Thompson Center is best known for single-shot rifles like the Encore, but its bolt action offerings are interesting. T/C seems to like their rifles to be different and the Venture is no exception. For starters, the Venture has three locking lugs. This gives the rifle a quick 60 degree bolt lift and allows for slightly lower scope mounting. Whether or not the multiple lugs add strength or the shorter bolt lift adds speed are just two more of the everlasting debates in the shooting world that have been going on since Roy Weatherby introduced the Mark V. In practice, the difference mostly boils down to preference.
T/C is also using a new type of rifling for the Venture barrels that they have dubbed 5R. This rifling is nothing out of the ordinary aside from the rounding on the edges of the lands. T/C claims that this rounding will make for both easier cleaning and greater accuracy. 5R rifling will definitely make cleaning easier, but despite many claims of exceptional performance improvements over the years we have yet to find one design that can solely be attributed to for greater accuracy. The execution at the factory of any given rifling is what counts, although by now one can assume T/C has a pretty good handle on rifling barrels.
The Venture lost a point for durability mostly because it is a new design. No one knows how well these rifles will weather the years, so the point deduction is just to remind you to take that into account if this is going to be your only hunting rifle for a while. The scope mount was judged to be average because it is not free and is as untested as the rest of the rifle. The Venture also lost a point in the fit/finish category. T/C products tend to have a focus on function over appearance, but T/C buyers have never seemed to mind this on the Encore.
While the Venture is an intriguing rifle and there are probably a lot of guys out there who would like to give it a try out of sheer curiosity, which may not be enough to keep it in production in its current form. The Venture has a lot in common with the newly released Ruger American, which is available at a lower cost. This does not mean that T/C will stop making the Venture, but it may have to evolve. If the action of the Venture proves to be popular and dependable then T/C will likely begin to dress up the rifle and offer it in varmint, tactical or other special models which will have specific targeted uses and correspondingly higher price tags.