Thompson Center Teases New Production “T/C Encore Pro Hunter”
In a short video released yesterday on the company’s Instragram page, Thompson/Center Arms teased a short look at a T/C Pro Hunter with an ending screen sharing the date “4/30”
“A new era of America’s Master Gunmaker begins 4/30/24.
#tcarms”
The post doesn’t say anything about T/C offering a return of the encore modern inline muzzleloader, the Encore platform has been used for both muzzleloading and center fire arms in the past.
When looking at screenshots from the video, it looks like the TC Pro Hunter used shows a knurled breech plug, so speculation is swirling on the return of a TC modern inline muzzleloader.
Commenters pointed out the Nikon scope on the rifle in the video and the fact that Nikon hasn’t produced a scope in years, to which TC responded “historic footage, new era.”
Will Thompson Center return?
Unless an instagram account hacker is playing a trick on a the TC fanbase, it looks like we could see a return of the Thompson Center brand. That being said, it’s hard to tell what that brand will be. When a company moves hands several times in a few short years it’s hard to know what pieces of what made the original company great will still be there.
The last we heard from Thompson Center, Smith and Wesson was looking to “divest” the brand. We’ve heard no official word on if Smith and Wesson did indeed sell T/C Arms, or if this is Smith and Wesson putting funding into the iconic brand to tap into another market.
Regardless, it seems someone somewhere sees potential in the Thompson Center name and is willing to give it another go.
Will Thompson Center Produce more Hawkens?
Even with the increased demand in recent years for traditional muzzleloaders, the return of a Thompson Center hawken is unlikely. It would be great to get an anniversary edition of somekind, but Thompson Center has been focused on modern muzzleloaders and center fire rifles for some time now, and the return of a Hawken would be an “out of left field” wildcard.