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Thompson/Center Performance Center
LRR .308 WIN

Multiple calibers, same chassis
Written By Mark Hampton
2020
4
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Mark had fun banging away at long-range steel plates on his Missouri farm
with the T/C LRR .308 Win atop a BOG DeathGrip shooting tripod.

Living in a rural area has its advantages and disadvantages. We don’t have any large sporting goods stores nearby. Fortunately for many of us who like to shoot, there is a small shop just down the road with the largest selection of ammo and reloading components you can imagine. I ran down to the shop the other day for some primers and started visiting with the polite young man behind the counter.

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Good accuracy with the Federal Premium 168-gr. Berger hybrid Hunter, Black Hills
168-gr. BTHP and Hornady’s 155-gr. A-Max proved the rifle isn’t picky about its diet.

Shoot For The Moon

When I asked him how’s business he quickly replied, “Great!” What’s the driving nature behind this brisk buying movement? Again, the young man was quick with an answer, “long-range shooting.” He went on to explain most all components being sold — brass, bullets, powder and primers — would be utilized by long-range shooting. Even more surprising, he informed me over 75 percent of the business was generated by some form of long-range shooting.

Well, it’s easy to see competitive games such as PRS, F-Class and others are driving the market in the long-range shooting arena. Just look at the plethora of equipment being introduced for the demand of this segment of shooting. Recently GUNS ran a nice article on T/C’s LRR — a Performance Center offering in 6.5 Creedmoor. If you want to balance your 6.5 Creedmoor with some versatility, this time let’s look at the .308 Winchester. Having multiple calibers in the same platform makes sense especially when a multitude of accessories are consistent and easily interchangeable. Besides, your muscle memory gets accustomed to shooting one particular platform so switching to another caliber for a different application is not a game-changer. Most important of all attributes — both of our test rifles in 6.5 and .308 Win. shot extremely well.

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One 10-round magazine is supplied with the rifle.

Features Galore

The Performance Center T/C LRR is loaded with features including a unique chassis system with adjustable cheek pieces and butt plate thanks to dials situated in the innovative aluminum chassis. Shooters can adjust both length-of-pull and comb height to their liking. The butt pad even moves up or down and rotates. This rifle is tricked out specifically for long-range shooting with its 20 MOA Picatinny-style rail. The rail itself is almost 6.5″ long providing a lot of flexibility on scope placement and the 5R rifled barrel is deeply fluted. My test gun came with a 21.5″ threaded barrel with muzzle brake installed. I really appreciated the Performance Center adjustable trigger.

The gun is fairly heavy, weighing 11 lbs. before mounting any optics. This dissipates most all of the recoil from the .308 Win. You want to mount accessories? Knock yourself out with the liberal Magpul slots in the handguard.

The pistol grip is a standard AR-style, Hogue rubber grip with finger grooves — very comfortable. The rifle is shipped with one 10-round magazine. The two-position safety is located directly behind the bolt and the bolt knob is large and fluted. Another nice feature with the two-position safety — the bolt can be manipulated with the safety on.

For optics I chose a NightForce NXS 2.5-10×42 scope. This compact unit looks as if it were made for the LRR rifle. The scope tested featured an MOAR 30 MOA reticle making it a great optic for hunting or long-range shooting. The clarity is superb and I can see why so many shooters gravitate to NightForce.

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A NightForce NXS 2.5-10x42 scope was mounted on the LRR in Warne horizontal rings.

Feeding The Beast

For ammo I grabbed three factory offerings — Federal Premium 168-gr. Berger hybrid Hunter, Black Hills 168-gr. BTHP and Hornady’s 155-gr. A-Max. My wife and I both shot the LRR at the range with all three brands of ammo. Due to the weight of the gun and effective muzzle brake, recoil was almost non-existent. The bolt was smooth and we did not experience any failures with feeding. The stock was adjusted to fit me first and when it came Karen’s turn to shoot, a few minor adjustments and the comb and length of stock fit her perfectly too. Right out of the box this LRR begin to shoot good groups and it wasn’t picky about loads. After a range session on paper, Karen and I both wanted to take the LRR to our farm for some steel shooting. We have a variety of targets set out to 500 yards at different interval.

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Length of pull and comb height may be adjusted via large dials on the aluminum chassis.
It also sports plenty of fore-end slots for accessories.

End Result

Whether you’re interested in competitive games like the Precision Rifle Series or just want to enjoy some recreational shooting pleasure, the Performance Center T/C LRR has a lot to offer with a sack full of features. With an MSRP of $1,211 and a street price for less, the LRR makes a great choice for an entry-level rifle. Available in .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win., you can sure enjoy shooting sessions with three great calibers — all in the same platform.

www.tcarms.com

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2020
4

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