I bought a used rifle at a gun store but can't find out much about it. Supposedly called a Thompson Aristocrat made in the early '80's. Has two barrels.... one in .243 and the other in 22.250. Barrels lift right off as there is no pin to remove. Fit and finish is superb and locks up like a bank vault. Can anybody tell me more about this rifle ? Thanks.

Nice find.

TCR 87/83 there were a few variants.

I asked a TC sales person who was at a Cabelas grand opening about bringing them back, and he said that it was a belief by TC execs that because it sold so poorly it wasn't worth getting into.

I think the Encore/Contender lines are a lot cheaper to produce, but cost to manufacture is not something I know a lot about.

I have a Blaser k95 with 3 barrels and I'd still like to have one of those just to have one.

There has been no factory support for the TCR for a long time but there are still barrels and complete rifles for sale. There were a lot of different barrels for these; basically centerfires from .17 to 10 gauge shotgun. Gogole should find you a lot of general information.

They are solid shooting rifles.Cost to manufacture was high.

The one I had was finished very nice. High polish blue on the action, all metal finished well. Nice wood and a double set trigger to die for. I wish I had not sold it. Oh well we live a learn. If you don't like it you can send it to me. I had .223, .243, and .270 barrels. each with it's own scope and mounts. They are just a nice American Made Single shot that we are not likely to see the likes of again. DW

I've got 5 actions and about 3 times as many barrels and consider them very good hunting guns. I've got a number of custom barrels from .22 CCM and .17 Hornet thru 10-ga and .50-140 Sharps. For best accuracy be sure the hing pin, locking lug and all mating surfaces between the parts are lubicated. They are strong but flex during firing so when those mating surfaces are lubricated the flex the same way when firing. Also, they are more accurate with small cartidges like a .17 Hornet than with larger cartridges like a .300 Mag as the action flexes less. It's also better to free-float the wood on the forend from the barrel except for the first inch and let the metal on the barrel lug be the contact point. That way varying torque on the forend screww doesnt change point of impact which is important if one actually uses different barrels with the same action. Finally, I don't think most of the factory barrels were real good and if the orginal barrels are bulled from their monoblocks and replaced with better quality barrels, accuracy will generally be much better. I also prefer heavier rifle barrels and have several of the 10-ga contour which makes a heavy rifle. My last 3 custom barrels are short for use with silencers are in .220 Swift, .17 Hornet and .300 BLK. Since they are so much shorter than bolt guns with the same length barrel they are like a regular length bolt gun if used with a short barrel and silencer.

TCR 83-87, not contender! Always wanted one. Just didn't have the money when I met up with one. Story of my life.

My thanks to all who provided info on my Thompson Center. muttdad

A few more notes on the TCR. The safety is a two stroke movement on mine...push in and then slide over.
The latter ones were made to take magnum barrels. On older rec. you could send in your rec. and have it modified to take the mag. barrels. Otherwise you can't use mag. barrels on a "plain" rec.

I've removed the "safety-on-the-safety" on my TCR's as I don't see that it makes the gun any safer and probably makes one less likely to use the safety. One can remove the pin from the "magnum barrels" ond use them on a regular action but the recoil from a magnum caliber may make the action open when firing.