MAGNUM MAGNUM - Jeffersonian

HANDGUNHUNTING
J.D. Jones
TIPS, TECHNIQUES
AND POLITICAL-
INCORRECTNESS
Ken French and
Warren Center
with the first
TCR 83 rifle.
Kenny cooking
lunch on a Moose
hunt. A good guide
is a good cook too!
Pam and
Ken at the
“Quitchabitchin”
cabin in
the Maine
north
woods.
Ken French of t/c
Little did I know, in the late 1970s when I went
to Camp Curtis Guild to a Handgun Metallic
Silhouette shoot, I would meet Ken French and
develop a lifelong friendship.
Kenny had a Contender in .357 Herrett loaded with
200-grain RN bullets and offered it to me to shoot. During
the course of firing those 40 shots we discussed some
interesting things about the particular gun and ammunition.
I like to think that incident provided a tiny bit of the
motivation for Kenny to vastly improve the accuracy of
the Contender.
Shortly thereafter, I received a Contender barrel with
The Early Days
K
enny was one of the first T/C
employees. It gets hellishly
cold in Maine and as a young man
with a family when the timber
industry shut down Ken went to
T/C looking for an out-of-the-cold
winter job. Warren Center himself
hired him and told him if it worked
out he wouldn’t have to leave in
the spring. Ken told me he thought
to himself; yeah, a single-shot .22
pistol — I wonder if we will last
till spring. Last they did, and the
company became a significant part
of American industrial history.
Being there at the beginning Ken
learned and did most of the jobs
in manufacturing. This awakened
a “can we make it better and what
should we be making” thinking.
an improved locking bolt. Early Contenders had some
ignition problems with large rifle primers due to a weak
hammer spring. Partly as an experiment and partly as a
joke I wound some strong rubber bands behind the hammer
and around the sight and ignition improved. About a week
after sending a photo of this rig to Kenny I received a very
nicely done package of rubber bands complete with official
T/C logo and labeled appropriately. A month or so later a
new hammer spring arrived. No doubt about it, Kenny was
the man behind the astounding accuracy increase, startling
popularity and success of the of the Contender pistol in
competition and in the field.
Quitchabitchn
Warren was certainly a mentor
to him as he became a mentor to Ken became the Plant Manager
many others in the company. He
of the company and for the last
sought the ideas and opinions of
few years there was in charge of
others regarding the products and all R&D as well as hosting many T/C
tested them in the field himself. He sponsored gunwriter hunts. After his
was interested in a wide variety of retirement he stayed active as a consultant
to the company. His bigger than
hunting and shooting sports. I believe
Kenny’s interest in black powder life attitude toward life was simply
shooting is what brought T/C into “Quitchabitchn.” He led an exemplary
that market.
life with family, friends and business.
As the company grew so did
Personally, I owe Kenny a lot.
Kenny’s responsibilities and influence Without his help there would never
in the direction the company took. I have been an SSK. Sadly, Kenny left
don’t believe there is a T/C product us on Aug. 31, 2010 at the age of
that doesn’t reflect his genius in gun 71. He is survived by his wife of 54
design. He became living proof hard years, Pam, and several children and
work done well and honesty in business
pays off. The T/C lifetime war-
I miss him and probably
family members. He was a fine man.
ranty is a reflection of his thinking. always will. *
26 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL 2011