Posted by Marty on 12/31/2012 to
Has anybody noticed the absence of any finish Encore frames? Not only hasn't Thompson Center been making blue frames but they also have stopped making any Encore frames.
For me the handwriting was on the wall about a year and a half ago. I found and bought an Encore Weathershield muzzleloader TC5895. The price was good and I thought I could part it out and make some profit. Turned out to be a huge seller for me but the light bulb came on when I first noticed that this Encore Weathershield frame had a swing hammer on it. Normally swing hammers were reserved for the Prohunter upgraded model. But now they were installing it on both Weathershield models! That made the only difference between those to frames being the fancy laser engraving on the sides of the Prohunter frame.
That TC5895 model was the only unit of any kind that I found the Encore WS frame on, nothing else. It kind of made sense to go with the popular swing hammer on all models and I guess if you really thought about it especially if it was your money is there really a need for 2 unique frames in the same finish?
In the future I think they will bring back the Blue Prohunter frame simply due to demand. Or maybe they will go black finish instead of blue? But then bare with me and look into your crystal ball and tell me why Thompson Center will produce both Weathershield and Stainless frames? They are so close in looks that we probably could get by with either one. To paraphrase that old bible verse "as for me and my house, I hope they choose the Weathershield".
Shoot straight and be safe. Marty