The New Venture™ Rifle by Thompson/Centre

The Editor tests out this new American made, sub-twelve hundred dollar shooter in .308 calibre...

Introduction

In 1965 a bloke named K.W Thompson, who was a gun designer and engineer, met up with another bloke called W. Centre who was looking for someone to make his newly designed pistol and hence Thompson/Centre Arms was formed. As well as an extensive line of pistols they also produce centre fire rifles, muzzle loading rifles and black-powder accessories using their own precision casting facility in Rochester, USA. In 2007 Thompson/Centre Arms became part of Smith & Wesson Holdings.

You know pretty quickly when you pick up a new rifle whether you like it or not and with the Venture™, straight away, I liked it a lot. It felt nicely balanced, light and quick to point as I waved it about at the Sika Show in Taupo this September. The boys from the Upper Hutt Gun shop raved on about bolt lift, the removable magazine and minute-of-angle accuracy and so on which really didn’t get my attention until they mentioned the retail price at less than $1200! I thought it would be twice that amount. I was keen to put a few shots through her and a few weeks later I had a good excuse to go hunting sitting right on my desk, courtesy of the distributor, NZ Ammunition. The Venture® test rifle came with a very nice Swarovski 3-9 x 36 scope, ideal for bush hunting.

Features & Benefits

The Thompson/Centre (T/C) Venture™ is a classic sporting style with a blued barrel and composite stock with smart raised grips they call “traction panels”. The barrel is a medium weight and is 24” long and the rifle weighs only 7lb without a scope. T/C have removed some of the features of their top-of-the-line and more expensive Icon™ rifle and produced a much more price competitive rifle here.

From what I can see they have replaced the expensive action of the Icon™ with a simple round action, removed the interchangeable bolt handle, added a light weight, 3-shot box magazine, removed the machining of the receiver and by using a synthetic stock it has no bedding block, all of which save production costs.

They have however saved some of the best features such as the high quality match grade barrel with its crowning and 5R rifling which uses 5 lands and grooves instead of the usual 6. They cut these differently too which T/C claim improves accuracy and makes cleaning easier. Every Venture® T/C claims is tested to shoot within a single minute-of-accuracy (M.O.A) which is a very tall order from a new, light weight factory rifle shooting within an inch at 100 yards.

They also saved the adjustable precision trigger which on this test gun was a very crisp pull with absolutely no creep. The bolt handle is in brushed stainless while the rest of the bolt is coated with a product called Melanite® which makes it slide very smoothly – nice!

In the Field

I spent a few days off Clements Road in all sorts of bush from hands and knees stuff down to the really tight bush! There is some nice country there once you know your way around a bit.
The Venture® is well balanced and nice to carry with the 24” barrel and the traction panels do give good grip where you need it. The stock didn’t make that really hollow sound but you still had to be careful not to knock it against any scrub as all synthetic stocks are noisier than wooden ones.

The box magazine was handy and comfortable when carrying the rifle, fed smoothly and best of all, unlike a metal magazine floor plate, the synthetic one was not cold on your hands on a frosty morning which we had two of on this trip. You had to be careful not to push the magazine release but I quickly got used to it. The trigger guard is also synthetic as it’s made as part of the stock.

The bolt action is extremely well made with a 60 degree lift that cleared the scope by miles. It was very smooth and a fantastic fit with almost no play in it at all, even when opened. The bolt release button worked well but was a bit shiny, even if it was only small. It did have a half-cock setting that many bush hunters in NZ like. However, like so many US made rifles, the bolt did shut if the trigger was pulled from this position.

The recoil pad, while nice and soft for shooting, had “grippy” rubber which was prone to catching on my loose polar fleece bush-shirt as I am used to a hard rubber pad that slides up more easily. The case ejecting slot was smaller than usual, a feature I liked. It was easy to push a loose round back into the magazine by just dropping the magazine out. It’s a much smaller space for debris, mud, sand and so on to get into.

The safety was firm and simple to use but had a slight “click” to it when flicked off that may cost you an animal sooner or later if you were bush hunting with it at close range. I knocked over a Sika hind that was quartering away at 100 metres or so. This rifle is fast to point and balances nicely for off-hand shooting.

Conclusion

The Venture™ is a well balanced, light, smart looking weapon that is exceptionally well made in USA and carries the Thompson/Centre lifetime warranty. It shoots very well with the three different loads that I tried inside the single MOA that was claimed and despite a few small things I was very impressed with it.

For me, I would have a gunsmith prevent the bolt from shutting if the trigger was pulled while on half-cock as I use this setting a lot. With the match barrel and the adjustable trigger the same as the Icon™ . I feel T/C may be giving too much gun for the price which may be at the detriment to sales of their popular Icon™ rifle.

For the money, it is really great value with rings and bases included.
RRP $1195

For more information or NZ distributor
enquiries: NZ Ammunition sales@nzammo.co.nz -
www.nzammo.co.nz