Thompson Center seems to have a corner on the muzzleloader market. Yes, there are still a lot of muzzleloaders being sold by other companies, but it seems like most people consider T/C the "Cream of the Crop". Why is that? Is it because it's whatmost ofthe pro's use? Is it because they actuallymake higher qualityguns than other companies? Or is it simply a mind thing and people just equate quality with price?
Just curious as to your opinions on this question....
__________________ Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my handgun...
only tc I own, is an sidelock, but every time I needed work done on it or parts there CS was great. the old thoughts of you get what you pay for comes to some peoples mind.
on the other hand, both cva and knight also have great CS. both put out great guns.
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inlines
Knight usak and 50 disc orginal
win apex 45cal
cva wolf
sidelocks
cva hawken 50cal and from parts 54cal
cva plainsman 50cal flintlock
stone mountain 50cal silver eagle
rimfire
Ruger 96/22lr, Mossberg 715t 22lr
CF
mosin nagant 91/30, and fig 9mm
A mind thing. Customer service plays a great roll. Advertisement like they have also makes it seem like they run the muzzle loading game but there are a lot of different muzzleloaders of the same quality, if not better, that are on the market.
What makes T/C that much better ... take into consideration... Kodiak, Apex, Pursuit Pro and other brands of rifles are modeled after the Omega. The Optima, again modeled after the Encore. Thompson Center came out with the Pro Hunter and Encore that can change barrels.. Optima now can change barrels, H&R can change barrels, Knight KP1 can change barrels.
What I am getting at is, for years now all the other rifle companies have been playing catch up with Thompson Center. The highly successful Omega basically took over the market until some of the other companies got their models out. Thompson Center has stayed at the top of the game by new ideas and innovations. They also have a great Customer Service. And also they do have a great product. CVA tried to head the market with their Electra.. but it failed.
Another thing T/C does is flood the market with advertising. When they get a new product or innovation like the quick release breech plug.. they market to the hunting public to make them aware of the changes and what it can do for them.
Personally I think you look at the top of the line rifles from all companies... there are great rifles in every camp. But you also notice the price difference in the top of the line is close. Also Thompson Center's bottom of the line rifle is still an EXCELLENT rifle. Meaning the fit and finish and what you can expect from it. How often have you read, well the rifle was $100.00 what do you expect. I have wrote that myself. Thompson Center puts out a great product. They market it better then other companies. They back them with great Customer Service. And even if the rifle is very old, they still back them up and have parts for them. Some companies can not make that claim.
But I will say, if I had to compare a Triumph, KP1, and Accura.. that would be a hard choice from all I have read.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
T/C innovated two major basic designs - the Omega and Encore. Think before the omega was introduced -- most inlines were mutt engineering conversions of bolt-action rifles. Lots of blowback and cleaning usually required disassembly of a bolt assembly. 209 shell holders were primitive and barely functional in many designs.
The Omega changed that, and the Encore changed it while adding the break action and barrel interchangeability. As cayugad said, most of the current designs on the market modified the Omega and Encore only enough to avoid getting sued by T/C.
While never having owned one, I always have held Knight in high regard quality-wise. Why don't I own one then? Because for years customer usability played second fiddle to their proprietary Disc invention and I refused to buy a gun that depended upon their proprietary little plastic disc to function. The Omega shot just as well, with just as little blowback, with no attempt to latch on an extra revenue stream (this proprietarianism is what held Apple Computer down for so many years). See also Knights failed attempt to sell an entire caliber (the .52 rifle) that only they made accessories for. So while I think they had an early lead in the inlines until the Omega appeared, they are now playing catchup on design (no quality issues I know of).
I think CVA has come a long way in recent years but still suffers a lack of brand equity due to their history. Time may change that.
Now Traditions (also make the Remington Genesis) I've owned two. Both were crap for quality, a pain to clean,and downright dangerous in the wrong hands. But accurate.
I agree with every thing cayugadsaid, and I think there may be a few more things that enter in to it.
Every new TC that comes out is so much better than the ones that went before that's why all the el cheapo companies copy them, usually at about 1/2 the quality.
Then there is prejudice like the ones I have when CVA [the rest of the across the water brands are usually of shoots] fist started bringing guns into the country they were awful and so was their customer service I spent many hours hardening parts that were so soft they wore out in a few weeks and trying to get them to back up there stuff. I finally refused to sell or service there stuff and to this day I do not have any use for them.
I will admit there stuff has improve a whole lot and so has their service, but I look on there copying other peoples products as less than honest. Lee
I compare Thompson center with Mathews bow company as far as leading the pack and advertising, advertising and more advertising. Mathews came out with the single cam, now every company has copied the design. They said two cam bows would be obsolete and they almostare. They started the vertical-force technolegy craze, and now everyone else followed.A lot goes into research and development and that costs money which has to be accounted for somewhere along the line.
So a TC. might cost a little more than those that follow and copy their ideas but like everyone said the customer service is second to none.
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I AIN'T AS GOOD AS I ONCE WAS, BUT I AM AS GOOD ONCE AS I EVER WAS
What makes T/C that much better ... take into consideration... Kodiak, Apex, Pursuit Pro and other brands of rifles are modeled after the Omega. The Optima, again modeled after the Encore. Thompson Center came out with the Pro Hunter and Encore that can change barrels.. Optima now can change barrels, H&R can change barrels, Knight KP1 can change barrels.
What I am getting at is, for years now all the other rifle companies have been playing catch up with Thompson Center. The highly successful Omega basically took over the market until some of the other companies got their models out. Thompson Center has stayed at the top of the game by new ideas and innovations. They also have a great Customer Service. And also they do have a great product. CVA tried to head the market with their Electra.. but it failed.
Another thing T/C does is flood the market with advertising. When they get a new product or innovation like the quick release breech plug.. they market to the hunting public to make them aware of the changes and what it can do for them.
Personally I think you look at the top of the line rifles from all companies... there are great rifles in every camp. But you also notice the price difference in the top of the line is close. Also Thompson Center's bottom of the line rifle is still an EXCELLENT rifle. Meaning the fit and finish and what you can expect from it. How often have you read, well the rifle was $100.00 what do you expect. I have wrote that myself. Thompson Center puts out a great product. They market it better then other companies. They back them with great Customer Service. And even if the rifle is very old, they still back them up and have parts for them. Some companies can not make that claim.
But I will say, if I had to compare a Triumph, KP1, and Accura.. that would be a hard choice from all I have read.
+1. Well said. Chap
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Chapman Gleason
Purcellville Va
http://www.the-gleasons.com
I agree you get what you pay for when it comes to fit and finish. But they like to lead you to believe that the encore is more powerful then other brands or types of smoke poles and it just is not so. 100grains of black powder does the same thing in a cva that it does in a TC. By the way lets not forget that the break open "Huntsman" was around long before the encore. My dad always made me carry a huntsman around when I was a kid and I hated it, I wanted "Pump gun", now I leave my pump gun at home and take my boys "wolf"!!
Curious... What makes a T/C that much better
