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Thompson Center Icon Review

TC_IconThompson Center is a relatively recent competitor in the bolt-action market. In spite of the difficulties facing a recent market entrant, T/C is doing well with the Icon rifle and it possesses some features that cannot be found elsewhere, which isn’t easy either, in a market as crowded as current world of bolt actions.

The Icon action has three forward-mounted locking lugs, a relatively beefy extractor mounted on one of the lugs and an enclosed bolt face. Using three lugs instead of two allows for a shorter bolt throw and, in the opinion of some, a smoother-feeling gun. While a bit of an oddity in the current market, three lug designs have been around for decades and many companies are once again gravitating towards them for their lower production costs. The overall concept of the Icon is not a new one, but T/C does break new ground with the Icon in other areas. For starters, the Icon has a Weaver-style scope base machined into the top of the receiver. This integral base means that you never have to waste a day digging around for lost scope bases and is obviously more solid than any mounted unit could ever be. Scope bases are small matters that have a way of becoming big problems, and with the Icon this is eliminated. Another small, but important, plus is the fact that T/C has included a bolt disassembly tool with the gun. It doesn’t come up much, but chances are that over the course of a hunting career every hunter will have to strip down a bolt once. With some actions, this means using a stump or wood block to apply leverage while wishing you had a third hand growing somewhere. The included Icon tool makes the operation a simple one, requiring far less cussing. T/C’s final innovation is what it has dubbed Ultra-Wood. The Icon is available with a stock that looks like wood but is actually a laminate of carbon fiber and wood. This is supposed to produce a stock as strong and durable as synthetics, but still nice-looking. Time will tell how durable they are, but they are definitely a visual upgrade over standard laminates or synthetics.

The Icon lost one point in the Feeding/Extraction category because the action does not seem to react very well to bullets with flat or long, round noses. Since spire points are the uncontested choice of most these days, this probably isn’t much of an issue. Two points were deducted in the category of Long Term Cost of Ownership because with a T/C product replacement parts will only come from T/C. This is fine in one sense because T/C makes pretty good stuff and knockoff quality is always a bit questionable, but it does mean that T/C sets the price and you have to live with it. Points were also deducted in the categories of Reliability and Durability, mostly because the Icon is still a relative new kid on the block in the bolt-action field and a bit of caution should be exercised waiting to see if the design suffers from the growing pains that many do. The Icon should be a good, long term, piece of equipment but only time will tell. Points were also deducted in the Versatility category due to the fact that the Icon’s unique design does not lend itself to cartridge conversion. This is likely not an issue, as I’m sure that the Icon will appeal to most owners just the way it is.

Honorable Mention in our Best Bolt Action Rifle Comparison


T/C Venture Review

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.

Ranked #3 of 7 in our Best Budget Bolt Action Rifle Comparison