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. Nov 18, 2013 Serial #'s T/C Contender 'Blued' Year Jan. Thompson Contender manufacture dates Discussion in '. I see one I'm one number short luck 1970 11076.

Omega Serial Numbers By Year. Omega Serial Numbers by Year. Written by on 24 February 2001, Last Revised: 10 February, 2004, 01:09 GMT One of the questions that frequently gets asked is what the approximate date of manufacturer of an Omega Chronograph is based on it's serial number. There have been a number of charts similar to this on published in various publications in one form or another through the years. This chart is in no way a substitute for with the Serial Number of an Omega movement and requesting information as it is a very inexact guide (perhaps as close as +/- 1-2 years). However it is potentially useful for narrowing down the vintage of Omega Watches.

For those who are looking to date a Speedmaster, Please link here to compiled by Roman Hartmann and also hosted by myself again this table is also approximate and barring a more accurate table published by Omega is the best we have. Date Serial Date Serial Date Serial Date Serial Date Serial 1895 1,000,000 1944 10,000,000 1963 20,000,000 1971 33,000,000 1982 45,000,000 1902 2,000,000 1947 11,000,000 1964 21,000,000 1972 34,000,000 1984 46,000,000 1908 3,000,000 1950 12,000,000 1965 22,000,000 1973 36,000,000 1985 48,000,000 1912 4,000,000 1952 13,500,000 1966 23,000,000 1974 38,000,000 1986 49-50,000,000 1916 5,000,000 1954 14,000,000 1967 25,000,000 1975 39,000,000 1989 51,000,000 1923 6,000,000 1956 15,000,000 1968 26,000,000 1977 40,000,000 52m not used. 1929 7,000,000 1958 16,000,000 1969 28,000,000 1978 41,000,000 1991 53,000,000 1935 8,000,000 1960 17,000,000 1970 29,000,000 1979 42,000,000 1993 54,000,000 1939 9,000,000 1961 18,000,000 1970 32,000,000 1980 44,000,000 1995 55,000,000 1962 19,000,000 1998 56,000,000 Note: The above list may prove potentially useful for determining the approximate age (perhaps as close as +/- 1-2 years) of an Omega watch via cross-referencing it's serial number with the date in the table above. Download 2Kd-Ftv Engine Manual Free Software here. Remember that watches were not necessarily sold in order or sold close to the date of manufacturer. Omega started utilizing ETA Calibers by 1980, those serial numbers may or may not be accurate within this table. I would like to thank Frank N. For his input and additions to this list.

Much of the information after 1970 are from sources he has developed. As such the list would be much shorter without his efforts. Statement of rights retained & permissions granted. Permission is granted for Damon, Derek, Eric, Gerard, Jean-Michel, Ross, RJ, and Steve to include passages within the FAQ's they are writing as long as credit (and a link to this article) is given in such a way that the reader can know this document is the source (and most frequently updated) version and proper acknowlegement included. Permission for personal, educational or non-commercial use is granted.

The author retains all other rights not specifically mentioned here. For all other use or questions please contact. Disclaimer: This chart is in no way a substitute for with the Serial Number of an Omega movement and requesting information as it is a very inexact guide. However it is useful for narrowing down the vintage of Omega Watches (perhaps as close as +/- 1-2 years).

The above list may prove potentially useful for determining the approximate age of an Omega watch via cross-referencing it's serial number with the date in the table above. Remember that watches were not necessarily sold in order or sold close to the date of manufacturer. Omega started utilizing ETA Calibers by 1980 those serial numbers may or may not be accurate within this table. Also, I've stated the accuracy range of this table (perhaps as close as +/- 1-2 years) three times above and now four times in this document. Any queries as to the accuracy of this table will be bounced back to the emailer and they should practice their reading/comprehension skills!

Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • History [ ] In the 1960s, Warren Center developed an unusual break-action, single-shot pistol in his basement workshop that later became known as the Contender. 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.

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.

On January 4, 2007, Thompson/Center was purchased. On December 8, 2010, Smith & Wesson announced that the original Rochester, New Hampshire plant would be closed and manufacturing was transferred to Springfield, Massachusetts. Following the closure of Thompson / Center arms in Rochester, New Hampshire, Thompson Investment Casting opened in the same town continuing production of metal products for various companies including Smith & Wesson. Break-action pistols [ ] Thompson/Center's success came with the emergence of long range, target shooting, and, especially,.

Their, design brought -like accuracy and power in a handgun, which was a new concept at the time. Originally designed only for interchangeable barrels in and, 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 [ ]. 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.

The Encore [ ] 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 to the huge.

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. The Contender G2 [ ] The original Contender, now known as the generation one (G1) Contender, was replaced by the G2 Contender soon after the Encore came out.

Bit Serial Divider. 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 [ ] 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. 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 [ ] 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 rules. California Legalities [ ] See • 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. Muzzleloading rifles [ ].

TC Hawken percussion rifle Thompson Center manufactures a variety of 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, 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. 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. A T/C Venture Predator in Real Tree camouflage Compass Barrel: 22', 24' Trigger: Single stage, adjustable Caliber:,,,,,,,,,,,, and Stock: Polymer Status: In production Venture Barrel: 22', 24' Trigger: Single stage, adjustable Caliber:,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and Variants: Blued, Weather Shield, Predator, Compact Stock: Polymer Status: In production Thompson/Center Arms and the Supreme Court [ ] In the case of (1992), the ruled in the company's favor by deciding that the rifle conversion kit that Thompson sold for their pistols did not constitute a under the of 1934. 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 only with the rifle-length barrel. The Supreme Court disagreed and its decision clarified the meaning of the term 'make' in the National Firearms Act by stating that the mere possession of components that theoretically could be assembled in an illegal configuration was not in itself a violation as long as the components could also be assembled into a legal configuration. One argument raised was the example of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer and Diesel oil, which can very often be found together in a farmer's possession (fertilizer for the crops, fuel for the tractor.) Both are lawful, and while they can easily be assembled into the blasting agent known as, possession of both has never been held to imply (without other evidence) that a farmer was 'making' explosives. References [ ]. • Van Zwoll, Wayne (2006).

Hunter's Guide to Long-Range Shooting. Stackpole Books. • Stephens, Charles (1996).

Thompson/Center Contender Pistol: How To Tune, Time, Load, And Shoot For Accuracy. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press. • • O'Donnell, Jake (December 10, 2010).. Fosters Daily Democrat. • Simpson, Layne (January 4, 2011).. Shooting Times.

From the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016. • (May 29, 2012).

'Thompson Center Single Shots'.. From the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2016. • Potts, Bruce (October 1, 2008). 'Thompson Center G2 Contender Rifle Review'.

Shooting Times. State of California.

Retrieved January 29, 2013. As used in this section, a 'short-barreled shotgun' means any of the following: (A) A firearm which is designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell and having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length. (B) A firearm which has an overall length of less than 26 inches and which is designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell. • Towsley, Bryce (2003). 'The Mighty Hawken'. Hunting Magazine.

• Mark Blazis (December 7, 2012).. From the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.

Cornell University. Retrieved October 21, 2009. External links [ ] • corporate website •, specializing in Contender, G2, and Encore barrels •, listing of some of T/C's muzzleloader guns with pictures and specifications.