# Thompson Center: Weather Shield or true Stainless?



## DTrain

I am looking to get a muzzle loader and looking at the Thompson Center line up. What's your take on the Weather Shield coating vs a true stainless barrel? Which is easiest to clean/maintain would be my top concern.


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## Macker13

A friend of mine has the stainless, not impressed, especially when compared to any other stainless guns. I have heard better things about the Weathershield. The gun shoots and feels good, but minor pitting and discoloration appeared the first year and its the only time I have seen it on a stainless gun. Thompson feels this is normal/acceptable.


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## mike the pike

I've got a blued encore that i wipe down with bore butter or lightly oil it and its fine...dont believe the hype


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## UkiahDog

That's funny because I own a gun with weather shield and after one year it has some minor subsurface rust on it. Must not have gotten the coating on there quite right. It's not quite rust yet, more like oxidation, and it's under the coating, but still a discoloration. I can't wipe it off.

I would think stainless is stainless.. If you can stick a magnet to it, then it's simply a coating and not true stainless. If a magnet won't stick, it's stainless..

I would buy a pro hunter with a fluted stainless barrel over a weather shield anyday. I like my Triumph, but I wonder about it, as it is simply a coating. Much like when you anodize aluminum. But, sounds like there's a bad report on that now too. Hmmm....


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## jdman

I Have A 2 Year Old Stainless Encore That Looks Like A 100 Year Old Rust Bucket....... I Clean And Oil My Guns After Every Use, But This Encore Sucks.... I Hear They Use A Low Grade Of Stainless (High Carbon Content).... I Think I'am Going To Bead Blast It And Spray With Satin Clear Coat....

Jeff


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## Jet08

I have a Stainless T/C Omega and I love it. Never have any problems with it. The standard wipe down when I get in, but thats all I have ever done to it. (Ofcourse the standard oil down before it goes back in the safe)


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## Swamp Monster

I have a stainless Encore with no problems what so ever. It's about 4-5 years old and sees plenty of harsh conditions. Looks like new.


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## willy05

Have a stainless thunderhawk from 1990 and a Encore from the late 90's both stainless and both not a spec of rust and I really do not take care of them that well as compared to my other fire arms, so from my experence I think they are outstanding. Bought them both new when they hit the market. Maybe they use a lower grade now.


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## jjc155

mike the pike said:


> I've got a blued encore that i wipe down with bore butter or lightly oil it and its fine...dont believe the hype


me 2, wipe it down with gun oil and there is no problems. I sat in the snow during gun season and actually fell asleep for about an hour (was hunting on the ground and was sleepy) and woke up with about 1.5 inches of snow on me and all my stuff, including my triumph. Took it home, broke it down and litterally had water dripping out of the hinge and from under the fore end. blew everything out with compressed air and let it dry then gave it a good wipe down with oil. low and behold no rust.

Spend the extra money if you want but if you take care of your guns correctly they will not rust. 

I also have a Browning ATD 22lr that was my dad's (its a sweet 1963 Belguim made one) that is blued. There is not rust on this either (even the front sight post) and all I have done (and my dad before me) is wipe it down with oil every now and then.

Hmm come to think of is my model 94 30-30 doesnt have any rust on it either.

Just my 2 cents FWIW

J-


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## steelsetter

One had pitted as I use it for hunting chucks and doggies and it has sweat from me pouring on it at times in the summer.

Very minor pitting though.

The other 2 nada rust, and they get hunted in winter.

I would like to consider myself a "gun nut/affaciando" and take very good care of my collection.

Stainless steel has varied degrees of nickel content. Higher the nickel, the higher the corrosion resistance.

However, the higher the nickel (and other hard to machine elements) the more difficult it is to machine.


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## frontier gander

weather shield seems to have the problem of flaking/bubbling/ even rust popping up. I prefer stainless steel. I feel it cleans up easier and plus its like a woman with a nice chest.... ( eye candy) 

TC ive noticed with SS barrels they do have the issues like another member here brought up. Not a smooth finish on their SS and rusts easily.

Not trying to change your mind on brands, but! I think you should look at the CVA Accura.

Also for you guys having those rusting issues, try some Flitz polishing compound, i use it on all of my SS rifles inside and out. Pretty good stuff.


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## Tom Morang

I purchased a TC Triumph with weather shield in the fall of 2007. It has been used in the early antlerless season, the rifle / muzzle loading seasons and late antlerless seasons in some of the most awful weather and conditions one can imagine. So far it has stood up very well compared to some of the stainless guns I have seen.


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## symen696

I purchased a t/c omega (weathersheild) last year and if anyone remembers opening of last years gun season, then you would know my gun took one hell of a beating and the biggest actually the only problem I had was getting the wad fouling out of the barrel. The gun is other wise spotless.


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## beervo2

UkiahDog said:


> I would think stainless is stainless.. If you can stick a magnet to it, then it's simply a coating and not true stainless. If a magnet won't stick, it's stainless..


A magnet will stick to my Omega's fluted stainless barrel..It's only 2yrs old so maybe the older barrels are better...If someone has an older Omega with a stainless barrel please post if a magnet will stick to it or not, I'm just curious whether T/C lowered the quality of their barrels...


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## Roosevelt

I have a CVA Accura. It's all stainless and doesn't rust.

If I were gonna pay extra for SS then I'd make sure it was 100%.


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## skidway

Stainless doesn't mean you don't have to take care of it. I'll stick with bluing every time. My Encore was one of the 1st made-no rust-no pits inside or out and it looks like a real gun.


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## UkiahDog

The other reason I don't like the Weathershield that I have is that the coating is applied to plain old carbon steel. Meaning that the inside of the barrel is a carbon steel and that's more of a concern to me than the outside. The Stainless will be harder, regarless of the nickel content and therefore the inside of the barrle will also be more durable... These are not chrome lined barrels...

I think the magnet thing has to do with nickel content, which in turn has to do with carbon content. It's an alloy with more chemicals/metals added to the steel, making it better. Speaking from a metalurgical perspective, a magnet will not stick to high quality stainless. It won't stick to stainless appliances, but it'll stick to knives and many "stainless" exteriors.


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## Superhog

Is there anyway to restore the shiny Stainless steel look to the barrel without scratching it to beat he!!? I recently bought a used one (ENCORE), and its in good shape.....but it has some dull spots on it like the cleaned it with something...acid etch maybe? (looks like its clouded over - like when we do and acid etch weld section on a part at work)?

It's not a big deal, just would like it to look "shinny"

Adam


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## frontier gander

Superhog said:


> Is there anyway to restore the shiny Stainless steel look to the barrel without scratching it to beat he!!? I recently bought a used one (ENCORE), and its in good shape.....but it has some dull spots on it like the cleaned it with something...acid etch maybe? (looks like its clouded over - like when we do and acid etch weld section on a part at work)?
> 
> It's not a big deal, just would like it to look "shinny"
> 
> Adam


 
Flitz Polishing Compound. You can also add the flitz with 0000 steelwool if you really need to buff it clean.


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## UkiahDog

I've heard of the. I was going to suggest simichrome with steel wool. You may get it shinier than the rest of the barrel though!!!


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