T/C Thompson Center Folded and Stopped Production

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  • John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    The one gun that Thompson Center screwed up royally was the TC 22 Classic. The rifle was beautiful but the trigger was crap and there was no way to make it better. They also put plastic butt plates on a heavy Zamac magazine so when you dropped the mag, it broke the floor plate. Getting replacements took time as they had to come from TC. Last but greatest fault was they started cracking at the extractor groove and TC issued a recall. It really could have been a nice .22 with if a little more thought went into it. :sad20:
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    In the past two weeks I went over a Scout carbine/telescope fitted, customized a new Englander with double set triggers and Hawken furniture and turned over a Hawken barrel tonight to counter-bore the muzzle for clean up.
    The New Englander and Hawken had some interesting production features I had not seen on other rifles that I had worked on.
    The New E must have had the stock cutters mis adjusted because there were veneer repair strips glued into the mortise for the tang, under the trigger bow. They were made from the same walnut as the stock.

    The rear sight was an adjustable type not often seen and a factory partridge blade front that usually was an add on item.
    The Hawken has a shadow line below the raised cheek piece and a forward tang screw that met the brass trigger bow front which was threaded to add a secondary means of attachment used in tandem with the front brass trigger guard screw.

    Often the front of the trigger bow is secured to the front of the trigger group in a way that only has a very small purchase of wood available in front trigger plate which isn't very robust to begin with but functional non-the less.

    Neither of the barrels had the small clean out screw in the snail that is sometimes found in the earlier barrels. The NE had not the set screw in the patent breech but the Hawken did.
    That screw could be removed for scope mounting base on either barrel depending on how it was delivered.

    Shame they quit making those rifles evidently, not to mention the other product lines.
     

    balttigger

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 15, 2008
    3,051
    Middle River, MD
    I wonder what this will do for the used barrel market. When H&R went t*ts up, the harder to get barrels went thru the roof, but common calibers could be found for a song...
     

    Rockzilla

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2010
    4,516
    55.751244 / 37.618423
    Contenders were also high quality when TC was its own company.

    yes sir...oh well some money in the bank.... just a few an old pic
    they have grown more..or "found" bunch more


    re-PICT0011.jpg

    re-PICT0015.jpg

    re-PICT0013.jpg
     

    Rockzilla

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2010
    4,516
    55.751244 / 37.618423
    You must have been a silhouette shooter back in the day. My particular favorite cartridge was the 7x30 Waters and the TCU's. ;)

    Yeah, got into a lot of things back then. 7x30 Waters was and the 7mm TCU.
    Hunted more witth the Contender than my Rifles. Liked my "hand cannons"
    375 JDJ and the others, 30 / 357 Herretts. Got XP's also. A fad for me Gun
    Shop would order the frames, Midsouth Shooters supplied the barrels. then
    they cleared them out for about $50-$80. Nicest is the Hornets (both) The
    218 Bee, 22 Jet. But Yeah was a Silhouette shooter back then. That, Pin Shoots,
    PPC, Hi-Power. When friends owned a shop, would order the crazy stuff. at cost
    as long as they could show it off..;);) which was fine with me.."the good ole days"


    -Rock
     

    ted76

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 20, 2013
    3,151
    Frederick
    I have an Encore frame with .223, .243 & .308 Win. pistol barrels and just bought a .50 Mag. BP rifle barrel with forend for it and am trying to buy a Walnut buttstock for it.
    I also have a Contender frame with a .223 pistol barrel and a G2 Contender frame that I bought with a .45 BP rifle barrel on it.
     

    Mud Turtle

    Member
    Jan 11, 2009
    722
    Baltimore, Maryland
    The one gun that Thompson Center screwed up royally was the TC 22 Classic. The rifle was beautiful but the trigger was crap and there was no way to make it better. They also put plastic butt plates on a heavy Zamac magazine so when you dropped the mag, it broke the floor plate. Getting replacements took time as they had to come from TC. Last but greatest fault was they started cracking at the extractor groove and TC issued a recall. It really could have been a nice .22 with if a little more thought went into it. :sad20:

    John, do you know if this cracking problem at the extractor groove involved the Benchmark R55 also? I own a Benchmark R55. I have seen conflicting info on different forums including rimfirecentral.com. Was the cracking just on the Classic? Thanks in advance.
     
    Last edited:

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    John, do you know if this cracking problem at the extractor groove involved the Benchmark R55 also? I own a Benchmark R55. I have seen conflicting info on different forums including rimfirecentral.com. Was the cracking just on the Classic? Thanks in advance.

    As far as I know, it was limited to the Classic. If you had a Classic in your hand, you could see how thin the wall was. While I never owned a R55, I don't recall hearing anything about them with regards to cracking.

    Have you checked with the Rimfirecentral.com folks?
     

    Mud Turtle

    Member
    Jan 11, 2009
    722
    Baltimore, Maryland
    As far as I know, it was limited to the Classic. If you had a Classic in your hand, you could see how thin the wall was. While I never owned a R55, I don't recall hearing anything about them with regards to cracking.

    Have you checked with the Rimfirecentral.com folks?

    Yes, but I found the information was not conclusive. My Benchmark probably has less than 200 rounds through it. I can't see any cracking or stress marks. I haven't shot it in over 10 years. I'll probably start shooting it again unless I find out from someone that it was prone to the same problems as the TC Classic. Thanks.
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,020
    Glenelg
    Guess i am lucky I recently won a T/C Impact camo from IWLA frederick last month with Fidelity.
     

    Virgil Co.C

    Active Member
    Aug 10, 2018
    615
    Like there products .Have a couple muzzle loaders, older ones . Bought a compass a few years back for my hunting gun. Inexpensive it was not to worried about beating up so to speak . Tell ya it is a tack driver . Not the tightest tolerances but it has always functioned and has done it well. Curios about parts and pieces for TC guns . Still be available? Guess aftermarket stuff will still be available.
     

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