Thompson center t/c strike - thoughts?

Joined
Apr 5, 2015
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5,824
I have been reading up on muzzleloaders to buy my first one and came across this. Seems fairly new to the Thompson line up but the design from LHR, which was bought by smith and folded into Thompson, seems to be fairly well regarded. I like the break action and external threaded breach seems to be a plus.

Anyone have any thoughts on the LHR Redemption or the current Thompson version called the Strike?
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
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Location
Littleton, CO
I run a T/C Triumph which appears to be very similar with a hammer action. The looks like they have made some breach improvements which might be nice, but I love my speed breech XT as it allows you to carry a bore snake with you for some quick field cleaning. The internal threads do get quite dirty, but I've never had it get truly stuck. Just a warning about T/C barrels is that they are generally designed to be used with sabots. As such, in states like here in CO where it's illegal to hunt with sabots your only real option are powerbelts. I have tried several different all-metal bullets and none of them shoot as well as a powerbelt. The only thing I would mention is that they don't appear to come with iron sites which are required in a lot of western states for muzzy.
 

peddler

Lil-Rokslider
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Feb 15, 2013
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Oswego, NY
It's just the LHR renamed. Have two buddies that own one and they are real pleased. I shoot A TC G2 Contender and if I purchased a new muzzleloader that's probably what I would buy.
 

Bar

Banned
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Feb 8, 2014
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Not sure it's just renamed. The LHR has Green Mountain barrels. I think TC makes them now. Not sure about the trigger.
 
OP
Desk Jockey
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Apr 5, 2015
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So I bought one of these. Mounted the scope but have not yet fired it.

It does come with fiber optic sights. You have to install them. You would also have to remove the scope mount which is factory installed and you could not run a rear sight and a scope at the same time. Practically speaking it isn't an issue but worth noting.

Fit and finish are good. It does have a TC barrel.

Consider a scope with a long eye relief and / or high rings. You need to have good clearance for the lever to open the action. I bought medium rings. I will see how I shoot before I swap them out for highs. As it is I have had to mount the scope as far forward as possible to clear the lever.

I will follow up with thoughts on how it shoots when I get some range time on it.
 

rexc5

FNG
Joined
Oct 5, 2014
Messages
1
Purchased the Strike on 2/7/17 and installed the fiber optic sights today. Bore sighted with barrel open and when I got to the range realized the rear sight was way to low and couldn't align the front dot in the rear sight. Cheek alignment was to high. Raising the rear sight to max height still didn't provide sufficient clearance.
Anyone else have this issue?

Guess I'll mount a scope instead.
 

derbyd137

FNG
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
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Location
michigan
p rings.jpgI bought the TC Strike. It has a few issues that I have found a fix for. I'm sure Thompson Center will come out with accessories to purchase somewhere down the road that deal with this issue. 1: Mounting a scope to there provided scope base with most scopes (mine being a Bushnell Banner) With the scope mounted in standard weiver style scope rings at its rear most position you need to reach forward so much to get full view the gun is almost un-usable. Plus the standard rings are low and using the guns break open feature is real close to the scope.

The fix: I purchased the Nikon P-Series scope rings (see link below) that cantilever back just far enough to do the trick. . I had to modify the Strike's provided base by filing the appropriate bolt grooves open. The bolts provided with the P-Series base are a bit too large to go through the Strike base slots. File a little test and so on. With the new rings and a bit of modification to the base I got just enough rear movement to get the proper eye relief and be at a comfortable position. Plus they raise up the scope so the barrel break lever is easy to get at. Note: the scope ring you use for the rear may need to have a bit of the sharp edge of the jaw filed a bit flat so it will slide on to the base. The front slides on just fine.

The other issue is make sure you lube up the primer insert liberally with breach plug grease so it comes out after multiple shots. You have to tap it out gently with the ramrod. Its best to screw on a long plastic jag so you don't damage the primer insert tapping on it. They threaded the outside of the barrel so the breach plug comes off easy but created a new monster by fouling the primer insert. Its almost worse than breaking loose a fouled up breach plug.

Having said all that. Once all is fixed the gun shoots great opens nice and looks amazing ( I bought the walnut stock). If you have any questions shoot me a reply

Nikon P-Series link:

Nikon P-Series Mount : Cabela's
 
Last edited:

flyfshrmn

FNG
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
5
I bought the Strike from muzzleloaders.com shortly after LHR was bought out. Mine has the Green Mountain Barrel. I have several issues with this rifle. I bought it without first handling it, because I was sold by the LHR reviews. It is lightweight, easy to handle and clean, and the bore threading makes for easy disassembly. I bought the camo synthetic stock because I hunt in wet weather a lot and did not want to deal with warping wooden stock problems. The stock is very straight, like an old time shotgun stock and it makes me think this rifle was designed with scope use as the principle sighting method. When I get down tight to the stock in order to properly view the sights, the top of the stock is resting on my cheekbone and after several rounds I have a bruise at the contact point. I changed out the rear sight for a custom made Skinner peep which helped some, but the front sight bead completely obscures the target at any range over 75 yards. I'm currently working on the front sight to try and alleviate this problem and get my cheek properly against the side of the stock, so I properly align the sights without canting my cheek over the top of the stock. I contacted T/C about replacing the stock with the walnut which has a much different shape and they were no help whatsoever. This gun is also a short barreled weapon, which cuts down on velocity. If you try to increase loads to get more speed, it begins to kick viciously (further bruising my cheek) due to the light weight, and the groups get large. I haven't tried powders other than pyrodex and BH209 yet. I'm either going to sell this rifle, or take tools to the stock and put in a proper cheekpiece. It's still a quality rifle, but it was probably built entirely out of the remaining LHR parts. It is, IMO, a short range weapon and I would not attempt anything beyond 120 yards with it. The sights still need improvement as well, to alleviate the problem with obscuring the target. If I hunted where scopes are allowed, it would have been a much better choice. All of the prepurchase evaluations I saw used a scope sight. After all that, though, the first time I had an opportunity in the field, I collected a nice young mulie at about 75 yards and that's the ultimate evaluation for a field gun.
 

derbyd137

FNG
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
3
Location
michigan
I have a TC Strike. It’s a nice accurate gun with some nice features. However it has a serious eye relief problem with the scope rings and mounting system. You cannot get the scope back far enough to cheek the gun comfortably without stretch your face too far forward to get the proper eye relief. I bought a DNZ one piece mount that helped but still not enough. It’s better but needs another inch back. At this point I need to maybe find a different scope. I currently have a bushnell banner on it. If I can get that resolved I’ll be happy. It’s very very accurate. I bought the walnut stock and it’s a beautiful gun.
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
1
I bought the Strike from muzzleloaders.com shortly after LHR was bought out. Mine has the Green Mountain Barrel. I have several issues with this rifle. I bought it without first handling it, because I was sold by the LHR reviews. It is lightweight, easy to handle and clean, and the bore threading makes for easy disassembly. I bought the camo synthetic stock because I hunt in wet weather a lot and did not want to deal with warping wooden stock problems. The stock is very straight, like an old time shotgun stock and it makes me think this rifle was designed with scope use as the principle sighting method. When I get down tight to the stock in order to properly view the sights, the top of the stock is resting on my cheekbone and after several rounds I have a bruise at the contact point. I changed out the rear sight for a custom made Skinner peep which helped some, but the front sight bead completely obscures the target at any range over 75 yards. I'm currently working on the front sight to try and alleviate this problem and get my cheek properly against the side of the stock, so I properly align the sights without canting my cheek over the top of the stock. I contacted T/C about replacing the stock with the walnut which has a much different shape and they were no help whatsoever. This gun is also a short barreled weapon, which cuts down on velocity. If you try to increase loads to get more speed, it begins to kick viciously (further bruising my cheek) due to the light weight, and the groups get large. I haven't tried powders other than pyrodex and BH209 yet. I'm either going to sell this rifle, or take tools to the stock and put in a proper cheekpiece. It's still a quality rifle, but it was probably built entirely out of the remaining LHR parts. It is, IMO, a short range weapon and I would not attempt anything beyond 120 yards with it. The sights still need improvement as well, to alleviate the problem with obscuring the target. If I hunted where scopes are allowed, it would have been a much better choice. All of the prepurchase evaluations I saw used a scope sight. After all that, though, the first time I had an opportunity in the field, I collected a nice young mulie at about 75 yards and that's the ultimate evaluation for a field gun.
I just bought an LHR Redemption second hand and the open sights definitely present a serious alignment issue for me as well. Did you ever solve the issue? I've seen other muzzleloaders switch their rear sight to a peep sight as you did and then switch their front to a Lyman globe sight, to prevent the issue of obscuring the target like you described.
 

Dman86

FNG
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Messages
53
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
I bought a TC Strike this year and really like it. I mounted a Nikon P3 Muzzleloading scope for the extra eye relief with off set rings that pushes the scope back an extra inch. It pulls up great. Haven’t tried open sights. I tried a lot of different loads from Barnes and Harvester with every sabot combination and BH209 powder combo. Most were giving me 2-2.5” groups at 100 yards but the Barnes TMZ with factory sabot and 120 grains of BH209 was the magic combo. I’m seeing very repeatable 1MOA groups to 300 yards. The breach plug is super easy to use and doesn’t really even need anti seize on the threads bc they are on the outside of the barrel. My one concern is TC’s QLA barrel and shooting full bore conical bullets. I am able to us sabots, but any future hunts where they aren’t legal, I’ve read the QLA doesn’t work well with full bore bullets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

derbyd137

FNG
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
3
Location
michigan
I have been reading up on muzzleloaders to buy my first one and came across this. Seems fairly new to the Thompson line up but the design from LHR, which was bought by smith and folded into Thompson, seems to be fairly well regarded. I like the break action and external threaded breach seems to be a plus.

Anyone have any thoughts on the LHR Redemption or the current Thompson version called the Strike?
I have a T/C Strike ( formally LHR Redemtion ). This gun has some real nice features and I find it to be extremely accurate. And it also has some flaws that can be remedied with the correct accessories. I spent two seasons getting it right. So I will pass it on to all who are thinking of buying a T/C Strike. The safety mechanize on this gun is great!. It operates much like a shotgun. Slide it forward to shoot and press the button and decock to go back to safety. No holding the hammer and pulling trigger and slowly moving hammer back to safe risking an accidental fire. The biggest issue I had to deal with was eye relief. The factory scope mount and scope is located in such a position that you literally have to stretch you face forward to get the full view in the scope. Very unnatural position ( in the heat of the moment you don't want to be searching for the cross hairs ). Don't waste time trying out different mounts. Just buy the DNZ ( https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/dnz-thompson-center-strike-scope-mounts.html ) mount ( I suggest the high mount option. And you will also need a 6" eye relief scope. I bought a Bushnell banner 6" eye relief ( https://www.opticsplanet.com/bush-rs-bnr-713947.html ) . Anything under a 6" eye relief doesn't give you enough adjustment to get comfortable on the gun and still have full view in the scope. That combination allows enough adjustment. Lets talk about the breech plug. T/C's claim to there breech plug ( that's threaded on the outside of the barrel ) is easy to remove with no fouling in the threads. Yes' this is true it will always unscrew very easy. However, once its removed there is a 209 primer insert ( https://www.whiteknightsupply.com/p...sories-strike-primer-adapter-for-loose-powder ) that you must take out for cleaning the barrel. The insert gets jammed in the barrel with fouling after one or two shots. So there claim to easy removal of the breech plug for easy cleaning is well! just advertisement. So, what you have to do to get it out is put a patch in the barrel ( as a cushion ) and push it down to the insert then take the ramrod with a long brass jag on it ( for weight ) and hammer it out. I would highly suggest buying extra inserts in the event it ever needs replacement. By the way theirs two inserts for the gun. One for loose powder and one for pellets. They came so close to the perfect muzzle loader ( Primer insert issue). Once you get all the other accessories I suggest to make this gun comfortable to shoot you will love it. I do anyway. The walnut stock option is a beautiful gun. You can just feel the quality and precision of this gun. It has weight and mass to it and when you open and close the break action its right there zero rattle or anything. Precision!
 
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
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Looking for any help....Hope someone can help or provide some leads. I bought my son a TC Strike last Christmas. We went Moose hunting in Newfoundland in early Sept. (2021) and while shooting at a bull, he lost the forearm/forend of his TC Strike. He had his sling attached and I guess with it twisting, it backed out the screw that held it to the barrel. It's lost in the bush of Newfoundland, and we have searched the internet and made many calls with no luck. I contacted TC customer support which was no help at all. They only made the Strike for one year, and the company was sold to Smith and Wesson. S & W is trying to sell off TC but hasn't yet. It looks like the LHR Redemption model would also fit the bill if anyone has any parts to sell. Any help in finding where I could get a replacement forearm in walnut either for a TC Strike or a LHR Redemption would work. Thanks for any help or suggestions. (In case your wondering - my son did bag a nice bull moose, his first kill with his Christmas present).

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