrels, but given the slow twist needed for a muzzle loader, seems to me someone with time and dedication could make one with a dowel or pvc .

Electrolysis will work excellently for both de-rusting and rifling.

I once made a rabbit ear shotgun hammer I was de-plating almost completely disappear!

Got distracted and forgot about it….

Definitely can remove metal with electricity!

A fine rabbit hole to dive into.

I can’t find the inbed data on the video, so here’s a link.

Just a sample to give you the idea.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TSM6fBdmuso

You might start with a stainless brush and then naval jelly to eat the rust and the see what it looks like
It could be caked up with black powder residue and rust
There may be good rifling under there

The pitting is there.  I've decided to just use it as is.  I've ordered patches, the exact type as put forth in the reloading manual, and will get some balls and powder with my Scheel's gift card.

Honestly it might surprise you. It's worth trying!

Yeah, this.   If it's already smooth, no need to bore - just use it as is.  Cheapest and least time-consuming option.

Evaporust is your friend, and it's non-corrosive.   Plug one end of the barrel, fill with Evaporust, let it sit a day or 2, preferably in a warm place.   All rust will be gone.   If some remains, repeat.   Brush clean, then oil well.