Contender Carbine in 30-30

[Dr T]

My current thinking:

The serial number on my frame is 3xxxxx, so I should have no problems with a G2 barrel (anything above 196xxx should be fine).

I would like a MGM 23" barrel with the .810 diameter muzzle. This should be the same as the G2 factory profile.

I would like to get a Boyd's stock. There is no issue with the butt (I think maybe a 13" LOP since I like a bit shorter pull and end it with a Limbsaver since I am becoming a recoil wimp in my old age.) My problem is the foreend. The Boyd's standard rifle configuration is for a 13/16" channel (0.8125") and the foreend screw spacing is 3 9/16" (3.5625" Center to center). The MGM barrel widget lists a Super 16 (3.550") Rifle foreend screw spacing. Will this work with the Boyd's Stock without a lot of work on my part? I know that 0.0125" is just a little bit off, but I would like to know in advance.

Has anyone been down this particular road?

I have too many memories of small amounts of material becoming a big pain to deal with elegantly.

 

[gemihur]

I build my own furniture

 

[Dr T]

Beautiful. I wish I had the talent.

How do you handle the barrel bedding?

 

[BigBlue 94]

Contender barrel fitment generally comes down to pre- or post- easy open lock plungers. Put an old barrel on a newer contender frame and it may lock up to where it needs disassembled to open the barrel.

Dont own any rifle length barrels, but do own 10" and 14" 30 Herrett and 10" 357 Herrett barrels: 30-30 based wildcats.

 

[gemihur]

On forearm for contender building, a router bit cuts the channel and a drill press plunges for dovetail countersink and forearm screw channel.
Consistent screw tension and adequate clearance to frame sides provides nearly free-floating status for the barrel.
Dovetail spacing is easiest for 10" bbls. (1 pillar), super 14, and 12" bbls have 2, and rifle and carbine have 2 but different spacing.
Only the rear dovetail position is common on all three.
The only factory barrel that's unique to dovetail spacing is the early 21" tapered bbls that had a single screw.

 

[PapaG]

I have a fairly early Contender carbine and had a G2. Bought a new 30-30 TC barrel and while it fit the G2 it wouldn't fire. Fits and fires fine on the old frame. Accurate with just about anything I put in it. 150, 170 factory go under 2 MOA, cast 125, 150, 175 seem to be about 3.

 

[db_tanker]

There are Contender specific loads out there for their chambers.
My 14" 35 Remmy is a beast when using factory loads...but loaded down and using 357 mag bullets? sweetie
My 14" 44 Mag...again bit of a beast with most full house loads...but loaded down will still make porky pig stop moving.
The 45-70...ugh...set up as a carbine and is a bit rough on the shoulder...but Trailboss makes me look like a bad dude with it.

I have a 23" TC custom shop 25-35 about to be in my possession....and I am VERY excited

 

[Dr T]

Now I am beginning to get torn. EABCO just announced that they have made a run of Contender Carbine barrels in 22 WRM and 22 Hornet. Should I make the carbine in one of those or go with a 30-30 custom barrel with 1-12 twist?

Decisions, decisions...

 

[BigBlue 94]

Now I am beginning to get torn. EABCO just announced that they have made a run of Contender Carbine barrels in 22 WRM and 22 Hornet. Should I make the carbine in one of those or go with a 30-30 custom barrel with 1-12 twist?

Decisions, decisions...

Just picked up a 20" SSK barrel from Graf's in 6.5 Grendel myself.

I have pistol barrels in both 22 mag and 22 Hornet. As well as a Handi-Rifle in 22 Hornet. I would choose the hornet over the mag. Hornet vs 30-30 would depend on what i wanted to do with said rifle. Just punching paper, 22 hornet. But if i wanted to take a deer or something with it, definitely 30-30.

 

[PapaG]

I have 30-30 barrels for both my Contender pistol and my carbine. One is no fun, the other is great fun. Both can and have produced great groups. I don't shoot the short one any more. My experience in barrel interchanging has been somewhat erratic. My 30-30 fit my G2 but wouldn't fire. A couple others over the years required major disassembly to get the gun apart after mounting the barrel. I'm down to two carbines, one pistol and ten barrels. Need to sort and downsize.

 

[jmorris]

I don’t have a contender in 30-30, rifle or pistol but if I did, I would, work up a load for the 110gn barns TAC Tx bullet at around 2000-2100 fps @ the distance of impact.

 

[critter]

I have the 14" 30-30 barrel in my Contender handgun. I use 125 Nosler BT's on deer and it is very, VERY effective! Also, just SUPER accurate as in under 1" at 100 yards from a good rest.

 

[Steve in PA]

I also have a 7-30 waters. It’s a 10” and is a wonderful shooter. It’s only real drawback now is bullets. The 7mm trend is to heavier bullets like 140 or heavier. The 7-30 really shines in the light and fast bullet territory but very few good bullets are readily available under 140gr.

I have a 14” 7-30 Waters barrel in my T/C collection. It is my favorite hunting handgun and extremely accurate. I started out using the Nosler 120gr BT bullets, but switched to the Hornady 139gr SST bullets. Both will easily shoot under 1” groups at 100 yards all day long. The SST’s have accounted for several deer.

 

[BigBlue 94]

I don’t have a contender in 30-30, rifle or pistol but if I did, I would, work up a load for the 110gn barns TAC Tx bullet at around 2000-2100 fps @ the distance of impact.

I have considered them for my 30 Herrett. Just never pulled the trigger. The long and super pointy-ness of the TAC TX intrigues me for a single shot pistol. I did recently get some old old Remington Bronze Points but they are 150grn. Thats the heavy end for 30 Herrett. Still on the hunt for a super long and pointy bullet for the 357 Herrett.

I did recently come across a 10" 30-30 barrel i forgot about, hiding among my others.

 

[WVRJ]

I get along good with the 7-30 Waters 21 inch barrel and the 21 inch and 14 inch 35 Rem. barrels.180 grain Hornady SSP's at around 2,000 FPS out of the 21 inch 35 carbine are great whitetail medicine,as are various 120 grainers in the 7X30.My shooting buddy has a 14 inch 30-30AI and with 125 grain bullets,it's crazy accurate and very deadly on deer size game.Very versatile firearms,they are.

 

[Dr T]

I took a look at SSK (see https://www.sskfirearms.com/30-30-ackley-imp-cbl18.html)

One of the standard barrels they offer for the Contender is an 18" in, among other things, 30-30 Ackley Improved.

The possible barrels are now a custom MGM 23" barrel in 30-30 Win with a 1-12 twist or the SSK 18" in 30-30 AI (plus dies) with a 1-7 twist. My primary use will be for bullets 170 gr or less.

Question 1: How close will the performance be for these two configurations? The AI will buy some performance but the 5" barrel length is a lot of barrel and the performance may end up a wash.

Question 2: Has anyone had any trouble fitting an SSK barrel to a G1 Contender Frame?

 

[BigBlue 94]

I took a look at SSK (see https://www.sskfirearms.com/30-30-ackley-imp-cbl18.html)

One of the standard barrels they offer for the Contender is an 18" in, among other things, 30-30 Ackley Improved.

The possible barrels are now a custom MGM 23" barrel in 30-30 Win with a 1-12 twist or the SSK 18" in 30-30 AI (plus dies) with a 1-7 twist. My primary use will be for bullets 170 gr or less.

Question 1: How close will the performance be for these two configurations? The AI will buy some performance but the 5" barrel length is a lot of barrel and the performance may end up a wash.

Question 2: Has anyone had any trouble fitting an SSK barrel to a G1 Contender Frame?

Just bought an SSK 20" stainless barrel for my G1 frame. Fits, locks, and unlocks like it should.

I bought it from Graf's. They have both 14 and 18" stainless 30-30 AI barrels in stock. Only 1 left of each. My 20" grendel barrel was less from Graf's than the same thing ordered from SSK's custom shop (SSK had none in stock for the pre-made price)

 

[Dr T]

Finally eabco.net (E. Arthur Brown) has made a new run of these: https://www.eabco.net/TC-ContenderG2-Accuracy-Barrel-30-30-Winchester-24-Blue-110-Twist_p_18463.html

It is a 24", 1-10" twist with a diameter of 0.810". I have one on order now with a Picatinny rail installed.

Finally.

 

[Doug444]

-I recently ordered a 7-30 Waters G2 24" barrel from eabco. Plan to put it on my G1 frame (already have a Super 14 in 7-30 W). They're saying 9 months for delivery. Also ordered a stock/forend combo, on backorder. So maybe by Thanksgiving I'll be able to see how it fits/shoots.

 

[Dr T]

I saw the 9 mo delivery time from the custom shop. That's why I waited for the production run. With luck it will be delivered tomorrow.

I want a laminate stock, but there is that backorder issue. I found a composite forend at eabco and a composite buttstock for my G! frame at Midway that are in stock. Apparently the eabco stocks are OEM'd by a place called Keystone Sporting Arms, LLC. I have been tempted to order a stock with a limbsaver pad from Boyd, but I want to try the one from Midway before I specify the LOP and the forend from eabco so I can specify the screw spacing and barrel channel. Also, I need to talk with Boyd to verify that their buttstock will fit a G1 fame. The website is not specific, and I don't like parts that don't fit (and Boyd always seems to need some special fitting).

 

[cfullgraf]

I understand what @Armorer 101 said is correct. If the Contender is to be a rifle, needs a stock and rifle length barrel. If a pistol, no stock and a pistol length barrel.

I have two G1 Contenders set up as carbines. One is 22 Hornet with a 21” Contender barrel and a Contender synthetic stock. The
other has a 22” heavy Bullberry barrel with a Bullberry stick and fore end. Both are accurate and good varmint rifles.

I’m sure a carbine ir rifle length 30-30 barrel will serve you well Look into Bullberry, they make good barrels and stocks for Contenders.

I used to shoot IHMSA silhouette with a 7mm International Rimmed Super 14 barrel. It is a nice round similar to 7-30 Waters. It would make a nice carbine round.

 

[Dr T]

Barrel was delivered this morning. It was packed with a sample 30-30 casing, break in instructions, and bore paste.

 

[Dr T]

I finally got it together.

The barrel is an EABCO 24" accuracy barrel with a 1 in 10" twist rate and a shop mounted Picatinney rail. The scope is a Bushnell Engage 30mm 1-4 x 24 mm scope with a German 4 reticle and a red dot. It is mounted using Warne Maxima High rings. These rings have a separate recoil key that fits between the ring halves to keep the scope from moving in the rail. My rough estimate has the center of the scope about 2" above the bore.

A note on Warne the EXCEPTIONAL customer service. In my haste to put the rifle together, one of the recoil keys (a little quasi rectangular piece of non-magnetic metal dropped on the floor and bounced to parts unknown. After choice words and fruitless searching, I tried to find the parts online, and ordered to Weaver Steel rings. After I did that, I went back to the Warne website and asked how I could get a replacement part. The next morning, I had an email from their customer service saying, in effect, No Problem. Send us the part number of the rings and a good mailing addess. I did this immediately. A couple of hours later, I got and email saying that the recoil keys were in the mail. They sent two, and one is on the rifle and one is in the SPARES tool box.

I ended up using a TC factory synthetic foreend and buttstock. The comb on the stock was significantly low. I ended up putting a neoprene sleeve with a 5/8" spacer to bring the comb up. As noted, my rough estimate has the center of the scope about 2" above the bore. I did not find the information on the Boyd website to be enough to allow me to make an informed decision on the originally planned stock. The TC stock has a 13.5" LOP, which is about right for me. The Boyd stock has a 14.5" LOP and I haven't seen an option to reduce the pull. Also, I am concerned about the comb height. My best guess is that the Sterling thumbhole stock has a comb that is high enough. But I need more information.

The next step is to break in the barrel, which will take about a box of shells. I will also use this time to do a rough sight in of about 3/4" high at 50 yards. The scope has 0.1 mil clicks, so that will be 0.18" per click at 50 yards. I have some Winchester, Federal, and Hornady factory rounds on hand. I just need to figure out what brand of brass to put into the "empties for reloading bin."

For more serious load development, I have 50 new, unfired PPI cases. I am planing to begin the load development with the 130 gr Speer HP #2005. I have 200 new and 100 more that are about 40 years old. I have heard that the old 2005's are less frangible that the newer ones. At 30-30 velocities, either should be adequate for whitetails.

 

[eastbank]

i have several tc single shot carbines, a 7-30 waters 21" a .375 jdj 23" and a pistol .309 jdj in ss 12" along with several extra frames.

 

[Doug444]

Quick update, I just got an email yesterday that EABCO was shipping out my 7-30 Waters barrel and stock set. 4 months early! Supposed to arrive Saturday (signature required, which is a good thing). Can't wait to see if it fits my frame - sure hope so!! Pics will follow assuming all goes well.