Thompson Centers Rifle?

Question

Does anyone know if a Thompson Centers rifle is a good gun? Have you ever owned one? On a scale from 1 - 10 (1 being best, 10 being worst) how would you rate this gun?

I am looking to purchase an Encore. I dont know much about guns, but I think its 300 mag / 70 win mag... ???
I am buying it for my fiance' for his birthday.

Answer 1

The facts 1st:

ENCORE RIFLE

- available in many rimfire and centerfire cals. between .17 Mach 2 (new 2005) and .45-70 Govt., interchangeable standard 24 or heavy 26 in. barrel, automatic hammer block, trigger guard opening lever, choice of black synthetic (new 1999), Realtree camo (new 2005), Realtree Hardwoods HD camo, or American walnut uncheckered forearm and Monte Carlo stock with pistol grip, adj. rear sight, approx. 7 lbs. New 1997.

MSR $645

100%--- 98%--- 95%--- 90%--- 80%--- 70%--- 60%

$530--- $415--- $320--- $250--- $200--- $180--- $170


Encore rifle barrels ARE NOT interchangeable with Contender Carbine barrels.
Currently, an Encore frame, including buttstock and forearm starts at $334 MSR.
Add $43 for walnut stock and forearm.
Add $58 for camo.

_____________________________________________

Opinions :

I personally would rate them @ about a 7 on your scale. The reasons:

-They are not designed for every size person ( Smaller bodies only )

-Although simplly changing the barrel to change calibers is a plus, the cost of the barrels are way to much to do so.

-Limited range due to normal carbine length barrels.

-It is at least a pound heavier than the Contender, bigger and usually needs a trigger job to enable the shooter to achieve its excellent inherent accuracy

-In comparison, the trigger pull of a Contender can be considered "excellent" while that of the Encore would fall into the "good-to-very-good" class after being worked over by a competent gunsmith.

These are just my opinions. Take them as you will !

Good Luck & Happy Shooting !

Answer 2

The rifle is good, about a four. The caliber is what has me puzzled. You want a .300 Magnum as a first rifle? You didn't specify which one, the .300 Winchester (weakest), or .300 Weatherby magnum (even stronger), or still another one (like the more exotic .300 H & H magnum)?

May I make a suggestion? Consider the new .338 Federal which should have plenty of knock-down power with the felt recoil of about a .30-06 Springfield. That caliber should be available in the rifle you want. Even better, consider a .270 Winchester, or even a .243 Winchester as a first rifle. When you become more familiar then move up to the magnums. The only reason I'm suggesting this is so you won't have a traumatic experience shooting your first rifle and get turned-off all together to rifle shooting.

Good luck.

H

Answer 3

I have a encore in 22-250 cal. for varmints and also have a muzzle loader barrel for deer hunting I live in a state were its shotgun slugs or muzzle loader only for deer. so it works great for that. But I also own several other rifles in various calibers Browning Abolt 300 win mag, Weatherby mark V deluxe 300 Weatherby mag, Weatherby mark V deluxe 270 weatherby mag, Remington 700 mountain rifle 264 win mag,and a Winchester model 70 270 caliber if i could only have 1 rifle the encore would be great for adding extra barrels but don't forget you also need another scope for the extra barrels that you get and he should be getting a very good scope to get the best benefit out of the gun and as for the 300 mag I have used it for deer elk moose and caribou with great results out of my Browning Abolt because you can choose different weight grain bullets for the animal you are going to be hunting but you do need to sight in the different bullets.

Answer 4

I have owned the Encore in pistol form.
It is of excellent quality from a reputable company.
The beauty of the encore lies in its versatility in that it can be converted fro handgun to rifle, shotgun or muzzle loader in a wide variety of calibers.
As far as the choice of 300 win mag it would depend on what he is going to use the gun for. I personally use the caliber for hunting large new mexico elk.
I feel it is a bit much for deer.
Before buying the gun make sure that the choice of caliber meets the need.

Answer 5

5

Answer 6

I have only used Thompson Center pistols. They seem to work well enough. I prefer having several shots quickly available, so I use Sako and Weatherby rifles. Overal, I suppose I'd give the TC rifle 2.5 or so, simply because of low firepower.

Answer 7

Yea the pro hunter model you can put on a Muzzleloader shotgun or rifle barrel.

Answer 8

They're light, work great and look nice, but I just can't imagine buying a single shot rifle when I could have one with larger capacity that's just as good, such as a Remington, or maybe a Savage.

Answer 9

I would suggest you let your future husband pick the Make and Model and Caliber that he would like to own..........

Answer 10

call a gun store to get their advise.