It had been a few years since I shot my Contender, and it turned out that I had a few hours to myself this afternoon, so it turned into a range day. The Contender, with its .44 Magnum barrel, was one that I took with me. I shot it at 50 yards from a rest, and couldn't have been more pleased with the results. This group was the first one I shot, and measured exactly 3.0". Not bad for 62-year-old eyes!

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I have a 44 Mag., Super 14" barrel that is Mag-na-ported. But my two favorite barrels are a 10" Bull 22 Hornet scoped & a 10" Bull 221 Fireball scoped (also have an iron sighted 10" octagon 221 barrel I never used!)

I also have:

10" Octagon 357 mag

12" Hunter in 375 Winchester w/ built in "Muzzle Tamer"

14" Match 22 LR

14" 7mm TCU (scoped)

And a total of two actions.

I had a Super 14 in 223 Rem, but could never get smaller than 4" with a scope @ 100. Sold it and went to 221 Fireball and never looked back!

If I could only have one barrel, it would be the 221 Fireball 10" Bull Barrel! My load for it is 50 grain poly tipped Combined Technologies, over 15.5 of H4227 in Nosler brass and a Rem 7 1/2 primer. Death to groundhogs!

Ivan

I no longer have one but when I had mine, the .223 barrel was my favorite. Topped with a7X Burris, my handloads would shoot well under an inch a 100 yds.
I had a .44 mag barrel, .30 Herrett barrel, and a Bellm .30-40 Krag.
Wish I had it back.
I’ve been kinda thinking about getting another one but the prices are getting up there.

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Who are those guys?

I had a 10" 30-30 and never thought about getting another.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

I wish I still had mine with the 14” .223 was a ground hog slayer. I also shot my first turkey with it.

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Hillbilly with a gun

RobertJ:
Great shooting.
Contenders are great guns. I have a 22rf and a 7mm TCU 10” that Ishot in metallic sil. for years.
A 14” 35 Rem that has put venison in my freezer.
A custom 222 mag bl made by Lee Jurras ( of super vel fame ) that has zapped a bunch of coyotes over the years.
Glad you got your’s out, gonna have to break mine out now tha the weather is improving.

Contenders you say? I have the one below with barrels as follows:

Top is .223. Followed by a 22LR, then the .221 Rem Fireball and a 22 Jet barrel is on the frame. It came with the 223 barrel, but at the time I bought the pistol, the gun shop also had the 22 Jet barrel for sale, and I bought it too!

A lot of fun to shoot, I just don't shoot it enough!

I really enjoy my Contender set up. Frame, scoped super 14 barrels in .223 and 30-30, and an iron sighted .45c / 410 shotgun barrel. All fits in one TC soft case, along with a box of cartridges for each. Carried this set up behind the seat of my pick up for years, ready for just about any impromptu hunt that might come up.

Larry

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I have 4 frames including two G2's. They are a lot of fun. Some disparage the octagonal barrels but the 6 groove 44's really shoot. Nice going.

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Front sight and squeeze

Had mine since the 70’s, fun & accurate. Only have a .32 Long, .38 special and.45 acp left all 10”. Use these for 50’ indoor one handed, like pistol caliber single shots.

One frame is used for a .357 Maximum rifle, very accurate with the Bullberry barrel. Out to 100 yards with 180 gr XTP’s. Also shoot it indoors at 50’ with 148 HBWC. A rifle in .327 would be neat also, Larry

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I only have two other barrels, a .22 LR and a scoped .30-30. The .30-30 is actually my favorite of the three.

Thank you!

About thirty years ago, before I owned one, a friend loaned me his. It was in .30-30, with the octagon barrel. It was the hardest kicking handgun I'd shot up to that point, but it really sold me on them.

That's one beautiful rifle!

Ive been into Encores and Contenders since returning from Nam in 1969. My latest acquisition is a 15 inch 470 Nitro direct from JD Jones. It's a blast to shoot and as a reloader I don't have to stick with factory loads.

I finally lost interest in Contenders and moved on to other things. I sold several frames and seven barrels years ago, including a Bellm carbine with Hornet and .250 Savage barrels long before T/C offered a carbine version.

I found Contenders very enjoyable to work with for quite a while.

T/C Contenders came out in July 1968 starting with serial number 1001. The first batch had 500 frames. My 10" octagon 357 came with frame #1608 and was bought by the original owner in September 1968. While the sights are crude compared to later versions, it sure shoots well!

Ivan

Yeah, things change.
Back in 70's, these rifle chambered handguns were the
rage, and crazy in demand and popular.

Today, don't know anyone who shoots one or wants one.

My 70's bought Super 14 in 35 Remington, bought primarily
for shooting IHMSA,
couple years later went into a Remigton XP-100 rechambered
in 7-08. Rem.

Still have both, but they now wear optics instead of irons.

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Another Contender fan... my original one was a blued Super14 in .44 Magnum. I sold it and then 10 years later
I got the bug again and bought this stainless version with the .223 hunter barrel, and then bought the .44 Mag barrel.

Back when I had the first one, my cousin had a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Mag with the 10-1/2" barrel. We would go to a Gun Club range that had a "tin can" range, where you could bring cans of all sorts to set on top of berms spaced at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards to shoot at. We'd buy a couple of cases of cheapo soda pop and set them up at 100 yards and blast away using iron sights.. Great fun!! As they vaporized from the .44 Mag hits.

Someone mentioned it would be great to have a .327 Fed Mag barrel.... I totally agree!! I'd also like to get a .22 Jet
barrel (to go with my M53), either of those in a carbine length barrel would make for an interesting proposition.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

Ok now I gotta get my 44 mag Contender out for some pics …….

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Pass it on.
Mark

[QUOTE=Gunhacker;141406889]
Back when I had the first one, my cousin had a Ruger Super Blackhawk with the 10-1/2" barrel. We would go to a Gun Club range that had a "tin can" range, where you could bring cans of all sorts to set on top of berms spaced at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards to shoot at. We'd buy a couple of cases of cheapo soda pop and set them up at 100 yards and blast away using iron sights.. Great fun!

The cheapest pop I could find was "Bubble-Gum", when shot with a 375 Winchester, it left a sticky pink circle about 10' in diameter!

Shooting into a berm, just before sundown, with the Muzzle Tamer barrel had a muzzle flash about like a 3' ball of lightning (and thunder of course) at the end of your arm!

Ivan

No pistol Barrels for My Contender but it has the Rifle Stock & the Barrel is A Gonic Arms .45 Muzzleloader Barrel with 209 Ignition & 4X Leopold Scope ,Gonic is long since out of business but Barrel shoots great

Bought a 10" Contender barrel in .357 Herrett many years ago. Shortly after that, I bought my first Contender frame so I could shoot it... Still have them both and along with a .221 Fireball barrel I still enjoy them as much as ever. There is nothing like an original T/C Contender IMHO.

J.

Love the wildcats
Here's a 357/44 Bain & Davis

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Think twice, shoot once.

I have one with barrels in .223 and 35 Rem. I killed a nice 7pt with the .35 rem barrel at a whopping 4 yards. Actually shot thru the closed plexiglass window of my ground blind to get him, lol.

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"Actually shot thru the closed plexiglass window of my ground blind to get him"
Now that is REAL excitement on a hunt!
Congratulations on a close encounter of the venison-kind!

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Think twice, shoot once.

It was like someone dropped a depth charge in that enclosed ground blind with me! Not a very smart move on my part! All i saw was a yellow fireball and was deafened for a few minutes! Buck dropped in his tracks!

I got one that I have had for 35 years...357 Herrett...10" barrel...will shoot 1" at 100 yards off sandbags...Killed my largest whitetail ever (159 score) with it...Love them!

Back in the day I shot NRA Hunter pistol competition. It was great fun and one need not have a super sophisticated .22 to be competitive. I did quite well with a Ruger Mk II but got to noticing the really good guys were using S&W 41's, Hi Standard Supermatics and Contenders. A friendly competitor let me try his Contender one day and I was hooked. Box stock triggers were adjustable down to ridiculously low, set trigger style weights with incredible crisp break and no backlash. As a bonus you could dry fire the trigger by simply not cocking the hammer. Somebody was doing trigger work to plate trigger sears with titanium nitride (TiN) with incredible results. I got a Contender but never got around to competing with it. They are very front heavy if held offhand for target work, not for everybody, but accuracy is incredible. T/C used to sell .22 LR barrels with a match chamber.

I never got into Contenders when they were really popular back in the day, but I recently picked one up at a gun show.

G1, made ~1988 according to online sources, with a 10" .357 mag barrel.



Haven't had a chance to shoot it much, but I'm on the hunt for a .22LR barrel. I did pick up a 10" .300 Whisper/Blackout barrel and grip from Haus of Arms, and added a SIG brace and red dot. Looking forward to shooting it suppressed with subs.

I got on with a 10" 222 Remington barrel back in the day, added a 10" 357 Herret barrel then a 10" 30 Herret barrel. Mostly gathering dust. My XP100s in 221 and 6mm Remington will out shoot any of the barrels.

My first handgun was a Contender, 44 mag octagon 10 inch barrel. With the grip common in the early 80's it hurt with full power loads. As time has passed and an interest in hunting handguns, the herd has grown. There are now double digit numbers of frames and barrels. Have also added the Encores as well. Still keep an eye out for Smith model 57's and plan to use one this next hunting season as a main gun.

Had several that I used for metallic silhouette way back in the 70’s-80’s! And have taken a few game animals with one over the years!
Simple to operate, dependable, and built like a tank! What’s not to like?

Regards, Rick Gibbs

Interesting to see a few 357 Herret barrel owners here. A fun round, though I haven't shot mine in several years. I also have .22, 10mm and 44 Mag barrels; I'll have to drag it out and get reacquainted once the snow melts. Thanks for the inspiration!

Back in the late 70s my uncle had a 223 Contender that was hell on the woodchuck and whitetail population of SE West Virginia. I used to hunt in a shotgun only portion of NY. I got tired of watching deer at 150 yds with a 12 ga in my hand and a 6” 629 on my hip. I got an Encore in 243 to remedy the situation. First season I shot a buck at 142yds. I now hunt a rifle zone but still use Encore on squirrels with .410 barrel. I always wanted a 10” 12ga barrel for the ultimate short barrel shotgun.

If I could grt my hands on a blank N frame cylinder I would love to make shortened version of the 30 Herret revolver. A blank X frame cylinder and you could make a full length one or a 357 Herret if you used short bullets or seated a bit deep.

When the .357 Herret came out both IMR 4227 and H 4227 was THE powder for this cartridge...When using this powder I got nothing but over pressure and poor accuracy...The secret to this cartridge is to use a slower powder...when I switched to Reloader 7 my accuracy improved dramaticallly and pressures dropped into the acceptable range....IMR 4198, Reloader 7, WW 680 and similar burn rates are the best powders for 158 to 180 grain bullet weights..

I just stuck my toe into the TC waters with an impulse buy at last weekend's big Reno Show. Picked up a nice TC with 14" 45-70 barrel and 2-7 Burris for $500. They've always fascinated me, but apparently not enough to buy one. My original intent was to use it for trading stock, but now looking at the following barrels complete with mounts and Leupold scopes:

14" 22lr
14" 223

If it survives this weekend's gun show, I'll grab the above barrels.

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213th FBINA