Thompson Center Dimension .308 Winchester Bolt Action Rifle - Blue/Black, 22" Barrel, 3 Rounds, Synthetic, Fixed Stock

My experience with Buds Gun Shop has always been very positive. Their sales staff appear to be very professional as well as knowledgeable. Their pricing is by far the lowest around. In addttion, their shipping is always in an acceptable time frame.
Rating: 5 Star

Quality gun and have used a few years for deer.

Great Gun! paired up nicely with my Nikon scope. Shoots great, feels like a real gun and not some dishwasher safe, plastic thing.

I recently purchased the Dimesion in .308 and I am very pleased. While no gun is the end all, be all of firearms there are many benefits to the Dimension. Primarily the ability to change barrels/calibers with a minimal effort is great - what is amazing is getting the same 1 MOA accuracy after taking off and re-installing the barrel. This is my first bolt gun (I own a few M4s, M1A1, 12 gauge and have military and LEO experience) and I purchased it because I was so intrigued by the change caliber concept. Not to mention I wanted to get bolt gun for a while. Tabletop Review... Here are some more benefits of the rifle... * chrome moly barrel = better than regular barrels * rubberized grips & comfortable grip angle * free floating barrel in all calibers * 1MOA accuracy - make sure your optic is tight on the weaver base * light firearm - 7 lbs is good for hunting & carrying through the woods * ability to mount optic on the receiver via the weaver mounts * ability to mount optic permanent to barrel with a bridge mount which can be purchased separately Things I'm concerned about & what others should be aware of... * need for low profile scope rings - if you use med or high rings the high comb on the stock is too low and you won't be able to get good sight alignment with your scope * front hex bolt that holds the receiver is retained by a rubber O-ring so don't totally remove the bolt or you will lose the O-ring & possibly lose the allen bolt; the rear allen bolt has a "cage" where it allows you to loose the allen bolt but retain it so I'm not sure why TC did not put this on the front, so be careful * take extra care when removing the bolt - when it slides out I have noticed many people including myself will nick and mar the back of the stock; the stock does have a small cut out but its not big enough (this does not interfere with the function of the gun or the shooter) * be careful with the 2 trigger housing retention pins that hold the trigger in the receiver - they are not secure and can fall out if your not careful when disassembling/assembling the rifle. Not sure why TC would not secure them but I might have to put some lock tight on to keep them in place and give me peace of mind Range review... As for the accuracy, I am currently waiting on rings for my Bushnell Tactical Elite scope so I put on an old Barska I had laying around. Yea its THE low end scope but I really wanted to shoot the Dimension and see how it performed. After zeroing it quickly in 4 rounds (aim for bullseye, shot, then moved reticle to the where the shot impacted), then I shoot about 9 rounds to get used to the feel and trigger break. I then decided to shoot to see if the 1MOA guarantee lived up to the hype. I used some Sellier Bellot 180grain, FMJ and my best group at 100 yards was .732 inches. All in all I shot I was shooting prone with a bipod, no mat, rocky ground at about a 7-10 degree upward angle, weather was sunny with no clouds, 70 degrees with 1-2 mph wind gusts from left to right (awesome day to shoot) at about 5,200 ft elevation. Needless to say even with the el-super-cheapo Barska scope it performed as advertised. I can't wait till I get my other scope rings in. Weight & Measurements... With that said, there is recoil with the .308 but the TC butt pad absorbed a lot of the recoil which was nice - being that the rifle is 7 lbs you feel more recoil than with heavier platforms. Of course you will always have that problem of trading weight for felt recoil. As for the high comb, I have even been thinking about getting another stock, cutting out the high comb and putting in an adjustable cheek riser; also thinking about adding some weight to the back end as well. I might do that but I have to put off any more gun expenses for a while. The overall length of the .308 version is 42 inches with the 22 inch barrel. All in all its a great gun and I look forward to getting the .223 and 300 win mag calibers. Trigger performance... Now you might be asking about the trigger - TC states it has an adjustable 3.5-5 lb trigger and its true. My trigger was already at the lowest setting and after using my Lyman digital trigger pull gauge, I got an average of 3 lbs 8.4 oz in 8 pulls. Latter on I experimented and found the sweet spot - if I pulled in a slightly upward angle I could get even better results - in 10 pulls the gauge averaged 3 lbs 4 oz. There is VERY little travel/creep and the trigger breaks really well. I like the light trigger so I will not change it at all. Conclusion... I spent about $600 for the rifle and also purchased a bridge mount so I can keep the same scope on the .308 barrel which set me back another $100. If I wanted to change to another caliber I would have to spend $200 on a barrel, about $145 for a bolt, etc. Not bad if you get to shoot with a new caliber - a lot less expensive than spending another $600-$800 for another gun. Why change calibers? So you can hunt different game, allow people to shoot lower recoil ammo or simply just to have a cool gun than can change calibers. All in all if you can get past the unique/different high comb I think you will be pleased with this firearm. I would recommend this firearm and the reason I only give it 4 out of 5 is that the high comb on the stock is not as comfortable as the Remington 700 or similar stocks in regards to cheek weld.

Nice shooting rifle very accurate and dead on for an amateur shooter. Drawbacks are no aftermarket parts available I.E higher capacity magazines or magazines and the barrel swap system is very nice but sometimes getting other caliber barrels and bolts can get tricky. Plus you can forget about getting extra magazines for it now as Thompson says they are on back order and unsure when they will be off it. Also it is to note customer service for this product is spot on I have to ship it back for a recall notice with the safety mechanism but Thompson Center assures me everything including shipping of the rifle back to them will be covered by the company.