Thompson/Center Arms being divested

71montess · Mar 4, 2023

Every gun owner should know how to ram the round ball down a barrel.

greencobra · Mar 4, 2023

i can remember driving my contender to rochester, nh for some needed tlc after a tough silhouette season in the mid '80's. walked right in the front door looking for the service department. talk about brass balls. [laugh]

the lady made a quick call, someone came to the front reception and took my gun. after a hour and 45+ minute drive, i fully expected to leave with my repaired gun. this guy rolled his eyes, said come back in a couple hours, he'd see what they could do. the nice lady out front dug around her desk and came up with a coupon for pewter pot and said i could use it for breakfast if i wanted to head there for a while and jotted down directions. i had a nice ride, ate a nice breakfast, met some nice people at t/c and returned home with my contender repaired under warranty.

fast forward to 2020, i wrote t/c at s&w in springfield to try and buy a couple barrel pivot pins and a new rear sight for a 14" barrel. several attempts and i'm still waiting for a reply. guess that will never happen now. but happily, i got what i wanted off gunbroker.

Woodsloafer · Mar 4, 2023

Mark from MA said:
This......just like Marlin, someone will need to focus on quality. That costs money. But the market is not like it is for Marlin Leverguns........

The market for quality wood/blue old style muzzleloaders is small and there are a lot of custom guys doing the work now. They get high prices for these guns...but they aren't the average joe.

The average joe went to a plastic stocked/stainless breech plug removable muzzleloader and CVA pretty much has most of that market now, and honestly while not as nice as a T/C,
fits the bill.

Wood/blue muzzleloaders, there's almost nothing out there there that's good......but i'm not too sure how big the market is for a quality wood/blue muzzleloader pushing 1K in price tag.
Because thats what T/C was great at.

I have a White Mountain Carbine and I'll never get rid of it because in my eyes its irreplaceable, they don't make the quality anymore.

Bringing back the contender and stuff like that...sure.....it would help, but again....profitwise....what is the market for shit like that....very small.

I have one of these, I don't like the look of the buttstock (it fits me fine though) but other than that it is an awesome muzzleloader IMO. Hopefully they don't get bought out by someone like S&W and get flushed down the drain.

Woodman Arms Home Of The Patriot™ Muzzleloader

Woodman Arms is the home of the most accurate & reliable muzzleloader rifle in America, the Patriot™. Located in Fremont, NH, we ship nationally including, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Tennessee, North Carolina, & Virginia.

woodmanarms.com

Broc · Mar 4, 2023

Mark from MA said:
Wood/blue muzzleloaders, there's almost nothing out there there that's good

*Pedersoli joins the chat*

Asaltweapon · Mar 4, 2023

greencobra said:
i can remember driving my contender to rochester, nh for some needed tlc after a tough silhouette season in the mid '80's. walked right in the front door looking for the service department. talk about brass balls. the lady made a quick call, someone came to the front reception and took my gun. after a hour and 45+ minute drive, i fully expected to leave with my repaired gun. this guy rolled his eyes, said come back in a couple hours, he'd see what they could do. the nice lady out front dug around her desk and came up with a coupon for pewter pot and said i could use it for breakfast if i wanted to head there for a while and jotted down directions. i had a nice ride, ate a nice breakfast, met some nice people at t/c and returned home with my contender repaired under warranty.

fast forward to 2020, i wrote t/c at s&w in springfield to try and buy a couple barrel pivot pins and a new rear sight for a 14" barrel. several attempts and i'm still waiting for a reply. guess that will never happen now. but happily, i got what i wanted off gunbroker.

In 81 I drove from Westford to Springfield with my Mod66 for a trigger job. I returned with my updated gun the same day.
Smooth as melted butter and a 2# trigger pull in single action.

I’m sure they’ll jump right on that today if they even have the employed talent for that work anymore.

CRSIII · Mar 4, 2023

71montess said:
Every gun owner should know how to ram the round ball down a barrel.

I see what you tried to do there.

JuergenG · Mar 4, 2023

greencobra said:
i can remember driving my contender to rochester, nh for some needed tlc after a tough silhouette season in the mid '80's. walked right in the front door looking for the service department. talk about brass balls. the lady made a quick call, someone came to the front reception and took my gun. after a hour and 45+ minute drive, i fully expected to leave with my repaired gun. this guy rolled his eyes, said come back in a couple hours, he'd see what they could do. the nice lady out front dug around her desk and came up with a coupon for pewter pot and said i could use it for breakfast if i wanted to head there for a while and jotted down directions. i had a nice ride, ate a nice breakfast, met some nice people at t/c and returned home with my contender repaired under warranty.

fast forward to 2020, i wrote t/c at s&w in springfield to try and buy a couple barrel pivot pins and a new rear sight for a 14" barrel. several attempts and i'm still waiting for a reply. guess that will never happen now. but happily, i got what i wanted off gunbroker.

Similar experience for me: An old friend's Contender (the one above, now mine) had the hammer spur broken off, a spare couldn't be obtained from the dealer/importer for several years.
In December of '95 I was on one of my more frequent business trips to MA and promised the Old Timer, to bring a new hammer with me. My friend from MA and I made a detour to Rochester on our way to Kittery in quite some snow and walked into TC with nothing but the serial. That was shortly after they lost most all of their stock wood to a fire.
The friendly CS rep mentioned that they had the change of the hammers from old to new style right around that serial and asked for the gun to be sent in and they would convert it to the new style hammer for free. When I mentiontened that it would be a hazzle to ship the gun from and to Germany he said "I have an idea, lemme make a call" Coming back from the call he said "gimme 20-30 minutes". He returned in that timeframe and handed me both, one hammer old and one new style, along with new springs FOR FREE!
THAT's Customer Service!

However, I can't complain about S&W's CS in that timeframe, too.
In February of '97 I brought my 686-3 and had it converted to a one-of-one at the factory. It's got the case hardened wide hammer and target trigger instead of the narrow stainless ones, ramp front sight milled off and replaced by a pinned McGivern, new rear sight b/c I had messed with the screw and went through the Master Fitter - FOR FREE!

Coyote33 · Mar 4, 2023

Broc said:
It is too bad the Kahr Group didn't buy them, those guys are doing great things. They are doing everything SW and Ruger could have been but f*cked up.

Smith and Wesson is such a POS company.

I wish they, or someone else, would have bought up NEF/H&R. The Handi Rifle and their shotguns were solid, accurate, and reliable. The thing is, they were a little rough and crude. I think if they improved finish by 10%, they could increase sales by 70%. Keep the same basic idea, just refine a tiny bit. Also, a stainless version would be good.

So, what ever happened to the tools/factory/patents/etc. from NEF/H&R? Could someone buy them now? Would be a neat idea for a new company to take them over.

Mesatchornug · Mar 4, 2023

Coyote33 said:
I wish they, or someone else, would have bought up NEF/H&R. The Handi Rifle and their shotguns were solid, accurate, and reliable. The thing is, they were a little rough and crude. I think if they improved finish by 10%, they could increase sales by 70%. Keep the same basic idea, just refine a tiny bit. Also, a stainless version would be good.

So, what ever happened to the tools/factory/patents/etc. from NEF/H&R? Could someone buy them now? Would be a neat idea for a new company to take them over.

Didn't PSA buy H&R?

In fact:

[SHOT Show 2023] PSA's New H and R Retro Rifle Series -

Palmetto State Armory recently acquired the Harrington & Richardson brand, and is working with NoDak Spud to make a new series of retro rifles.

www.thefirearmblog.com

Coyote33 · Mar 4, 2023

That is a TOTALLY different thing than the Handi Rifle. I was talking about those specific rifles, not the company name.

Broc · Mar 4, 2023

Mesatchornug said:
Didn't PSA buy H&R?

In fact:

[SHOT Show 2023] PSA's New H and R Retro Rifle Series -

Palmetto State Armory recently acquired the Harrington & Richardson brand, and is working with NoDak Spud to make a new series of retro rifles.

www.thefirearmblog.com

Dude, SICK! another AR15 ... just what we needed.

Mesatchornug · Mar 4, 2023

Coyote33 said:
That is a TOTALLY different thing than the Handi Rifle. I was talking about those specific rifles, not the company name.

Of course it is. Companies that make things people want don't go out of business.

I answered the question of what happened to the company and its tooling - they were bought out.

Broc said:
Dude, SICK! another AR15 ... just what we needed.

I agree.

In the interview, they talk about the fact they're planning to re-release the M1 "and others"

They got bought by PSA. We shouldn't be surprised they start with an easy product. Hopefully, they'll see enough success that they try riskier products.

KMM696 · Mar 4, 2023

Mesatchornug said:
...

In the interview, they talk about the fact they're planning to re-release the M1 "and others"

They got bought by PSA. We shouldn't be surprised they start with an easy product. Hopefully, they'll see enough success that they try riskier products.

Like this, for instance

PSA STG 44 Repro Is First in Palmetto’s New ‘Battlefield’ Gun Line

Meet the PSA STG 44, a reproduction of the WWII-era StG-44 rifle that is kicking off the company's new Battlefield line of throwback guns.

freerangeamerican.us

MisterHappy · Mar 4, 2023

Has anyone posted, "Group Buy?"

Coyote33 · Mar 4, 2023

Mesatchornug said:
I answered the question of what happened to the company and its tooling - they were bought out.

Here, let me make it more clear for you:

Coyote33 said:
The Handi Rifle and their shotguns were solid, accurate, and reliable. ...
So, what ever happened to the tools/factory/patents/etc. from NEF/H&R? Could someone buy them now?

From the context, most people would get that this was about the Handi Rifle specifically, not the company in general. If I'm mistaken, it should be clear now.

Just in case, let me rephrase it:
What ever happened to the tools/factory/patents/etc. for the Handi Rifle from NEF/H&R? Could someone buy them now?

Mesatchornug · Mar 4, 2023

Coyote33 said:
Just in case, let me rephrase it:
What ever happened to the tools/factory/patents/etc. for the Handi Rifle from NEF/H&R? Could someone buy them now?

I'll write slowly.

H&R owns the tools.

H&R is owned by PSA.

PSA will decide if they'll come back.

That decision will follow attempts at more popular - and profitable - designs.

Coyote33 · Mar 4, 2023

Interesting. Did they move everything down to North Carolina then? Did employees also move there?

Broc · Mar 4, 2023

Mesatchornug said:
I'll write slowly.

H&R owns the tools.

H&R is owned by PSA.

PSA will decide if they'll come back.

That decision will follow attempts at more popular - and profitable - designs.

Please, can you write it a little slower?

Mesatchornug · Mar 4, 2023

Coyote33 said:
Interesting. Did they move everything down to North Carolina then? Did employees also move there?

I don't know any of the internal decisions of a company I don't work for.

I highly doubt any employees moved.

From the interview I linked, from this year's SHOT show, the new CEO of H&R is the founder of NoDak Spud. It sounds like he moved to SC to be part of JJE (the parent company of PSA) so I'd be surprised if the tools aren't there.

Dadstoys · Mar 4, 2023

Mark from MA said:
This......just like Marlin, someone will need to focus on quality. That costs money. But the market is not like it is for Marlin Leverguns........

The market for quality wood/blue old style muzzleloaders is small and there are a lot of custom guys doing the work now. They get high prices for these guns...but they aren't the average joe.

The average joe went to a plastic stocked/stainless breech plug removable muzzleloader and CVA pretty much has most of that market now, and honestly while not as nice as a T/C,
fits the bill.

Wood/blue muzzleloaders, there's almost nothing out there there that's good......but i'm not too sure how big the market is for a quality wood/blue muzzleloader pushing 1K in price tag.
Because thats what T/C was great at.

I have a White Mountain Carbine and I'll never get rid of it because in my eyes its irreplaceable, they don't make the quality anymore.

Bringing back the contender and stuff like that...sure.....it would help, but again....profitwise....what is the market for shit like that....very small.

What bullets do you use in the carbine ?
The only one's we found that would shoot straight in my Dad's were the Buffalo Bore and they of course don't make them anymore.
My son uses it for black powder season and the last doe he got , he shot right between the eyes as it was peeking over a stone wall at him.

Thompson/Center Arms being divested

Similar threads