I am in no way bashing TC as I still own many of their weapons today. Just passing on information that I would have appreciated prior to experiencing an accidental discharge that caused a life changing injury. The "half-cock" position in the trigger mechanism's of these guns is not a true safety and can accidentally discharge without force. If you are not actively engaged in shooting these, remove the cap to prevent it from going off. I was walking out of the woods in half cock (safety notch) position during a deer hunt and one my hunting partners was struck in the leg. Again, not blaming as muzzle control would have also prevented injury, but I was entirely unaware of this problem until then. I still have mine...I kept it so that I could demonstrate the situation for others. You don't see a ton of them anymore so the information about this is harder to find than in the 80's. This is all I could find about it with a Google search today.
THOMPSON CENTER
MODEL RENEGADE, RIFLES
WARNING: These rifles have the potential for an accidental discharge if the hammer is not in the safety notch position.
Rifles manufactured prior to the mid-1970's may accidentally discharge. When the hammer is pulled back, prior to reaching the full cock position, a second click is heard. After the second click and prior to reaching full cock, the hammer can be released and will fall, bypassing the safety notch and firing the rifle.
Source:
- AFTE Journal, April 1983; Volume 15, Number 2:15-16