Fooling with Contenders

[Jet22]

16.5" barrel in .22 Hornet that I can make into a rifle, something T/C doesn't make right now

You would be amazed at what they will make. And they don't really cost as much as you would think, especially if you are comparing to ebay prices. Click on the link below:

http://foxridgeoutfitters.com/section.cfm?section=16

Ya, I'm hooked too. I have been a long time 30 Herrett fan, 10" barrel. I have been recently playing with a 357 Herrett, 10", and find it is no problem to get a 200 grain bullet going 2000fps. I also have a 219 AI Zipper 15" and it can get a 50 grain bullet over 3000fps easily.

I was working with a 256 Win Mag this summer and am amazed at how easy it is to form brass from 357 mag.

My latest passion has been the 12" octagon TCA barrels. I do not know what all calibers they made them in or how many of each, but the numbers are low (under 100 for most). At present I have 6 of them:

22LR No Sights
22 Hornet No Sights
22 Hornet W/Sights
6mm TCU No Sights
7-30 Waters No Sights
32 H&R Mag No Sights

I have picked up 5 of the old 3/4" tube Burris Mikro Pistol scopes, 3 in 3x and 2 in 2X, to put on them. That small tube scope looks great on them with the Burris 3/4" rings and Burris base. The only one I have worked with so far is the 6mm TCU and it seems to be a honey. I am using the 90 grain Nosler Ballistic tip and hope to take a deer with it. The 32 H&R will probably be next (for small game and plinking) as I bought the brass and have bullets. I have a 32-20 10" bull that I just picked up brass for too, so I will work on them together for small game, one with scope and the other with irons. The 32-20 should be just shy of the 300-221 (a barrel I sold a few years back and would like to get in a 16" carbine barrel) in top end performance.

Anyway, its an addiction. I am not a collector and shoot everything I own. I have bought entire collections (most recently 6 frames, 7 stocks, 9 carbine barrels, 11 pistol barrels in one collection) and sold all but a barrel or two cause they were the only ones I wanted. They seem to be cheaper to buy that way cause not too many guys will spend that much on a Contender and not too many Contender owners will part them out!

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

count me in too... my father in law had an extensive collection of Contender actions & barrels... all the old TCU / Herret, & a few odd ball exotic cartridges etc ( also had all the loading dies / data )... after I inherited the collection, I continued to add to it every chance I got... probably the biggest expense for me was scopes, as I couldn't see having a barrel of a long range cartridge without a scope, & ny father in law only had 6-8 of them scoped up ( I think one year I bought over 40 different scopes )... now most of the odd barrels are "put away"... but I still shoot the 45-70, with the Pacmeyer grips & forend as my regular deer gun, but my custom Faigen camo laminated thumbhole stock on a 16" vent rib 410 barrel is my "MOST OFTEN SHOT" Contender, as it sits always ready to thin the farms rabbit population...

BTW... one of my other "old" favorites is my 10" octigon 22 Hornet barrel... I have 4 different ( older ) actions, & the 22 Hornet, 7-30 Waters, 45-70, & 410 barrels are usually the ones on the actions...I also have a 10mm barrel I rechambered to 10 mm magnum that throws some interesting groups...

BTW #2... any collectors interested in the old TC single power scopes ??? I used to have a grociery bag full of them I used to take to the gun shows... probably still have a few left...

 

[Shawnee]

Hi P95...

Do you know if the Pachmyers like yours are still available as retail items or only as "used" buys? I have a problem with the Contender grips (mostly the newer ones) because they are "too much" to fit my somewhat beefy hand well. But the ones like on your gun do fit. I think the ones on McGunner's gun are Pachmyers too but do not fit me well.

Anyone - what kind of groups do you get from your 30-30s with factory ammo?

Many thanks, All

 

[db_tanker]

Pachmyer sells them still as far as I know.

Might be a bit diffrent for a G2, but the previous generation they are still around.


Ebay has them all the time...

D

 

[Jet22]

They have them at Mid South Shooters Supply. Many of their items are cheaper than Ebay and they are super quick on shipping...same day most of the time. If you have a business address they can ship to, the shipping is super low. The last order I did with them was for rings, base, two boxes of bullets and the shipping was under $6.00. Below is a link for the Pach's.



http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=01003382&fromsearch=yes&submit=GO

 

[Okiecruffler]

I'm still roaming around from time to time

I don't have hardly any barrels, tho I've owned most. I only keep the ones I really like. I've got a 14" 223 that has shot more than a few groups under .30", it ain't going anywhere. Just bought a 10 inch 357 barrel for shooting steel with, was going to bore it out to 357max, but the bore is long enough it chambered 360DW without messing with it. Shooting 1 inch groups at 50 yrds with it using my cast bullets, open sights and bad eyes. And then there's my 14 inch 30 Herrett that will be wandering around the woods with me in a few weeks. You can't ignore a barrel that does this.

 

[Gordon]

Well lets see: in the grey plastic T/C case I have a 1978 Contender with a .35Rem super 14 Barrel with TSOB mounts and a Leupold 2x Ler with Pachmeyer Gripper Decelerators. This is my favorite barrel as it puts 200 grain Remington Coreloktd factory ammo into 3" at 150 yards(where it's sighted in to) from sandbags. I have taken half a dozen blacktails with it over the years. When I move up to 45-70 with the super 16" barrel , I put on a custom WesternGunstock Claro thumbhole stock to cushion my favorite 450 grain cast lead bullet load!
In smaller bores, my favorite is prolly the .22 K hornet with a 4x Redfield Frontier scope. I have shot umpty um ground squirrels up to 150 yards with that one. I tried .22 Jet for a while, but the .22K is better and more accurate. I have a Bulberry .17 Ackley Hornet 20" barrel that I put on with the Claro thumbhole stock with an old 8x Unertl Vulture scope that will extend the range, and is quieter, to 200 yards.
So now I have 2 early frames and these barrels:
.17 Ackley hornet 20" Bullberry with 8x scope
.22Lr 10" Octagon with 1.3 Phantom
.22Mag Rimfire 10" Octagon with 2.6 Phantom
.22 Jet 10" Octagon with a Redfield Frontier 2x
.22 K hornet Oct. 10" with 4x Frontier
.223 super 16" with 4x Leupold
.256 Octagon with 2.8 Phantom II
6.5TCU super 14" IMSA sights
7mm Waters super 16" with 2-7 Burris
.30 Carbine 10 " Octagon
.30-30 super 14 with 3x Burris Mikro
.357 Maximum 10" Imsa sights
.35Rem Super 14 2x Leupold
.375 Winchester 12" Bulberry with 2-7x Burris
.44mag 10" internal choke ribbed Hotshot
.45Colt/.410 Octagon external choke
.45-70 super 16" with an older aimpoint

 

[Nail Shooter]

Well, geez, I feel kind of inadequate because I only have three barrels for mine. All 10" heavy bbl: 22lr, 357mag, and 223. Used to shoot IHMSA silhouette back in the day too. The TC is an awesome gun. Regards,

NS

 

[Shawnee]

Hi Nail Shooter...

YOU feel inadequete???

Geez. I don't even own a T/C at all.

Yet.

Thanks Jet and Tanker - I found them in a couple other placers on the 'Net too.

Gordon - do you have a "favorite" among the several Contender pistol frames?

Thanks All!

 

[db_tanker]

My 10" 357 is also a fun barrel to play with.


Neat thing is, you can get the 180 and 200 gr. bullets that are for the 35 Remington and load them up. Mind you, they aren't good for expansion velocities, but by God they will knock down some iron.

I haven't tried to use my new lee crimper on those rounds...might be interesting to run them over a chrony to see exactly what velocities I AM getting both with and without a crimp.

Another project to put on the white board.


D

 

[AgentOrange]

i love resurrecting these old threads

contenders the way to go, espcially the older frames. you have to remeber, the t/c contender was built first and foremost with accuracy in mind, and man did they do the job in that department. the t/c's have been referred to as the most accurate firearms money can buy. i dont know about all of that, BUT i can say that every single one of my barrels is dead-nuttz on the money. the ajority of them shoot 5 shot 1 hole 100 yard groups all day, and my custom shop 24" 221 fireball barrel will, from a bench put as many rounds in a single hole as you want to shoot . that isnt a joke or exaggeration either..LOL...

ive got 3 frames. my oldest one is a really early 5 digit serial blued model. that, believe it or not i bought from a guy brand new a few months ago. he bought it brand new in like 1970 or '71 to get into pistol comp shooting, and he never even put a shell in it. ive gt one of the later "easy open" frames, and also a G2 frame. lots and lots of barrels. my favorite setup ive got is a 16" custom shop high polished blued heavy barrel 223 on the easy-open style "puma" frame. the whole buch is sitting in an absolutely gorgeous bullberry high gloss exhibition grade black walnut high figure stock ( which i received as a gift from september,jean and fred at bullberry barrel works..if you bought it retail from them id bet it would push $700+ bucks)...i had a guy sometime back at the range try his best to buy the setup from me. he even went as far as to offer me $1500 cash and i had to turn him down ( id have sold the gun, but what he really waned was the stock,but i dont part with gifts). he really wanted it after he saw me shoot 5 shot 1 hole,200 yard groups with it with my handloads ( 50gr speer TNT HP,remington brass and H322 powder)


you know what it says when you hunt with a contender?...it says "i can shoot so well i dont need more than one shot!"

 

[Brian Williams]

I would love to have an older frame with a 10" 357 barrel.

 

[mrt949]

You cannot buy 10 in barrells any more at tc now 12 inch or 14 inch .for gen 2 or older tc.

 

[peabody]

I have two contender frames, one is a black powder rifle, 50x209, plus a 30-30 rifle barrel,
and the other frame , i have the ten inch 45/410 and a .44 mag, and then the 7mmTCU/super 14''
i've owend many many contender barrel's, buy n' sell n' trade. but the 7mmTCU will ALWAYS, stay with me.
my 7tcu, is used for everything, squirrels, groundhogs, varmints, deer, plinking, target shooting, heck ? it does everything well, and super eazy to load for, more accurate than i can hold it.

peabody

 

[Ky Larry]

I only have one Contender and one barrel. It is a 14" .223 with a 2X7 T/C scope. When I traded for the scope about 15 years ago I remember thinking how clear and bright it was and how well I could see the fine cross hairs. My eye sight has deteriated to the point I'm going to have to get a scope with coarser cross hairs. From sandbags, I have shot many .5" groups at 100 yrds. I had a .45-70 barrel but sold it .It was breaking me trying to feed it. Shooting bowling balls at 100 yards was a hoot.

 

[Jefferson Herb]

contender

Super 14 in 7tcu,and odd man out ie 10in .218 Bee,and now we have Lilgun to load with.