Looks like Toby might be shooting a T/C this fall!

[Busta]

The Knight sponsorship is gone, and T/C has replaced it. :wink:

T/C always has the money for advertising, advertising is the name of the game these day's. As long as you have a rifle to back it up?

Any bets on which rifle he will be promoting?

http://www.hpmuzzleloading.com/

 

[frontier gander]

He didnt do anything for savage or for knight so i dont expect to see a whole lot from toby.

 

[Okie Hog]

He didnt do anything for savage or for knight so i dont expect to see a whole lot from toby.

I cannot understand why any of these manufactuirers hire the guy after his fiasco at Savage. Toby is a legend in his own mind.

 

[SWThomas]

Why does anyone care what Toby Bridges is doing? :?

 

[txhunter58]

Lets see, a guy who is passionate about his sport and is opnionated. Imagine that! Glad none of us are that way...

Oh, and he is not overly cordial to people who may have said some unkind things about him and or his opinions. Again, imagine that.

Whatever else has happened, I have gleaned some good info from the articles he has written. Sure his website is a glorified commercial, but that is what pays his bills. When I was trying to find out some intel on the new Hornady FPB's and BH 209, his articles helped me out a lot.

Anyone here ever been fired or left a job where things didn't work out? Were there two sides to the story? Anyone here actually have first hand personal knowledge of what went on there, or just info you have picked up off the internet. That is certainly reliable.

For me, I can get some useful info from a lot of guys I don't see eye to eye with without making unkind comments about them. No, I am not saying "can't we all just get along". I have dissagreed strongly with guys on this website (even guys on this thread), but doesn't mean I don't respect their knowlege and input. I sometime learn the most from guys who I start out dissagreeing with.

 

[cayuga]

Who Thompson Center hires or endorses to represent them is really of no concern of mine. I take information anywhere I can get it, and from whom ever I can. So if Mr. Bridges is going to push Thompson Center rifles, so be it. Might pick up some good tips. After all he does do a lot of shooting and testing. I don't have to like or dislike someone to learn from them.

 

[frontier gander]

He didnt do anything for savage or for knight so i dont expect to see a whole lot from toby.

I cannot understand why any of these manufactuirers hire the guy after his fiasco at Savage.quote]

My exact thoughts. Its only a matter of time now for a tc or knight to blow up :lol:

 

[Busta]

txhunter58 & cayuga,

Very well said! I have met Toby before, even shot a couple of his Savage rifles a few times. A black stocked model and the famous brown laminate SS example. He was very down to earth, and knowledgable. He is just a guy trying to make a living at a sport that he absolutely loves. He has invested the majority of his life to this sport.

Now do I agree with everything he has ever said? No!

I look at it like the Auto Industry. There are thousands of Auto Workers laid off right now, because of a major downturn in the industry and economy as a whole. I will use what was once known as the Big Three for an example. Say you were a design engineer for GM, and you were laid off due to the cutbacks required under bankruptcy reorganization. Those GM jobs are history. What are your options? You can either try to find work in the same field elsewhere, or look for another line of work. What if you happen to get an offer from Chrysler or Ford where you can continue to do what you went to school for, and what you love to do, DESIGN CARS? Are you going to say NO, I am a loyal GM guy, I couldn't work for you guys? Or, are you going to see how you may fit in, and be able to continue doing what you love to do, even if it is for another company? We all have to eat, and have a place to live.

I wish Toby well! I KNOW I will learn more about T/C's from him than I ever will from Jim S., Michael W., or anyone else on their payroll.

Maybe he will be able to get them to offer a model without that damned QLA? If they build it, they will come!

 

[john keyes]

I thought he was a country and western singer....... ?


what happened at Savage? is he like Randy Wakeman Junior?

 

[black powder]

Who Thompson Center hires or endorses to represent them is really of no concern of mine. I take information anywhere I can get it, and from whom ever I can. So if Mr. Bridges is going to push Thompson Center rifles, so be it. Might pick up some good tips. After all he does do a lot of shooting and testing. I don't have to like or dislike someone to learn from them.

i have to admire CAYUGA he always has an intelligent answere ,i can't add anything to his quote he said it all ..

 

[Busta]

Why does anyone care what Toby Bridges is doing? :?

Like it or not, he has done more to promote hunting with a muzzleloader nationwide than any other PERSON!

I am sure some of the hunting opportunities you enjoy with your inline today, are a result of his efforts from 20 to 25 years ago when some states didn't allow much more than a roundball.

He is still fighting the good fight to allow you to hunt with your scoped inline muzzleloader, using 209 primers and several types of powders and bullets you prefer.

I guess if you have only been muzzleloading for a year or two, you might not really see what the efforts of those that came before you were over the last 25 years or longer.

Just in case you were wondering, up until about the mid to late 90's T/C would void your warranty if you shot a saboted bullet out of one of their rifles. It wasn't until the Encore came along that they started to catch on to the direction where muzzleloading was moving. Now all their rifles have the QLA, and they promote saboted bullets. Toby and Knight were shooting saboted bullets an easy 10 years prior to that. Just goes to show you, not even a company as big as T/C had all the answers. They even learned a few things from Knight, MMP, and inline Pioneers like Toby. You might even learn something, if you let it happen?

A little history, the first production break-open inline was not the Encore. H&R was making the Huntsman back in the early '70's. Sure it was ahead of it's time, but they had knocked down a few barriers that helped pave the way for others to follow.

Just remember, the next time you are out enjoying your hunt with the muzzleloader of YOUR choosing, ol' Toby just MIGHT have had something to do with that!

 

[sabotloader]

Busta

:yeah:

and I am not even a real Toby fan... but it sure is easy to whip on somebody that doesn't fit your ideas or thoughts

 

[frontier gander]

didnt he screw up something in his own state where they no longer have a muzzleloading season?

 

[txhunter58]

Don't think so. He lives in Montana, and is trying to get them to START a seperate and early muzzy season (They have a early archery and later rifle season currently). He is catching a lot of flack from the bowhunters. Imagine that!

 

[SteveB]

I won't buy any product just because he(or any one person) endorses it.

Neither am I foolish enough to NOT consider any product because he (or any one person) endorses it.

The average mz hunter and target of TC probably knows little of the Savage/Toby deal and it will have litlle influence on them. His history listed by Busta will have far more impact - and its mainly positive.

Steve

 

[frontier gander]

ive chatted with him before on another forum and i found it fun when we got onto the traditional muzzleloaders with modern conicals. We argued about the patch round ball ability to kill cleanly at long range but thats really the only thing we had against eachother while on the traditional topic.

Not a bad guy, certainly a lot more enjoyable than some other dude we all know im not fond of :lol:

I just dont think he will offer anything new to the sport, Esp. with tc.

 

[sabotloader]

txhunter58

Exactly right... problem is the Bow Hunters and the Traditional guys are organized and have the power of numbers to influence political decisions... Us run of the mill type hunting guys and gals, even though we are the majority, are like the farmers of this country. If they ever organized themselves into one group with a united concern - can you imagine the political power they would have! gee whiz... But then the government also knows it is very hard to unionize a large group of people like independent farmers that depend on themselves for survival - they still believe they can take care of themselves. We regular hunters are much the same way when it comes to organizing and presenting a united front for any length of time...

sorry for the soapbox

 

[SWThomas]

Why does anyone care what Toby Bridges is doing? :?

Like it or not, he has done more to promote hunting with a muzzleloader nationwide than any other PERSON!

I am sure some of the hunting opportunities you enjoy with your inline today, are a result of his efforts from 20 to 25 years ago when some states didn't allow much more than a roundball.

He is still fighting the good fight to allow you to hunt with your scoped inline muzzleloader, using 209 primers and several types of powders and bullets you prefer.

I guess if you have only been muzzleloading for a year or two, you might not really see what the efforts of those that came before you were over the last 25 years or longer.

Just in case you were wondering, up until about the mid to late 90's T/C would void your warranty if you shot a saboted bullet out of one of their rifles. It wasn't until the Encore came along that they started to catch on to the direction where muzzleloading was moving. Now all their rifles have the QLA, and they promote saboted bullets. Toby and Knight were shooting saboted bullets an easy 10 years prior to that. Just goes to show you, not even a company as big as T/C had all the answers. They even learned a few things from Knight, MMP, and inline Pioneers like Toby. You might even learn something, if you let it happen?

A little history, the first production break-open inline was not the Encore. H&R was making the Huntsman back in the early '70's. Sure it was ahead of it's time, but they had knocked down a few barriers that helped pave the way for others to follow.

Just remember, the next time you are out enjoying your hunt with the muzzleloader of YOUR choosing, ol' Toby just MIGHT have had something to do with that!

Thanks for the history lesson Busta! Seriously, I didn't know most of what you posted. But I seriously doubt TB has been as instrumental in the evolution of muzzleloaders and muzzleloading laws as you make him out to be. I've never met the guy so all I can go off is what people who have met him and spent time with him have said about him. And also all the stuff on the internet about his dishonesty with the whole Savage debacle. He obviously has an axe to grind and from what I have seen, he's committing slander to accomplish his agendas. That's why I don't care for him.

But you are correct that he does post a lot of information. Whether it's useful or not is up to the person reading it. I take most of it with a grain of salt just like most of the hunting shows I see with 15 sponsor plugs before the show even starts.

 

[Busta]

didnt he screw up something in his own state where they no longer have a muzzleloading season?

FG,

What kind of question is that? Do you really think any one person could screw something up, where the State would take away a muzzleloader season? :?

Toby grew up in Illinois, and lived in Illinois and Missouri pretty much his whole life as far as I know. He just moved to Montana within the last year or so. Montana is the only State in the NATION that does not have, and has never had a special "Muzzleloader" season. Wyoming has limited hunts in certain areas. I think he is trying his best to change that. It won't be an easy fight by any means.

There were several other States that did not have muzzleloader seasons not too many years ago. Michigan being one of them, now look at the revenue it brings in for the state, rifle manufacturers, and everything else that goes along with it.

Here is a link that may help you understand his efforts.

http://www.missoula.com/news/node/1273

 

[Batchief909]

Toby was VERY instrumental in getting smokeless MLers legalized in Indiana.