Thompson Center

One of the cool features of the T/CR22 is that on the last round, with factory mags, the bolt locks open. This is a feature missing from most other semi-auto .22  rifles.

Thompson Center is the brand we think of for muzzleloaders, with a long heritage in the game. For this year, most of the changes are cosmetic. The gets a dress change with the Real Tree Edge pattern of camouflage, with either a black weather shield barrel or a full Real Tree barrel. Also new for [...]

The muzzleloader can be a freezer-saver; many states offer a special season after, or sometimes before, the regular rifle season, and there may even be an additional tag involved. I have had deer seasons where the centerfire rifle went unfired for the entire season, and the muzzleloader was relied on to put meat in the freezer.

The Compass rifle from Thompson/Center offers shooters a sub-MOA capable rifle ready for the hunting fields at an amazing MSRP of only $399.

I can’t say that the Thompson Center Dimension rifle is the biggest story at SHOT Show 2012, but it is definitely the most interesting. Being from New Hampshire myself, I was an early Thompson Center customer (I had a White Mountain Carbine) and have been a fan since. In fact one of the early articles on the GunsAmerica Blog was about out of the box MOA guns, and both the TC Venture and Icon made MOA easily, and they are both great values in a deer rifle.

By far the most famous product of Thompson Center is the line of pistols known as the Contender, then later the Encore and G2 Contender. If you are new to shooting sports, the Contender pistol series is a modular system that utilizes one universal frame and interchangeable barrels and forends for varying calibers. You buy one Contender, and several, or even dozens, of barrels, from .17 Hornet to .416 Rigby in the later versions. Several calibers were invented specifically for the Thompson Contender series, including the .30TC and numerous wildcats. A whole cottage industry of making Contender barrels sprung up over the years, based on the overwhelming success of the Thompson Contender. For the hobby shooter, there has never been a finer instrument to nerd out on with your reloading press and bench rest.

Fast forward to now, since TC was bought by Smith & Wesson, and a lot of us TC fans out there have been wondering what would become of our old friend, especially since the plant in Exeter, New Hampshire was closed last year. Smith & Wesson is a public company, so what the gun nerds think doesn’t always count when you boil everything down to nuts and bolts shareholder profits.

So it is with gratitude to the folks at Smith & Wesson that I say, Thompson Center is charging forward with a completely new, and revolutionary rifle system called the Dimension. It has been two years in the works and the Dimension made its debut today at Media Day at the Range, SHOT Show 2012. Take a look through the pictures here, and I will try to explain how it works to the best of my ability.

Thompson Center https://www.tcarms.com/ As we reported in our article, Out of the Box MOA, in the last GunsAmerica Magazine, the TC Venture easily lives up to its claim of minute of angle accuracy in a factory rifle. Unfortunately though, most of us can’t shoot good enough to prove this out ourselves, so as a selling [...]