T/C venture predator

nononsense

February 18, 2010 16:51

omegas,

A visit to the T/C website will usually answer some of your questions:

http://www.tcarms.com/whereToBuy/

Unfortunately I won't have time to do any testing until later in March.

Best.

0

tsr1965

February 19, 2010 06:00

quote:Originally posted by nononsense
omegas,

A visit to the T/C website will usually answer some of your questions:

http://www.tcarms.com/whereToBuy/

Unfortunately I won't have time to do any testing until later in March.

Best.

Nononsense,

I am sure by the time March rolls around, that you will have plenty of play toys built up to test. Surely enough to keep you busy for the summer.[:D][:D][:D]

I have meant to ask your opinion of the ICON, and its bedding system also.

omegass,

If the Venture is 1/2 the rifle I hear the ICON is, then it still trumps a lot of others, from major competitors.

Best

0

nononsense

February 20, 2010 05:26

omegass,

The base rifle is the Venture and the Predator has a camouflage presentation:

The best part is probably that T/C (and Smith & Wesson essentially) decided to keep the basic ICON action but eliminated some of the frills, thereby making it less expensive and hitting the price point they are after with the Venture.

T/C ICON

Note also that the action is fed from a detachable magazine which eliminates the geometry of action feed rails (for every different cartridge) which is expensive in manufacturing. They also use a constant diameter bolt which features a rebated bolt lug arrangement which eliminates the very expensive process of cutting of the lugways in the action. Now it's simply a drill and ream operation.

Granted this excerpt is written by gun magazine writers who are paid to make every product sound wonderful but it seems to follow what some of the general public is saying also.

"The Venture retains many of the Icon?_Ts features: an extremely stiff receiver, an excellent, owner-adjustable trigger (The factory says it?_Ts set at 3 to 3 A? pounds, but mine breaks at 4 A? pounds which disturbs me not at all.), massive bolt with three rebated lugs and a short 60-degree lift, and a match-grade button-rifled barrel. My .30/06 Venture weighs 7 pounds, 12 ounces with a Cabela?_Ts Alaska Guide Premium 3X-9X scope on board, so it is a light rifle. The stock is molded, has a good recoil pad, and gray ?_otraction panels?__ at the grip and fore-end. The Venture feeds from a detachable single-stack magazine, and comes in .270, .30/06, 7mm Rem. Mag or .300 Win. Mag. You can have any barrel length you want as long as it?_Ts 24 inches.

Thompson/Center guarantees that the Venture will shoot a minute of angle. Mine will do better than that?_"a lot better. Here?_Ts the poop. (All groups are three shots at 100 yards.)

Federal 168-grain Match--.789?__

Federal 165-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip?_"1.195?__

HSM 165-grain soft-point--.855?__*

Nosler 180-grain E-Tip handload--.919?__

Winchester 180-grain Power Point?_"1.163?__

Berger 155-grain VLD handload--.667?__**

T/C is not woofing; this is an MOA rifle and then some. It?_Ts worth noting that not all that long ago, you could not have bought a big-game rifle this accurate no matter what you spent. For something to shoot like this for under $500 shakes me to the core of my being. Ventures should be in the pipeline as you read this, but I would not be surprised if they are in short supply for a while. The gun is astounding."

I've seen current prices as low as $437.00 (Venture) so this could be a decent introductory rifle even with the limited cartridge selection. They offer just enough choices to cover deer and elk which is probably 99% of the hunting in the U.S.

The stock is once again part of the injection molded generation of plastic stocks. As such, it doesn't thrill me but it does open the obvious door for the aftermarket stock makers to ply their trade for replacement stocks. There is certainly nothing that stops you from buying the less expensive model and having the stock and your scope hydro-dipped. Better yet, buy the less expensive version and throw that stock away in favor of a much better aftermarket stock.

The mention of 'match grade' 5R button rifled barrels and target crowns as being innovative is a good example of advertising stupidity since 5R rifling has been around for a few decades now. But they have to pump up every detail of the rifle to sell the whole package. The stated and achieved accuracy is most likely due to the rigid action and improvements in the barrel making process in general including better steel and better assembly techniques.

I am always hopeful for this end of the rifle market since we have seen some of the most painful bloopers take place in this area, with the Remington 710 leading the way in all it's worthlessness.

Best.

tsr1965,

I have the great good fortune to have access to many of the new products to test and wring out in my limited time frame. The T/C ICON is still one of the best rifles produced when all categories are included in the assessment. The original few hundred stocks were superb.

Bedding blocks are next step up from pillar bedding so they can be considered a refinement of the system for consistency and repeatability. Several manufacturers have the 'vee'-blocks inserted into some stock models which are an improvement over having just the stock material itself. But these vee-blocks still benefit from a skim bedding in order to create a stress-free bedding surface since manufacturing can't possibly make an exact fit for every variation in actions.

This is all based on the quality of the stock in the first place. There is really nothing that can done to save one of those crappy plastic stocks no matter what the advertising tries to tell us. You are better off not buying them or tearing them off before trying to shoot them.

But it remains that the accuracy will be dependent on the mating surfaces of the block and the action. This means that the actions and the blocks have to be manufactured to very close dimensions in order for the idea to work as planned. The action screws also need to be in proper alignment (perpendicularity) with the block and the action in order affect the rigidity necessary.

Plug in and play or 'drop-in' fit is a nice way to grow a market for aftermarket stocks and they are an improvement but they are never what they really should be. I still rework all of the different recoil lug abutments to be sure that there is the proper fit and function that I require. The proof is still in the performance as long as the shooter, his ammunition and scope are up to snuff.

Best.

0

T/C venture predator

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