Looking very seriously at this gun on TC's website.does anyone own a Venture or Icon? looking at getting it in TC's .30 cal... the price on the Venture looks like a good bargain gun.
thanks for any feedback

my wife bought me an Icon Classic 270 for my birthday last year. I do not have any complaints at all. It is well balanced, smooth bolt action, and is deadly accurate. If I'm not mistaken TC has a $150 mail in rebate going on. When my wife bought mine she got the rebate plus it was tax free weekend in La. I know you could buy for less price , but might sacrifice quality! The venture is the same rifle, just with the composite stock.

thanks for the reply!

I do not have any experience with the Venture other than casual observation in a gun store. However I picked up a T/C Icon a few days ago and have had the unfortunate experience of having to send the rifle back to T/C. Here is my story:

My Icon is the Weathershield model chambered in 308 and was purchased 8-2-2010. I really like the look and feel of this gun, however, after you fire a round, you would about have to beat the bolt back to extract the case. The bolt lifted normal....just was extremely hard to pull back. After inspecting the cases, they had a small "gouge" in them just below the rim. Tried Winchester and Federal factory 150 grain loads with the exact same results.

I called T/C Customer service at 7:55 am on 8-9-2010 and was actually suprised someone answered before the "official" opening time. The C/S rep listened to my problem then put me on hold to go speak with a gunsmith. She came back within 3 minutes and told me to send the rifle back with an attention to "John" we'll say. I was then told I would be reimbursed for shipping and they would make me happy....whatever that means.

I called T/C on 8-16-2010 to ask about an expected return date for my rifle. I was told it had an expected shipment date of 8-30-10. I actually decided to call C/S everyday last week and just bug the crap out of them. My feeling was that this was a new rifle purchased on August 2nd and it should be top priority. Last Friday, I was told they would be replacing my rifle with a new one and it would be sent out on Monday, August 23rd.

The new Icon came today and I picked it up at the gun store. When I got it home I took it outside and test fired it myself and it worked as it should. A 23 day turn around time is not too bad at all, IMO. I'm happy, but still wish the original rifle would have worked. All the T/C reps that I spoke with were friendly and helpful. One in particular went above and beyond what the others did.

Here is a pic of the fired cases:

I'd kinda like to try one of those rifles....I can't see myself buying one, but I have great experience with the T/C brand for their muzzleloading rifles, and how you get a great value and an effective tool for what you pay. T/C has a great warranty and customer service, and I believe they have an accuracy guarantee on those bolt guns.

From handling them in stores, the bolt travel doesn't feel amazing and I haven't pulled the trigger. But hell, the accuracy is guaranteed and T/C will work with you if anything breaks on it.

Not so sure about the 30 TC... I'd go with something more traditional/proven. The 30 TC is one of those newly designed, low-availability cartridges if you shoot factory.

A buddy bought his son one last christmas and topped it off with a Nikon scope in a 270 win. He wants me to sight it in, cant wait to give it a try.

VA - I figured they would replace it. Did they tell you what was actually wrong with your gun?

No, they only said that it could not be fixed in a reasonable amount of time. Wonder what will happen to the gun that I sent back?

Went in to trade in my Win Model 70 in 300 win mag (getting tired of the recoil). Was going to get the Venture in .270 but they had an ICON in .243 on sale and with the $150 rebate ended up being the same price. So I went with the .243 and have been real happy. Great gun!