thompson center arms . for the unrelated thompson submachinegun see thompson submachinegun . thompson center arms inc type subsidiary industry firearms founded 1965 founder k. w. thompson tool & warren center headquarters springfield massachusetts u.s products rifles pistols parent smith & wesson website http www.tcarms.com thompson center arms is an american firearms company based in springfield massachusetts . the company is best known for its line of interchangeable barrel single shot pistols and rifles . thompson center also manufactures muzzle loading rifles and is credited with creating the resurgence of their use in the 1970s . contents 1 history 2 break action pistols 2.1 contender 2.2 the encore 2.3 the contender g2 2.4 general legalities 2.4.1 california legalities 3 muzzleloading rifles 4 muzzleloading pistols 5 thompson center arms and the supreme court 6 references 7 external links history edit in the 1960s warren center developed an unusual break action single shot pistol that later became known as the contender in his basement workshop . meanwhile the k.w. thompson tool company had been searching for a product to manufacture year round . in 1965 warren center joined the k.w. thompson tool company and together they announced warren center s contender pistol in 1967 . although it sold for more than comparable hunting revolvers the flexibility of being able to shoot multiple calibers by simply changing out the barrel and sights and its higher accuracy soon made it popular with handgun hunters . 1 as k.w. thompson tool began marketing center s contender pistol the company name was changed to thompson center arms company . then in 1970 thompson center created the modern black powder industry introducing warren center s hawken styled black powder muzzle loader rifle . 2 on january 4 2007 thompson center was purchased by smith & wesson . 3 on december 8 2010 smith & wesson announced that the original rochester new hampshire plant would be closed and manufacturing was transferred to springfield massachusetts . 4 break action pistols edit thompson center s success came with the emergence of long range handgun hunting target shooting and especially metallic silhouette shooting . 5 their break action single shot design brought rifle like accuracy and power in a handgun which was a new concept at the time . originally designed only for interchangeable barrels in .38 special and .22 lr subsequent handgun developments by thompson center led to a wider range of interchangeable barrels for use with many more cartridges . opening and closing the break open action is accomplished by squeezing the outside bottom of the trigger guard toward the grip buttstock at which time the action opens and an extractor manually extracts the cartridge . contender edit main article thompson center contender contender in 45 colt .410 with ventilated rib the contender first introduced in 1967 is a break action single shot pistol or rifle with a number of unique features . the first unique feature is the way the barrel is attached to the frame . by removing the fore end a large hinge pin is exposed ; by pushing this hinge pin out the barrel can be removed . since the sights and extractor remain attached to the barrel in the contender design the frame itself contains no cartridge specific features . a barrel of another caliber can be installed and pinned in place the fore end replaced and the pistol is ready to shoot with a different barrel and pre aligned sights . this allowed easy changes of calibers sights and barrel lengths with only a flat screwdriver being required for change out . 6 the encore edit the encore was released in 1983 . the encore uses a different trigger mechanism designed to be stronger than the original contender s and to make the break action easier to open . the encore uses a considerably larger and stronger frame than the contender and accordingly is found in over 86 cartridges ranging from .22 hornet to the huge .416 rigby . there has even been one pistol length stainless barrel made in .600 nitro express . the encore barrel list also includes shotgun barrels in 28 20 and 12 gauge and muzzleloading barrels in .45 .50 caliber and 12 gauge using 209 shotgun primers . in 2007 encore rimfire barrels became available in 22 lr and 17 hmr featuring a unique monoblock design that required no alteration to the frame assembly . an upgraded t c encore is called the pro hunter which generally includes stocks with rubber flex tech inserts and are stainless or carbon steel with weather shielding . there are other slight differences among the rifles including the breech plug on muzzleloader versions . 7 the contender g2 edit the original contender now known as the generation one g1 contender was replaced by the g2 contender soon after the encore came out . the g2 contender is essentially dimensionally the same as the original contender but uses an encore style trigger group . due to the changes in the trigger mechanism and to differences in the angle of the grip relative to the boreline of the gun the buttstocks and pistol grips are different between the g1 and g2 contenders and will not interchange . the g2 though uses essentially the same barrels and fore ends as the original contender citation needed and barrels will interchange with the only two exceptions being the g2 muzzleloading barrels which will only fit the g2 frame and the herrett barrels fore ends which are specific for use only on a g1 frame . 8 unlike the original contender dry firing of the g2 contender is possible only in the center safe hammer position located on the hammer between the centerfire and rimfire positions . also unlike the original contender the break action does not need to be opened closed cycled to practice dry firing provided the hammer is lowered between dry firing shots . the adjustability of g2 contender triggers is also slightly different from the original g1 contender . general legalities edit the receiver on a contender whether g1 or g2 is the portion of the combined grip buttstock assembly containing the trigger mechanism and this is legally considered the serial numbered gun . hence barrels with iron sights barrels with telescopic sights and even the hinge pin are all simply gun parts with no serial numbers making the choice of changing cartridges from a multitude of rimfire centerfire rifle and pistol cartridges and even shotgun shells very simple . it is possible to fit a shoulder stock on a pistol frame in place of a pistol grip and when combined with a 16 or longer barrel see thompson center arms and the supreme court below a contender may be legally converted from a pistol to a rifle or reversed . although it is technically possible to fit a pistol grip on an original contender rifle frame and use a pistol barrel to convert it from being a rifle to a pistol this is not legal in the usa being an illegal creation of a pistol from a rifle . in order to be able to go back and forth the receiver must have been originally sold as a pistol per atf rules . california legalities edit see gun laws in california possession of a thompson center arms .45 .410 pistol barrel is illegal in california for both dealers and individuals and such a barrel may not legally be shipped into the state or even taken into california for a hunting trip by reason of it being classified as a short barreled shotgun sbsg when used with a contender receiver . 9 muzzleloading rifles edit tc hawken percussion rifle thompson center manufactures a variety of muzzleloading rifles of both traditional and inline designs and sells percussion and flintlock rifles in a wide variety of bore diameters . some of the better known models are the renegade the hawken the big boar and the white mountain . the traditional thompson center muzzleloaders are largely responsible for the resurgence of black powder hunting that began in the u.s. in 1970 when warren center designed the firm s hawken styled rifle . thompson center s reintroduced hawken styled rifle with solid brass hardware and an american walnut stock styled in large part on plains rifles made by hawken in the 1800s has become one of the most copied firearms designs in history . 10 thompson center produced these rifles in the following models and calibers cherokee barrel 24 octagonal twist 1 30 32 & 1 48 36 & 45 trigger double set caliber 32 36 & 45 stock american walnut status discontinued 1994 ignition percussion seneca barrel 27 octagonal twist 1 30 32 & 1 48 36 & 45 trigger double set caliber 32 36 & 45 stock american walnut status discontinued 1987 ignition percussion hawken barrel 28 octagonal twist 1 48 except 1 66 on 50 cal deep button rifling trigger double set caliber 40 45 50 & 54 stock american walnut status 40 45 & 54 discontinued 50 in production many special editions ignition flint & percussion cougar special edition of the hawken satin finish barrel stainless furniture highly figured wood renegade barrel 26 octagonal 1 38 50 1 48 50 & 54 1 66 50 deep button rifling smoothbore 56 trigger double set caliber 50 54 & 56 stock american walnut status discontinued ignition flintlock & percussion big boar barrel 26 octagonal 1 48 trigger single caliber 58 stock american walnut status discontinued ignition percussion encore 209x50 a modern design muzzleloader that can interchange with centerfire barrels . based on a single shot break action the 209x50 is capable of minute of angle accuracy . the 209x50 can handle charges of up to 150 grains 9.7 g of black powder or pyrodex equivalent . using a 26 barrel and a 250 grain 16 g bullet with 3 pyrodex pellets it produces a muzzle velocity of 2203 ft. second . g2 contender a modern design muzzleloader which accepts magnum charges for long range shooting . charges of up to 150 grains 9.7 g of ffg black powder or three 3 50 grain pyrodex pellets produce velocities of approximately 2 400 ft s 730 m s at the muzzle . the omega can handle 150 grains 9.7 g of black powder or pyrodex equivalent or three 50 grain 3.2 g pyrodex pellets . with its 28 barrel it burns magnum charges very efficiently . triumph this t c muzzleloader comes in .50 cal . with a 28 barrel and composite stock . muzzleloading pistols edit thompson center patriot black powder muzzleloader pistol chambered in .45 . thompson center scout black powder muzzleloader pistol chambered in .54 . patriot barrel 9 octagonal trigger double set caliber .36 & .45 stock american walnut status discontinued 1997 ignition percussion . scout barrel 15 round trigger single set caliber 45 50 & 54 stock american walnut status discontinued 199 ignition percussion . a major factory fire at the thompson center factory in 1996 destroyed all tooling and parts for the scout and patriot pistols and the seneca rifle . as a result they were discontinued for sale . 11 thompson center arms and the supreme court edit in the case of united states v. thompson center arms co. 1992 the u.s. supreme court ruled in the company s favor by deciding that the rifle conversion kit that thompson sold for their pistols did not constitute a short barreled rifle under the national firearms act of 1934 . 12 the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms contended that the mere possession of a pistol having a barrel less than sixteen inches 406 mm long a shoulder stock and a rifle length more than sixteen inches barrel constituted constructive intent to make an illegal short barreled rifle sbr by combining the pistol s frame the pistol length barrel and the shoulder stock even if the shoulder stock was intended to be used