1976 Thompson Contender Info Follow Up

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firearms-knives-other-brands/574950-tc-info.html?highlight=T/C+info

A buddy wants me to sell his T/C (which I asked a question some years ago)

From what I can tell it's a 1976 10" barrel 44 mag with a threaded barrel and had the shotshell insert. He only has the owner's manual and the firearm and that's it.

It was given to him by a family member through a death in the family.

We tried to buy a barrel tool to remove the shot shell insert but no such luck. So, I recently made a tool out of flat stock and the shotshell insert was easily removed.

So, let's pretend this is 1976 and I was buying this T/C brand new. Besides the shotshell insert/tool and owner's manual, was there anything else of great importance that should be in the box?

was there a threaded muzzle device to protect the threads when shooting regular loads?

The trigger pull is actually nice, and I did clean up some dried grunge, but it does not appear to be heavily used. The wood shows some minor dings, but I think it's from the difficulty of unlocking the barrel.

I was easily opening the barrel by slapping my meaty portion of my palm on the trigger guard curve or doing the same with my boot or shoe heel.

I read Gen 1 T/Cs were difficult to open.

I want to shoot it for a few rounds to make sure it works as I would hate to market something that does not work. I'm just trying to work out any potential missing items that interested parties would ask for and working condition.

TIA

I dont know if this wood is factory equipped, but its a T/C righty only grip. it does have the T/C badge on the wood tail.

I started buying new and used T/C's in 1980 and the "Choke" and tool would be the only "accessories" in that box.

That barrel has enormous free bore to accommodate the shot shells. I don't know if full or empty capsules are still available! The CCI regular shot shell will work OK, sort-of.

I knew guys that shot skeet and hunted rabbits and did around 75% on skeet. (With the 1/2-ounce rounds.)

Ivan

The grip and forend were made for T/C by Steve Herrett. At first, they were a factory optional accessory and by 1980 or so became standard from the factory.
This "Gen 1" terminology is not really appropriate, as the original Contender went through several design changes, including trigger styles, manual safety design, etc.
As far as being difficult to open, this depends primarily on two features. 1) Trigger guard pivot pin location. There are two styles. Yours is the earlier one. And, 2), locking bolt type. There's the early one piece and the later two piece. This is a barrel specific part. Open the action and look below the extractor. The part below is the locking bolt. It will either be one piece, or two piece with a "split" in the middle. The later two piece is easier to open and gives a litle more secure lock-up.

Those .44 "Hot Shot" barrels, as they were called, were noted for their largely mediocre accuracy. As mentioned above, the free bore is considerable, and the flip up rear sight isn't so great. A determined bullet caster might be able to make it work with .432-.433" cast bullets. Unlike other T/C barrels, it did not lend itself to easy mounting of optics, either.
Their main appeal was in the advantages of the "Hot Shot" cartridge tubes. They did indeed provide better performance out of a pistol than any .410. But, it was a handloading proposition. And, as far as I recall, only T/C sold the Hot Shot tubes.

its a one piece locking bolt.

I am assuming the Hot Shot casings are long gone?

if this piece would interest the handloader, I wonder if hammering a lead ball through the bore to size it would be good to know or a waste of time?

SW CQB 45 said:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firearms-knives-other-brands/574950-tc-info.html?highlight=T/C+info
So, let's pretend this is 1976 and I was buying this T/C brand new. Besides the shotshell insert/tool and owner's manual, was there anything else of great importance that should be in the box?

Click to expand...

When I got my 1975, (in 1975,) Super 14 in .44 it came with a reloading booklet. This reloading guide was Contender specific and had load data for all the available length of barrels and calibers. It was a great marketing idea cause of course I wanted more barrels. I have it somewhere.

Again no, I wasn’t old enough so my mom begrudgingly signed for it. Still have the frame plus a few other barrels.

Jim

SW CQB 45 said:

its a one piece locking bolt.

I am assuming the Hot Shot casings are long gone?

if this piece would interest the handloader, I wonder if hammering a lead ball through the bore to size it would be good to know or a waste of time?

Click to expand...

With barrels having a lot of freebore, the most important thing is sizing the bullet to fit the freebore. A bullet design with a healthy width of driving band is important. Also, if I recall, the leade from the freebore to the rifling varied a good bit. Some had a gradual leade, others were quite short and abrupt. The latter ones are more of a challenge. A gunsmith can alter the leade, if anyone wanted to open that can of worms!

I imagine there are a few pockets of old Hot Shot tubes buried in various man-caves around the country....

It's fairly easy to switch out a one piece bolt for a two piece bolt, and vice versa. But, it's under a good bit of spring tension so you need to mount the barrel in a benchvise when drifting out the retaining pin.
I've no idea what the parts supply is like.

BTW, there was also a .357 Hot Shot barrel.

Oh, I forgot to mention: to load the Hot Shot capsules, you need a special seating die. Those capsules are so long that a regular seating die can't seat and crimp.

I still see the Hot Shot capsules at gun shows now and then but they seem to be viewed as collectible based on the prices most guys are asking! I no longer have my Contender shot barrel but I had fairly good results using the standard Speer shot capsules. They have smaller shot capacity but were adequate for close range plinking and some pest control around the property.

I used to load the plastic shot containers in .44 Mag without a problem in my M29-2. I used #9 shot as that was the smallest I could get.
Never used them in anything else. A TC .44 that we shot was with nothing
but bullets.

Abbynormal said:

A TC .44 that we shot was with nothing
but bullets.

Click to expand...

how did shoot? and the loads?

another question or two....

what is the most popular caliber to shoot out of this particular era of T/C?

my guess is barrels for this guy would be limited to irons only?

SW CQB 45 said:

my guess is barrels for this guy would be limited to irons only?

Click to expand...

Iron sights?

There are many caliber choices out there. As I’ve said I started out with 14” in .44 mag and 30-30. I traded them for something I wanted more but kept the frame.

Scopes are a great option. The .223 w/7x Burris harvested at least 35 Sitka black tails and the .35 Rem Rimmed w/4x Burris took a moose, (one shot per, clean harvests.) The .44 is fun a dusk. Mike Bellm did a nice job on these.

Jim

I have a Super 14" in 44Mag , it shot as good as my 8 3/8 29 Classic or better.

My mid 70's Super 14 in 223 Rem shot terrible! (I've been told these were very "hit or miss")

My 1968 10" octagon 357Mag that is a very good shooter.

I have a 10" octagon and a 10" Bull 221 Fireball,
And a 10" Bull 22 Hornet. Both Bulls are scoped and death to any groundhog I can get crosshairs on! A friend and I were shooting cans of soda with 22 Hornets (my 10" his was a Super 14, both scoped) and good handloads, 12 shots each, 100 to 325 yards, and neither of us missed a shot! Since then, I got the Fireball barrels and think they shoot just a little better!

I have 22 LR & 7TCU Super 14s I just never played with much.

MY FAVORITE: A 12" Hunter in 375 Winchester! At dusk you have a large beach ball sized "Thunder & Lightning" at the end of your arm. When my vision was better in the 90's I would hit cans of soda with the Iron Sights at 100 yards! This is basically a 10"+ barrel with an 1 1/2" Muzzle Tamer break on it! I only ever fired factory 220's from it! It kicks about like a medium frame 357 revolver. I bought 200 rounds of Win factory ammo and still have 160. so I never needed to reload, even though I have dies and projectiles. I thought about reaming it to 375 JDJ, but it is too good to mess with!

My Brother-in-law has a 222 Rem 10" Octagon, that he swears is the most accurate firearm ever made!

When you get into Eastern Ohio and Western Pa. you see lots of JD Jones barrels! He is very proud of his work! And people selling used ones seem to think they are made of gold or platinum! Nobody has let me shoot one, so we just have to go by reputation of the barrels. (The man is more than a little rough!)

Ivan

Warren Center never envisioned the whole "Handcannon" thing that by the 1980s became synonymous with the T/C Contender.
He wanted a versatile single shot sporting/hunting handgun, primarily for varmints and small game.
Remember, at the time, the GCA 68 law had been passed and there was serious talk of completely banning handgun ownership.
Warren Center wanted to define the idea of a sporting pistol for sportsman needs.
Attached is a copy of their first ad. Look at the cartridges offered: 38 spl, 357 mag, 256 mag, 22 LR, etc.

As for iron sights vs. optics, T/C was probably the first handgun manufacturer to offer handguns that could be readily scoped w/o modifications. They had a proprietary scope mount whose mounting holes matched the two holes for attaching the rear sight. They even offered their own line of scopes guaranteed to be recoil proof.

Steve Herrett developed their first wlidcat offering, the .30 Herrett. While it is pretty tame by some of crazy stuff later offered, it did have enough recoil that T/C only offered it in their then-new bull barrel. See attached. Steve Herrett developed his own design of grip and forend.
Also, got some other pics and stuff.

There is one serious caveat about the early Contenders. They were conceived from the beginning to take advantage of investment cast parts, most of which are not only long gone, but very difficult to replicate without the technology.

Contenders came out in August 1968 and started at SN 1001. My 10" Octagon 357 barrel is from Action SN 1608, September 1968. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get him to sell or trade me the action to go with the barrel!

Ivan

6string said:

Warren Center never envisioned the whole "Handcannon" thing that by the 1980s became synonymous with the T/C Contender.
He wanted a versatile single shot sporting/hunting handgun, primarily for varmints and small game.
Remember, at the time, the GCA 68 law had been passed and there was serious talk of completely banning handgun ownership.
Warren Center wanted to define the idea of a sporting pistol for sportsman needs.
Attached is a copy of their first ad. Look at the cartridges offered: 38 spl, 357 mag, 256 mag, 22 LR, etc.

As for iron sights vs. optics, T/C was probably the first handgun manufacturer to offer handguns that could be readily scoped w/o modifications. They had a proprietary scope mount whose mounting holes matched the two holes for attaching the rear sight. They even offered their own line of scopes guaranteed to be recoil proof.

Steve Herrett developed their first wlidcat offering, the .30 Herrett. While it is pretty tame by some of crazy stuff later offered, it did have enough recoil that T/C only offered it in their then-new bull barrel. See attached. Steve Herrett developed his own design of grip and forend.
Also, got some other pics and stuff.

There is one serious caveat about the early Contenders. They were conceived from the beginning to take advantage of investment cast parts, most of which are not only long gone, but very difficult to replicate without the technology.

Click to expand...

thanks for taking the time to provide the info. I recall in the 70s as a kid, reading magazine articles about the T/C. Walking the rows of tables at the Houston Gun Shows of the 80s (at the AstroHall), there was many a table with T/Cs.

I also recall a buddy selling a T/C in the parking lot before we even walked into the AstroHall HAHAHAHA!

I thought this hotshot them rang a bell. But I doubt they will fit in a 29.