Any Thompson Contender fans??

[bobhwry]

I recently bought a Contender with a 15" barrel in .223. I love this gun!! It,s alot of fun to shoot and very accurate at 50 yards.Anyone have any experiece beyond 50?Also, when I first took it to the range to sight it in I was told that handguns that shoot rifle cartridges were not allowed on the pistol range bot no one could explain why.The only reason I could think of was the higher velocities would pose a higher risk of richocet??
I,d like to get another barrel. Any recommendations on the next caliber??
Thanks

[Phxdog]

I have the exact setup that you describe. I also really enjoy the T/C.

As far as shooting at longer ranges, I have your barrel/frame combo at empty freon containers in the desert. Though I am by no means an expert marksman, at a measured 200 yards there was no problem hitting the bottle (about 3/4 the size of a propane tank) time after time. The gun will outshoot me any day of the week.

Additionally, I own a 10" barrel in 7mmTCU (wildcat round), a 12" .22lr & an 18" 45/70 (that one will get your attention with hot loads!).

My buddy used the 7/TCU to take an elk several years ago. I know, I know, that's a terrible choice for elk, but he hit it right behind the shoulder at about 80 yards. It ran about 30 yards and fell over as dead as Kelsey's n*ts, with NO meat damage. The other guy in his party was shooting a .338 Winchester mag., he missed his elk.

I have an Aimpoint Reddot scope on the 45/70, all others are just the standard T/C iron sights.

As far as recommendations on barrels, I guess that would depend on what you would like to accomplish. Plinking? Hunting? Long range target? Ultra accuracy or just big boomers?

[ocabj]

I recently bought a TC G2 Contender pistol (now legal in California as of the 1st of the year) frame and a built it up using a .30-30 barrel I bought off a friend. I bought it so I could shoot in the local silhouette match at my club.

Down the line I'll get a 7mm TCU barrel (and possibly put it on a new frame), also for silhouette shooting. I thought about 7-30 Waters, but I tried a Contender in 7 TCU and it was very comfortable to shoot and had the knockdown power for silhouette.

[delzo]

Thompson Contenders,,, now you're talking! I bought mine with a .22 barrel a long time ago, then saw the movie Red Dawn and decided I wanted to be able to shoot LOTS of calibers. In case we get invaded by foreignors, aliens from outer space or bands of renegade squirrels,,,, I will be prepared and can shoot just about every commonly found ammo.

.22/ 45 long Colt-.410/ 45-70/ 41 mag/ 44 mag/ 30-30 (my favorite)/ .357 Max/ 223/ 22 Hornet/ 7mmTCU and 9mm. All but 3 are scoped and my "deer/wild hog" 30-30 barrel has a TC Electra Dot 2.5 scope on it. The last deer I took was at about 125 yards, (one shot kill).

I really like my Contender!

[Phxdog]

ocabj,

Your T/C pict is now my desktop picture (hope you don't mind!). Great post!

[ocabj]

That's cool. Here's a full size picture if you want it:

http://www.ocabj.net/photos/firearms...2_fullsize.jpg

[Lawyer Daggit]

I have a contender carbine with .22LR, .223 & .30-30 Ackley Improved barrels.
I want to get a 16 1/4 inch 45/70 barrel to make an outfit that will cover the field.

[skeeter1]

I wish they'd bring back the 8" octagonal barrels. Those were SOOO pretty.

[hoghunting]

ocabj,
I bought the 7-30 Waters barrel and enjoy it very much. To reload use 30/30 brass and run it through the sizing die slowly until it will just fit the chamber. Load it up for fireforming. Then you're off to the races. Extremely accurate and recoil is not a problem.

[warwagon]

The first experience with a contender for me ,came in the winter of ? 77-78.

I was on patrol, and saw the chain down for our local club. As they had experienced a number of break-ins, I stopped in to find out what was going on.

I found a very nice guy, and his son, with several weapons on the bench, so as to make small talk I enquired as to how he liked the contender. His reply was that he hated it When I asked why, he said it had too much recoil for him. I asked him what he was using,and pointing to the mod 28 on my hip, he replied, same as you, .357 mag.

He then offered to let me shoot it(could'nt resist), and he pulled out a round the size of a compact car!

Turns out he had a .375 mag

Shot it once, agreed that the recoil was a bit intense, and said my goodbyes.

Fine weapons though, too bad he must have been dislexcic!

[deanadell]

Love mine. Bought it probably 10-12 years ago. .44 mag in super 14". No scope. Took at Doe at 60 yards with it a few years back.

Now if I could just quit buying other guns and save my money up for some more TC barrels

[44 AMP]

After many years of just passing them by, I finally bought one about five years ago, only to learn, that I had wasted many years! They are great!

I started with a .45LC/.410 barrel, and have since added a .22LR, .222Rem, .357mag, .44 mag, .45 Colt, .45-70, and most recently 9mm.

the .45-70 is 14in, the 9mm is short, 6.5in, and all the others are that pretty octagon blue 10in.

I had a red dot on the .45-70 for a while, until I found out I couldn't see the dot in bright sunshine. Now it has a 1.5x-4.5x scope.

Last fall I had great fun with the 9mm barrel. A freind's son came over with his new 9mm auto (can't remember the brand) and we shot at one of my steel plates at about 40 yard. The fun was watching him, go through a full mag and not hit it (close though), and I drop ONE round in the Contender, take up the old time target stance....TING!

I love the gun, there is just something about it, maybe it is the action, but dropping a big round in it, closing the action, and ARRRGH! Prepare to repel boarders! It is just fun. And they shoot like good quality rifles!

[mikejonestkd]

I can't say enough good things about the TC contender or the newer Encore.

I loved my contender but my encore is even better, typically I get 1.25" three shot groups at 100 yards from the bench. 15" .308win barrel.

As a rifle it gets one half inch 5 shot groups all day long in .223. A 6-24 B&L 4200 scope helps too.

The encore is stronger, handles more powerful calibers and I like the trigger better than my contender.

For those that don't know about these great handguns go to : www.tcarms.com

my encore spends part of its life as a rifle, then as a pistol for deer hunting in NY State, I can get a muzzle loader barrel for it, change stock and throw a shotgun barrel on it...They are addicting with all the options you can get for them.

[MADISON]

I owned one for 15 years. It did a good job with the 14 and 21 inch barrel.
Later I bought a new frame.
The new frame's safety system would not allow the gun to fire.
I got rid of both guns.

[Ozzieman]

I actually had some one shooting in the next lane over from me come over and ask if I had blown a gun up. I was hand loading new brass with some VERY hot loads and looking for pressure signs. Let’s just say that the loads I was shooting would probably knock a 29 out of time or worse.
But with the Contender it just stressed the brass. What was most impressive was the very large ball of flame and you could actually feel the shock wave on the skin of your face. With any other gun I would say this is a very unsafe practice, but with the contender, it’s just a lot of fun.
I also had a 30-30 Win. This is a TOTALLY useless barrel. Can’t work up any velocity in that short of a barrel with that round.
A friend has one with a 6mm PPC and that is one nice round but hand load only.

[onlybrowning]

Yeah they are cool. Definately on my list to buy. I shot one the other day for the first time. Was an old frame Contender and a .223 14" with a BSA 6-24X scope! The scope was for a rifle, so it was very weird to shoot. It had almost no recoild, and was loud (ported). The owner was shooting 3" post-it notes at 200yds!

[629 shooter]

Yep count me in! I have owned my TC longer than just about any other gun I own. Started with 357 mag and still have it. I agree with the others on the .223 Super 14 , had one and the accuracy was better than some rifles!

My 22lr match barrels allow inexpensive shooting and great accuracy! Other barrels I own/ have owned:

44 mag 10"
44 mag 12" Hunter
22 Hornet 10"
22 mag 10"

[Phxdog]

Ozzieman- What kind of accuracy does your friend get with this round?

[John C]

I have a stainless contender with a 14 inch .223 barrel. My experience has been similar to others. It SHOOTS!

However, I'd prefer a better trigger than out of the box. Does anyone know of a good 'smith who does Contender triggers? My ideal would be a pre-cocking trigger, with a straight pull as it is now, but pre-cocked, maybe an 8 oz. letoff.
Kind of like double set triggers. Since there's no room, the cocking lever could be on the side of the frame like a TOZ-35.

-John

[918v]

You can get this trigger down to about a pound with just springs. No need for weird mods.

[jakerudy]

I have an older Contender with a great trigger, bought the gun used so don't know if it has been modified but it is very crisp and a lot of fun to shoot. Barrels include 17 HMR, 7-30 Waters (great deer round) with a 2x7 Burris, and .45-70 with muzzle break and 1.5x4 Burris. All are accurate. Shot a buddies in 35 Remington which is another great round for these guns. With these guns there is always a next caliber to get.

[slabsides]

I've owned T/C's for quite a while. I have two frames, one dedicated to pistol barrels with 10" .22 lr, 10" 7mm TC/U with 2x T/C 'scope, and 14" .35 Rem. barrels; and a carbine frame with 16-1/4" .44 Mag (THUMPER!), and .223 Rem., and 7-30 Waters barrels 'scoped with Burris 4x compacts. All are standard Thompson Center, and all are very accurate for caliber: the .223 and 7-30 Waters sub-moa, and the short 7mm TC/U about 1.5 moa at 100 yards. I can group 3" with the .44 with iron sites at a hundred, and about the same with a red-dot, but I haven't really shot it enough, and I think it could do better. The 10" .22 lr has shot under an inch at 50 yards with iron sites and bulk ammo.

[Ozzieman]

He dosent hand load but he bought some dies and I worked up some loads for him. We sandbagged the gun and he fired 2 inch groups at 100, he has a X4 scope on it and its a very nice gun but the noise is a bit much.
We loaded some 70GR Sierra and since we dont have a cronograph I have no idea what the bullet speed was but book numbers were 3100 fps with a 24 inch barrel so I would guess that it was pushing at least 2800. Since I shoot a lot of earthin piggies (ground hogs) with a 6mm remingtion and know the load very well I wish they made a barrel in 6mm rem. I think I could break 3000fps with a contender, and I can say one thing for sure, it would make a earthin piggy have a bad day.
Here in Indiana we call that, "Makin a green cloud."

[X-RAY]

My Contender is a .223 14" barrel with muzzle brake, bi-bod 6-9 scope. I had E.Arthur Brown work the trigger to 1 1/2 lbs. With a 40gr spitzer boat-tail bullet It'll hit a small size coffee cup at 100 yds all day long.
I had the chance to shoot the same set up without the muzzle brake. A lot more muzzle jump. The only change I would make is the foreend and grip. I got the Black Rhineite but I like the looks of the wood hardware better.

[Big Ike]

I picked up my first Contender frame and iron sighted 10" 7mmTCU barrel back in 1985 to start competing in IHMSA silhouette matches.

I now have three Contender frames and six 14" barrels chambered in;

.22 LR.....6.5 Bullberry.....7mm TCU.....7mm Super Mag.....300 Whisper and 30.30 Ackley Improved.

I also have two Encore frames with seven 15" barrels chambered in;

6.5x55 Swede.....7mm-08.....284 Winchester.....300 Whisper.....300 Savage.....35 Whelen and 45-70 Govt.

All the above barrels are scoped with the now discontinued Baush & Lomb Elite 3000 2x6's and are very accurate.....all will group at or under under 1" at 100 yds. when I do my part.

I still compete in the occasional silhouette match and have deer hunted solely with handguns for several years now.

Ike