Concerning the Thompson Contender ...

[kimbernut]

Portable Rest

That portable dowel rest sounds like a great idea in combination with a bucket seat.Any pictures available to share? I've had my Encore 15" pistol in .22-250 a little over a year and can hold MOA @ 100 yards off the bench with my handloads but I have yet to try hunting positions at the range or to varmint hunt with it. With the right rest system I would not be opposed to hunting deer with it with a 7mm-08 barrel which I already load for in Rem. Mod7 rifle.

 

[LeonCarr]

A buddy of mine is a big time Contender guy with four frames and 21 barrels in everything from .17 Remington to .45-70. His most accurate rig is a Super 14 in .222 with a 7x Burris scope. 100 yard five shot groups run about 5/8" with handloaded 52 grain Sierra Matchkings. The .45-70, even with Magnaporting and Pachmayrs, is just plain brutal. It is my favorite .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[crawfish]

I currently own 4 frames all pre-G2 and 13 scoped barrel sets. I posted on another site the averages size of 10 10 shot groups shot with a Contender fitted with a 22lr BullBerry bull match barrel. The groups are from a test I did using 13 different brands of .22lr ammo. The gun was mounted in a Stinger rest.
Here they are:

AMMO USED
CCI 40gr GREENTAG

CCI 40gr MATCH PISTOL

CCI 40gr VELOCITOR

CCI 32gr STINGER

Eley Tenex 40gr Ultimate

Eley 40gr Biathlon Match

Eley 40gr Club Xtra

FEDERAL Gold Metal 711B

LAPUA 40gr MASTER L

LAPUA 40gr MIDAS M

LAPUA 48gr. SCOREMAX

LAPUA 40gr SUPER CLUB

WIN Bulk Pack 40gr Lead

REM Bulk Pack 40gr Lead

These are the group sizes in two sets shot at 50 measured yards. The left set is out of the box ammo. The right set is the same ammo but after it was altered using a Hanned Line SGB tool.


.956 .867
.889 .765
1.250 1.000
1.334 1.112
.779 .700
.645 .630
.364 .360
.555 .498
.367 .365
.478 .472
.867 .777
.335 .326
.998 .975
1.013 1.000

I was conducting a test and that is why the gun was mounted in a rest. I usually shoot this setup using a set of bags and on any given day I can shoot groups that beat these but not as consistently as with the rest. I have a match .223Rem barrel that shoots dime sized groups at 100 yards and a BullBerry .41RemMag barrel that will put all I want to shoot inside a nickel at 100. I stopped long ago posting group sizes obtained with my Contenders; I just got tired of being called a liar. :banghead:

 

[LeonCarr]

I Believe ya crawfish .

When it comes to group sizes, just about anybody that has owned or shot a Contender has been called a liar, and you should hear what they call people that own Remington XP-100s when they talk about 1/4" and 3/8" groups at 100 yards from their .221 Fireballs and 6 BRs .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[JuniorG]

Contenders are addictive. I have shot quite a few diffrent cal/bbls over the years and never had any real dogs.

There is a group of guys that hang out at the Specialty Pistols Board.
http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/eve

These fine gentlemen are probably the best educated people on the subject of T/Cs that you can find on the net today.

If you cant find it there you probably cant find it anywhere.

 

[AgentOrange]

man, i love resurrecting these old threads...

i own 3 contenders and several barrels,including 223 barrels in 10" 14" and 16". while my 16" is extremely accurate, my 10" will regularly shoot 1/2" groups with my handloads at 100 yards all day from a bench. freehand?....well,more like 3 inches, but i think that its because of the scope (crappy)

now, my 16" custom shop 223 barrel with put 5 shots in a .224 hole at 10 yards all day without a break. all of my contenders,pistols and rifles are that accurate. my 223 super 14 in more accurate than most rifles out there in 223.

 

[PO2Hammer]

Wow, that is old.

Love my G2 with a 10" .22WMR and 7" .357 mag barrels. Good excuse to post my one and only pic. Right now the mag wears a Trij. Reflex sight and it shoots as good as I can benchrest it, about three inches at 100 yards. The .22 mag will do even better, but it won't beat my CZ rifle from the bench.
With the short barrel and crisp trigger (two puonds), it's my best offhand shooter, including some of my carbines:

 

[neededausername]

T/C's are extremely accurate. Just go to any smallbore silhouette match and count the number of shooters who aren't using a T/C. Granted that's for a .22LR not a 7mm, but still.

 

[alaskanativeson]

I had a Stainless G1 Contender with a .44 Mag barrel and a 30/30 barrel. Both were far more accurate than I was. I don't remember why I got rid of it but I'm going to have to get another one. My wife's rifle is an Encore in 7mm08. She has a Nikon Monarch 3-9 mounted on it and can get 1 inch groups with Federal Premium ammo.

One thing I really liked about my Contender, the gun had a Pachmayr grip and forend. This meant that I had only one mounting screw for the forend. Yup, definitely going to have to get myself another one of those.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

I've owned a few Contenders. I once had a decent assortment of barrels and accessories, but that was when I was in the service and didn't get so much chance to go out shooting recreationally, and didn't have a reloading settup.

Then after I moved to Austin I picked up a 14" .223 with a good scope, took it out to the range with some Winchester 45gr ammo (slow rifling twist, figured I shouldn't use the heavier grains), and had a terrible time getting on target with it. I hasten to add, I'm not blaming the gun, just me! I finally realized I could boresight it by cracking the barrel open, looking down the bore and comparing that to the crosshairs. But even after I got the scope more-or-less on, I was all over the target at 100m, not even good enough of a group to start adjusting.

I was shooting off of a full ammo-can with a rolled-up coat on it as a rest. I figure that my problem was some combination of having no familiarity with sighting in scopes (just M16A2 iron sights), and not knowing how to use a rest properly.

I'm still fascinated by the idea of the T/C, and am just about to start reloading for my Ruger .32 H&R single-action. At some point I just might have to get another T/C, and then find an experienced T/C shooter to explain what I'm doing wrong with it. Further, I imagine that being a handloader would massively increase my enjoyment of, and involvement with, the T/C. 6x45mm (my dream plinker cartridge) ammo is pretty hard to find on store shelves...

 

[mrt949]

Owned tc from 1975 had 3 receivers setup .had several barrell setups when they ONLY COST 30.00DOLLARS.all gone boat sank