HuntingNet.com Forums - TC Triumph review

As many of you remember, I was robbed back in June. In this robbery, I lost my muzzleloader along with many other guns. Due to the insurance, I was able to purchase a new TC Triumph as part of the starter kit offered from Cabela’s. This Triumph was Black with the Weathersheild barrel, 100 gr 777 pellets, 777 primers, 250 grain shockwaves and had the Cabelas 2 – 7 variable magnification scope. The following is my review.

First impression of the guns is how light it was compared to my CVA Kodiak Pro and other rifles. The thin forend made the gun extremely easy to shoulder and bring in to shooting position naturally. After “playing” with the gun for a couple minutes it became very easy to operate in terms of the break open action. It does require two hands to complete the movement necessary to open and close, but easy once learned. The breech plug took a couple minutes to get used to as well, but did operate as advertised. I could easily remove and install the plug with just two fingers. The most impressive feature was the trigger. At 3.5 pounds of pressure (according to TC), it reminds me of my .257 Weatherby mag. Crisp and fast with almost no creep. Overall the gun feels and shoulders wonderfully and I love the trigger.

After I mounted the scope (Cabela’s ships medium see through rings as part of the starter kit. I prefer low rings to keep my check down on the gun and would have bought a separate scope had I known this. However, I wanted to shoot too badly to give a hoot at this point). It was getting late in the day and my first range session was rushed. I was able to get all (20) of the TC 250 grain Shockwaves within 6” x 6” area at 100 yards, but did not have any consistency. I did clean after every shot for the first 10 shots. I knew I was not consistent in my seating pressure and I believe I was flinching and yanking the trigger near the end as I got a little frustrated. The good news was the breech plug was able to be removed just using two fingers even after 6 consecutive shots. Not as easy as before, but still did not require the tool supplied with the gun. The gun cleaned up easily and quickly in part to the break open action and removable breech plug.

Today, I brought the gun back out set up a solid bench rest. I loaded the gun paying special attention to my loading procedure and seating pressure. I always shoot using a clean barrel and do not snap a cap prior to foul the barrel prior to shooting. At 100 yards using 250 gr TC Shockwaves, 100 gr 777 pellets and the 777 mag primers, first shot was ¼” to the right. I believe the first shot is the one that counts the most in Muzzleloading, so I did a full breakdown and clean before attempting the second shot. The second shot was 1” to the right. I repeated the procedure and the third shot split the first two.

At this point I was ecstatic and wanted to see how the gun would perform if I skipped any cleaning or swabbing and fired 4 and 5 immediately after each other. I am positive I flinched on #4 and seated #5 harder then normal. Still within the kill zone at 100 yards. [/i]Could not complain at this point, so I decided to clean the gun and be done for the day. Again, the breech plug removed using just two fingers and the gun was cleaned and oiled within 5 minutes.

Everything about the gun is as advertised and I am extremely happy with this gun. Accuracy is obvious from the pictures.

Dislikes:
1. CVA incorporates a twist extension jag on the ramrod supplied with the gun that allows loading projectiles without screwing in another jag. TC does not. I believe this would slow down loading a fast follow up shot in the field. Trying to twist on a jag just to load a sabot would be time consuming. I use a range rod when shooting at the range to minimize mistakes, but the TC supplied ramrod also really hurts your hand when seating sabots as they seat tighter with consecutive shots. With the range rod it does not mater, but I do have a bruise on my hand from trying to complete the loading procedure using the supplied ramrod. I think one of the new TC power handles would help, but I would like to see an incorporated sabot jog on the end of the ramrod. Maybe somebody can tell me the procedure and tools they use to load follow up shots quickly using the TC Triumph rod in the field.
2. Two days after the first range session I pulled the gun out just to handle and shoulder the weapon. I do this with all my firearms to make sure I can strip, clean, load and know exactly how they function blindfolded. This way I can keep my eyes on my target and still load or reload the weapon. Upon removing the breech plug I noticed the interior of the barrel had a light coating of “rust”. I cleaned, dried and oiled this gun thoroughly after using it as I believe a gun should last past my lifetime. This concerns me greatly and I will be watching for this again after this second range session. I will report back. It is possible I missed the oil after the first session and left some cleaner in the barrel, but I remain dubious.

Other observations:

This gun had almost no to very little crud ring using the 777 primers. In my old CVA using 209M primers, I had to use a brush jag to bust this crud ring up before loading another projectile. I always mark my ramrods to make sure the projectiles are being seated to the same depth on every load. The combination of 777 pellets and primers aloud for this every time without using the brush jab. The sabots did load a little bit tougher as consecutive shots were fired, but nothing to extreme.
250 gr TC Shockwaves: I have always been a Powerbelt shooter as they were recommended by CVA. I use what the manufacturers recommend and shot TC Shockwaves out of this gun. The targets you see were screwed into ¾” plywood. 12 yards beyond was this 4” tree. The shockwaves blew right through the plywood and tree in tight groups and kept going! I am impressed and looking forward to trying them out on deer. [/ol]

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.