S&W To Divest Itself From Thompson Center

[Rick B]

Received an email today, from Marty at Haus of Arms. Enclosed was a letter from a VP of Sales at S&W. Letter stated that S&W was going to divest itself from TC and redirect the production equipment to it core business. All orders are immediately canceled.
Rick

[Markopolo]

wow.... But I like TC...

[Rick B]

TC was an Iconic gunmaker! A true American sucess story. They brought us an affordable and reliable Hawken Rifle and the Contender just to name a few. Hope an energetic company buys the name and continues to produce the product line.

[racepres]

Perfect... the folks that brought you "Bangor Punta"... do Not want a quality product!!!
My Keyboard... my opinion... we all gots one...

[Gtek]

S&W has been on my POO list since it went Monica for the Clinton administration.

[megasupermagnum]

Thank god. Maybe TC can get back to being TC. Innovative, creative, quality, unique. For 15 years or better now they have been more stagnant than pond water. Just rebadged plastic "muzzleloading" wonders, year after year. The only good and innovative idea they had was the Dimention bolt action, and they discontinued that right away. The Impact was a good thing for muzzleloaders. Other than those, they have been resting on the laurels of their Encore from something like 1998.

Back in TC's heyday it seemed they came out with a new thing every year. More than a the plant burned out in that fire.

[WestKentucky]

That’s sad. Maybe I should pick up a g2 frame and an armor alloy frame just to have a full set... or not. I have better things to pour money into. It’s kinda sad for me as I really am a big revolver fan so I am in turn a S&W fan, but it seems that the company as a whole is just churning out the same mess that they have for decades and simply expect sales to keep happening. Hell, even Taurus has had some innovative stuff happening, but not S&W. Taurus made the Judge, S&W copied it. Glock made the g17 and S&W copied that. Everybody made a pocket nine, the shield was kinda late to the party but it got there. Ruger made the mk series pistols and S&W copied the basics. Ruger made the American and TC(S&W) copied it. Every rock has an AR factory under it and S&W copied the budget AR. Specifically I think they copied the DPMS oracle flat-top optics ready carbine.

HEY S&W quit it. It’s not nice to copy everybody else. Do something original.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Henry might be a good fit with T/C. I never owned one but enjoyed shooting a few over the years.

[Rick B]

Well stated megasupermagnum.

[Ural Driver]

Hey Ruger!......are ya listening?

[Rick B]

With Ruger's investment casting experience. The Contender/Encore line would be a good fit.

[marlinman93]

I once was a little crazy over Contender pistols, and had a couple frames and about 15 barrels. Then one day I suddenly realized I regularly only shot about 3 of those barrels, even though I had dies, and molds to shoot all of them.
My interests had changed to other guns, so I hauled it all out to our local gun show and a guy bought everything for an agreed total price. Haven't owned one since.

[downzero]

he shield was kinda late to the party but it got there.

Late? People had been begging for a single stack 9mm Glock for decades. S&W created the Shield and everyone makes one now.

The M&P was such a revolution that Glock actually has made meaningful changes to its pistols (interchangeable backstraps) for the first time in decades.

You might not think these things are innovations, but the M&P is, for me, remarkably better than its competition and it has continued to get better for the last 15+ years I've been paying attention.

I'm a 1911 and revolver guy and even I can recognize that! Ruger and S&W are both among the best American gun companies.

[Shawlerbrook]

I truly hope someone continues the TC brand. When they were in Rochester, NH , they were as good of a gun company as there was. Quality and customer service was second to none.

[marlinman93]

Late? People had been begging for a single stack 9mm Glock for decades. S&W created the Shield and everyone makes one now.

The M&P was such a revolution that Glock actually has made meaningful changes to its pistols (interchangeable backstraps) for the first time in decades.

You might not think these things are innovations, but the M&P is, for me, remarkably better than its competition and it has continued to get better for the last 15+ years I've been paying attention.

I'm a 1911 and revolver guy and even I can recognize that! Ruger and S&W are both among the best American gun companies.

Totally agree with this! I have always loved my 1911's, but I also love my S&W revolvers. I was irritated when the British plumbing company owned them and bowed down to the Clintons, but once it changed hands I was OK with S&W again. Don't own any newer than the early 1980's, but only because I love older S&W handguns.

[Tar Heel]

When S&W went plastic, it all went to heck. Their current revolvers are no where near the quality of their revolvers up to 1990.
Built my first T/C Hawken from their kit in '75. Love the Contender line. They were very nice muzzleloading rifles and single shot pistols.

[45workhorse]

Sad day!
Bean counters!
I guess since the spray and pray crowd spends more money, than the one shot one, deer crowd......

[TimD]

Love my Pennsylvania hunter and my old revolvers. I haven't purchased any S&W revolvers since they put locks on them. I am surprised they don't have locks on the semi-autos. Sad.

Hopefully TC will get picked up by a company that is interested in firearms.

[jdfoxinc]

S&Wis keeping the machinery. Only the name is leaving.

[high standard 40]

S&Wis keeping the machinery. Only the name is leaving.

That may make it harder for someone to pick up the "name" and get a running start on producing guns again.