Thompson Contenders Anyone Still Use Them

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10" stainless steel .22 Hornet
14" stainless steel .223
14" blued 7-30 Waters
10" blued .22lr
Not seen is a 14" stainless steel .44 Magnum.

1556371_789513824394168_330881610147574994_o_zpsc68fcdbe.jpg
 
I use 14" barrels on my Contenders, the last few years mainly the 7-30 Waters as it works very well on deer, hogs and coyotes.
 
I have one TC G2 carbine with several barrels, scopes. After sending it off for a trigger job, it has been a tack driver and so much fun, I will be getting the handgun.......prolly start with .17hmr. I need to do some ballistics research for rifle calibers out of 10-14 inch barrels.
 
I've had Contenders since the mid 80's when I started shooting IHMSA and at one time I had aprox. twenty pistol length barrels......I've never owned a rifle length barrel.

It's a shame that the Contenders have been discontinued and I don't like the different grip angle on the newer G-2.

Getting older and with no heirs that are interested in and or deserve my guns I started selling some of my guns off a bit at a time a couple years ago.

I've thinned down the herd to four Contender frames and five 14" Bausch & Lomb 2x6 scoped barrels which I suppose are the ones that I've determined in my mind that I can't live without for now.

The 14" scoped barrels that I kept;

.22 long rifle......6mm TCU......6.5mm TCU......7mmTCU......300 Whisper.
 
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Here is my rig. I've had my TC since 1995 and have added barrels and grips / forends / stocks / scopes over the years.
Top - .44mag
.223
.22
.410
7-30 Waters
.45-70 Govt.

DSCF1357_zps8c06cbcc.jpg
 
Love the Contenders! I have original frames with pistol length barrels for 8 calibers. The single shot pace suits me just fine. (A lot of my shooting is with traditional MLs, so no surprise about enjoying single shot guns.) They are great for working up handloads and are easy to clean and maintain. I'm in no hurry to run through ammo being more interested in how much accuracy I can get out of a certain load and myself.

I have a younger friend who doesn't understand the Contender's appeal. He likes his semi-autos. The slower pace of my MLs, Contenders, and single-action revolvers drives him bonkers. :D

Jeff
 
Seeing as though I started this thread, I figured I may as well drop a couple photos of my single frame Contender and my rifle as well as my pistol barrels, stocks and hand guards The handgun on the top picture assembled, is my new 12" .357 barrel, The rest I already described in a previous post. Note the only SS barrels are the .44Magnum and the .410 shotgun barrel ( Note it also has a choke in the end of the barrel)

DSCN1479.jpg

DSCN1480.jpg

DSCN1481.jpg
 
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I have a rifle with a bunch of barrels... I love it. The fact that it's a single shot is very appealing. I can spend hours at the range and not blast through a bunch of ammo shooting willy-nilly. When folks talk about spending a few hours at the range while shooting hundreds of rounds of ammo (rifle or pistol) I cringe at how much is must cost. Single shot rifles and pistols are great ways to enjoy your range time without feeling the urge to just waste ammo......because it takes some thought to fire each round.....it's not just blindly pulling the trigger over and over again.


ProHunter3.jpg

If I were so inclined I'd get a pistol frame too and a bunch of barrels.....but funds do not allow at the moment.
 
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Damon555 said:
I have a rifle with a bunch of barrels... I love it. The fact that it's a single shot is very appealing. I can spend hours at the range and not blast through a bunch of ammo shooting willy-nilly. When folks talk about spending a few hours at the range while shooting hundreds of rounds of ammo (rifle or pistol) I cringe at how much is must cost. Single shot rifles and pistols are great ways to enjoy your range time without feeling the urge to just waste ammo......because it takes some thought to fire each round.....it's not just blindly pulling the trigger over and over again.


ProHunter3.jpg

If I were so inclined I'd get a pistol frame too and a bunch of barrels.....but funds do not allow at the moment.
Click to expand...

Damon555 -- I agree. After 50 rounds at the range with my Contender, I feel satiated. I didn't think that was such a big deal with .22 LR, but now... :uhoh:

.
 
I have a scoped one from shooting smallbore pistol silhouette years ago.

I often take it to the indoor range with the other pistols. When I get tired of shooting the centerfire pistols I send the target to the limit of the lane and have fun punching out the black dot with the Contender. :)

I always planned on getting more barrels for it, but every time I looked it was just as cheap to buy a whole new gun. :(

I think a .17HMR barrel would be fun though.
 
The 17 HMR cartidge is a honey and extremely accurate and quite explosive.

Try it, you will surely like it.
 
I have 14" Contender handgun barrels in 357 Maximum, 7TCU, and 223. And 15" Encore handgun barrels that are both a full 1" in diameter out to the bore in 7-08, and 44 Mag.
All great fun!
 
I inherited a couple of frames from my father along with barrels in 22 Hornet, 223, 30-30, 45 Colt/410, 357 Maximum, 45-70. I never had much interest in them until a couple of years ago. I've since added 22Lr, 44 Mag, and last week picked up a 14" 7-30 Waters barrel.
My first venture into fire forming 30-30 brass did this at 100 yards this afternoon. Granted, not superb by some of your standards, I am very happy to get this result knowing my ability with a pistol.
8bc2933765f3c754b71bc363f784a68e.jpg
59fb43d55b432ff10d12742f0ac92ffc.jpg e17b6d54706044211fdcf6740d9e9fd8.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
.35 Rem Super 16
.22Lr (custom bbl made from 513T)
.223 Super 14
and last yr's deer, about 70 yards.
 
Alderman, I get excellent results with accuracy and performance with my 14" 7-30 Waters barrel using RL-15 and 120 gr Nosler BT.
 
My T/C 14" 7-30 Waters loves the 120gr Nosler BT and Varget. This is a group fired at 100 yards from a rest. The squares are 1".

IMAG0727_zpseea56831.jpg
 
The 7-30 Waters is a great cartridge. My T/C shoots both the 120 and 139 grain bullets equally well. Finding brass, especially factory fresh brass is a problem. I was lucky to find a guy selling 200 pieces of factory fresh Federal 7-30 Waters brass a few years ago. It's nickel plated, but I've had zero issues with resizing.

The other option if to use .30-30 brass and form your cases from there. I plan on picking up a forming die and stocking up on some factory .30-30 cases just so I'll have a supply on hand.
 
Steve in PA said:
The 7-30 Waters is a great cartridge. My T/C shoots both the 120 and 139 grain bullets equally well. Finding brass, especially factory fresh brass is a problem. I was lucky to find a guy selling 200 pieces of factory fresh Federal 7-30 Waters brass a few years ago. It's nickel plated, but I've had zero issues with resizing.

The other option if to use .30-30 brass and form your cases from there. I plan on picking up a forming die and stocking up on some factory .30-30 cases just so I'll have a supply on hand.
Click to expand...
I just ran .30/30 cases thru a 7-30 Waters die and fireformed the cases. You live in Pennsylvania, once fired .30/30 cases should be a dime a dozen.
 
The 7-30 Waters is a dynamite cartridge, I've taken several Montana mule deer and antelope with a Sierra 130 gr single shot pistol bullet (they haven't made them for years)
 
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