MatthewVanitas
Member
I've owned several T/C Contender frames in my life (single-shot, break-action, switch-barrel), ever since I was a teen in the late 1990s (FTF sale when I was of age), and have repeatedly bought and sold Contenders since I absolutely love the idea but rarely lived stably enough in a given state/country to give them their just attention, get serious about handloading and regular about outdoor range visits. Probably bought/sold four of them (with varying numbers of barrels) in 15 years.
Sometime when I move back to the US (living in Europe now), I want to finally get a G2 Contender, this time for keeps, maybe even get it engraved so I'm never tempted to just sell it again. I don't have any exact purpose for one since I don't usually hunt, and one of the only Contender-favored sports I really like is steel silhouette shooting, which I think I'd like to get into if I move somewhere where matches are common.
I was pondering what barrels to acquire, in the 10" or 14" standard lengths. For my purposes, I'd be looking for a span of cartridges that gives me a wide variety of different kinds of handloading/shooting experience. Other than silhouette, I don't have any specialized purpose, just out punching paper at long range, ringing gongs, smashing watermelons at medium range, etc. I'd be fine handloading all of them, and price isn't a huge object (within reason) since it's not like I'll be magdumping hundreds downrange at a trip. Setting aside .22LR as a given, what five barrels would y'all suggest? Here's an initial set of ideas from me:
- Something really small and (relatively) fast. Initially thinking .22 Hornet, but the brass is fragile apparently. So I thought about .218 Bee, or one of the weird ones like .19 Calhoun. Then I stumbled across the 5mm Remington Magnum Rimfire, and that got my attention since it has great numbers, a fun cult following with a neat backstory, plus the shortage of rounds after Rem abandoned it in 1984 led folks to create the 5mm Craig, an externally identical reloadable centerfire round. Since the T/C has a hammer-switch for rim/centerfire, I could use the same barrel to shoot the newly-produced 5mm RMR that's back on the market in the last 5-10 years, or handload 5mm Craig using the newer bullets that the .204 Ruger has created a demand for.
- Something "happy medium" and silhouette optimal: no wavering on this one, I have an intense fascination with the 6.5 TCU. Invented specifically for the T/C Contender and specifically for IHMSA. It's supposed to be juuuust enough to knock over ram silhouettes, with a great BC, low recoil and blast, loaded onto readily-available .223 brass, etc.
- An affordable mid-small-bore: I've always liked the .32 H&R Mag ever since it got so much press in the late 90s, so I'm thinking a .327 Ruger barrel so I can very cheaply, and with durable straight-wall brass, load either soft little puff rounds, or chuck some (relatively) heavy fat little marbles downrange.
- Something right down the middle, versatile, and quiet: I was always fascinated by the .300 Whisper but back when I was a kid suppressors were some kind of weird mysterious thing for rich guys. Now everybody owns cans (including me), so I'm thinking a .300 AAC Blackout would be easy, tons of components and load data, and useful if I do ever want to go out and shoot hogs in Texas. Or if I need to be a special-snowflake, I could get a .338 Whisper or some other such member of the Whisper family, to have something easily suppressible but different from every other Joe.
- Something big and bad of a "chuckin' pumpkins" sort. 45-70 would be the no-brainer here, but if I'm handloading I want to have something a little more edgy. Maybe .480 Ruger (I think the G2 frame can handle those?) or anything else in the .41, .48, or .50 diameters where I can sling just big balls of lead and destroy jugs of water or melons. I'm less interested in huge speed, and more in a nice slow "whoooooooomp" of recoil as I hurl a boulder downrange. I'm under the vague impression that there are a few .577 "sporting purpose exemption" cartridges for the Contender, including I want to say the old Martini cartridge since it's low enough back-thrust for even the small frame.
If I weren't handloading, it'd be a pretty easy choice. Probably .204 Ruger, .223 Reminton, .357 Mag, 30-30 WCF, and 45-70 Gov't. Don't necessarily feel obligated to stick to my criteria, I'm equally interested to hear folks' choices of 5 (other than .22) barrels for whatever kinds of hobbies, handloader or no.
Sometime when I move back to the US (living in Europe now), I want to finally get a G2 Contender, this time for keeps, maybe even get it engraved so I'm never tempted to just sell it again. I don't have any exact purpose for one since I don't usually hunt, and one of the only Contender-favored sports I really like is steel silhouette shooting, which I think I'd like to get into if I move somewhere where matches are common.
I was pondering what barrels to acquire, in the 10" or 14" standard lengths. For my purposes, I'd be looking for a span of cartridges that gives me a wide variety of different kinds of handloading/shooting experience. Other than silhouette, I don't have any specialized purpose, just out punching paper at long range, ringing gongs, smashing watermelons at medium range, etc. I'd be fine handloading all of them, and price isn't a huge object (within reason) since it's not like I'll be magdumping hundreds downrange at a trip. Setting aside .22LR as a given, what five barrels would y'all suggest? Here's an initial set of ideas from me:
- Something really small and (relatively) fast. Initially thinking .22 Hornet, but the brass is fragile apparently. So I thought about .218 Bee, or one of the weird ones like .19 Calhoun. Then I stumbled across the 5mm Remington Magnum Rimfire, and that got my attention since it has great numbers, a fun cult following with a neat backstory, plus the shortage of rounds after Rem abandoned it in 1984 led folks to create the 5mm Craig, an externally identical reloadable centerfire round. Since the T/C has a hammer-switch for rim/centerfire, I could use the same barrel to shoot the newly-produced 5mm RMR that's back on the market in the last 5-10 years, or handload 5mm Craig using the newer bullets that the .204 Ruger has created a demand for.
- Something "happy medium" and silhouette optimal: no wavering on this one, I have an intense fascination with the 6.5 TCU. Invented specifically for the T/C Contender and specifically for IHMSA. It's supposed to be juuuust enough to knock over ram silhouettes, with a great BC, low recoil and blast, loaded onto readily-available .223 brass, etc.
- An affordable mid-small-bore: I've always liked the .32 H&R Mag ever since it got so much press in the late 90s, so I'm thinking a .327 Ruger barrel so I can very cheaply, and with durable straight-wall brass, load either soft little puff rounds, or chuck some (relatively) heavy fat little marbles downrange.
- Something right down the middle, versatile, and quiet: I was always fascinated by the .300 Whisper but back when I was a kid suppressors were some kind of weird mysterious thing for rich guys. Now everybody owns cans (including me), so I'm thinking a .300 AAC Blackout would be easy, tons of components and load data, and useful if I do ever want to go out and shoot hogs in Texas. Or if I need to be a special-snowflake, I could get a .338 Whisper or some other such member of the Whisper family, to have something easily suppressible but different from every other Joe.
- Something big and bad of a "chuckin' pumpkins" sort. 45-70 would be the no-brainer here, but if I'm handloading I want to have something a little more edgy. Maybe .480 Ruger (I think the G2 frame can handle those?) or anything else in the .41, .48, or .50 diameters where I can sling just big balls of lead and destroy jugs of water or melons. I'm less interested in huge speed, and more in a nice slow "whoooooooomp" of recoil as I hurl a boulder downrange. I'm under the vague impression that there are a few .577 "sporting purpose exemption" cartridges for the Contender, including I want to say the old Martini cartridge since it's low enough back-thrust for even the small frame.
If I weren't handloading, it'd be a pretty easy choice. Probably .204 Ruger, .223 Reminton, .357 Mag, 30-30 WCF, and 45-70 Gov't. Don't necessarily feel obligated to stick to my criteria, I'm equally interested to hear folks' choices of 5 (other than .22) barrels for whatever kinds of hobbies, handloader or no.