T/C Contender Barrel Options

[Hunterdad]

Just picked up a Contender pistol with the 14" .30-30 barrel. I've always wanted one and traded a gun I never use for it. Now, im a bit confused on how the whole barrel deal works. What calibers are available for this?? Will Encore barrels work? Please school me on these things. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Adam's

 

[TNBilly]

You need to make sure just what T/C frame you have. Contender and G2 barrels interchange, with the exception of the occasional OLD octagon type Contender barrel that will have problems in newer frames. Prohunter and Encore barrels fit their same frame. and are bigger than the Contender/G2 frames. If you want to see what's out there for frames either go to the T/C website or hang on a place like Gunbroker.com and see what barrels come along.

 

[Hunterdad]

Thanks tnbilly. Here is a pic of mine. It has the engraving of a cougar on the frame and was made in the later part of 1986. I'm assuming its a regular contender.

 

[hardluk1]

Heres a few place to stat on barrel options.

http://www.bullberry.com/TCbarrels.html
http://sskindustries.com/contender
http://www.eabco.com/tcref.html

This should keep you busy for a while.

 

[Manta77]

30/30 is a blast to shoot. When you become acclimated to it, step up to the 45/70 for some real fun. Congrats on your find, they never get old. I prefer the older ones over the Encores, as they have more 10"/12" barrels available if you can still find them (high muzzle flash which makes it exciting to me). To me they are just for fun, and I never take my accuracy seriously when shooting the larger calibers (just glad I still have my hand/arm).

 

[Hunterdad]

Well, the main reason I bought it was to deer hunt with it. We aren't allowed to use rifles around here, but are allowed handguns chambered in a rifle round. I'm hopefully going to get to the range Friday and throw some corelokts through it and see how it does. Deer opened up Saturday here for gun hunting.

 

[mbopp]

There's a Contender forum over at Graybeard's also:

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php

Over the years Contenders have been chambered in many calibers both factory and custom. Some people make a hobby of collecting just Contender barrels.

Back when NY specified .35 caliber as a minimum for handgun hunting I got a 357 Herrett barrel. For cheap practice I load cast handgun bullets.

I know it's close to deer season but Contenders really benefit from some form of optics, be they scope or red dot.

 

[hardluk1]

Do you have to use a straight walled case?? If you don't have reloading skills get a 44mag barrel for your contender. There is plaenty of ammo choices for it. Its also accurte and will allow you to take a deer well beyound a 150 yards. You may want to red dot it or scope it.

 

[DWFan]

A .44 Magnum barrel would be a nice second caliber, but the .30-30 will do anything the .44 will do (unless you are into super-heavy bullets) with a much flatter trajectory. I would go the other way and get a .223 barrel and mount identical optics on both for inexpensive shooting/practice. If it's legal, a downloaded .223 is excellent for small game. If you can head-shoot a squirrel or rabbit at 50 yards with the .223, hitting the kill zone on a deer at 100 yards with the .30-30....well, you get the idea.

 

[Hunterdad]

Great. Thanks for the info guys. I'll definitely be going for the scoped 223 barrel.

Thanks