What is TC Weather Shield?

According to the brass at TC Arms the new Weather Shield coating on its barrels and frames is an alleged 50 times more corrosion resistant than stainless steel. Wow that’s tough. We are starting to see the Weather Shield finish in Thompson Centers’ Encore line up, and that has brought about a variety of questions…

1. Will a Weather Shield frame look ok with my stainless barrel?

Answer is yes, Weather Shield is a shade more gray than stainless a shade more silver. Weather Shield a flat finish while SS more satin sheen. Ahhh the vanity of hunters… Your quarry doesn’t care!

2. Isn’t it stainless steel under the Weathershield coating ?

Answer, No. According to TC customer service it is the same barrel as a blued barrel with the coating applied. And judging from the prices it must be a less expensive application for TC because the prices on Weather Shield components are noticeably cheaper.

3. I’m afraid of something so new? What if Thompson Center’s promise of corrosion resistance is false?

Answer, it’s not that new. Thompson Center has had Weather Shield on its other muzzleloader lines for years with good results. So with the bugs worked out via consumer testing and feedback I’d say your investment is a safe bet.

4. Will Weather Shield hold up in the long run?

Answer, anything is better than “stainless”. I have dealt in used parts for several years now and without question I have seen more pitted, rusted, discolored scratched and scuffed stainless frames than blued. Time will tell but in the immortal words of Tom Cruise ” it looks good so far “.

5. What about the inside of the barrel? Does it have the same Weathershield coating?

Answer again from Thompson Center customer service: It’s pretty much identical to the guts of a blued barrel, I mean let’s get real for a minute don’t think Weather Shield products don’t need care and cleaning and maintenance. Think of it kind of like a maintenance free battery. Which is exactly that, only not really.

As a Thompson Center online retailer, I can say from experience that stories from the field and sales have shown that because of the price (it’s actually cheaper than their stainless products) and fast growing reputation, the Thompson Center Weather Shield products are selling faster than the stainless and blued models combined.

Because of Weather Shield’s obvious popularity, it would be hard to see Thompson Center NOT releasing it’s all new Dimension bolt action rifle and components in a Weather Shield variation sometime soon just as they did with the bargain Venture (see recall notice) bolt platform. The matte blue the Dimension ships with is extremely durable and popular, but for some reason people go gaga for Weather Shield.

Thanks for reading,

Marty, HausofArms.com