Any Thompson Contender fans??

[Ozzieman]

THAT has to be impressive at an indoor range,,,,
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

[Hammerhead]

I sold my Contender
but I bought an Encore in .44 Rem mag
Chopped the barrel down to 9" and made up some light loads with Trail Boss and Hornady 240 SWC's. Lotsa fun! Fantastic off-hand shooter. I feel like I can't miss.
Now I have a 9" .357 barrel on order from MGM. Should be here soon!

[Harry Paget Flashman]

I used to have a Contender in .222 and .44 Magnum but sold them when I transferred to Hawaii in 1975. It was great fun to plink with and shoot jack rabbits. 30 years later I couldn't stand not having a Contender and bought another. This time I ordered it in .223 and .45 LC/.410. I also stumbled across a .221 Fireball octagon barrel that was on consignment for $100. The .221 and .223 are real screamers at the range. Barnaul also makes .410 slugs in steel cased cartridges for $2.97 for a box of 10. I like to think of it as my "poor man's .45-70". Fun to shoot.

[jakerudy]

THAT has to be impressive at an indoor range,,,,
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

I haven't shot mine indoors but it is impressive anywhere. Everyone that has shot mine just giggles and mutters. Recoil is stout but not horrible. I have not shot the .45-70 without a muzzle break but the 35 Rem w/o muzzle break has a lot more barrel jump than my .45-70. The muzzle break really seems to push the gun into you rather than roll it back in your hand. If you get the chance to shoot a Contender in .45-70 take it.

[rewiltshire]

I have a contender with four barrels. A super 16 in .223 fitted with a Leupold M8 4x scope, a super 14 in 7-30 Waters with a Burris 2x7, a 14 in 45/70 using iron sights and 10 in .357 Max again with iron sights. All are wonderful shooters. I think the 'bark' is sometimes worse than the recoil. The Contender is a pleasure to shoot and hunt with. I am contemplating a .35 Remington or a .375 Winchester. I do my own hand loading and this I think adds to the pleasure of the gun. Wooden grips/forearms look pretty, but I'll stay with my Pachmayr's

[Mark B]

I've had a couple, my brother still has his and it's a shooter!
The barrels I had were 30-30, 223, 44 mag, and 45-70. I reloaded the 30-30 and 44mag. The 30-30 was the most fun for me, I loaded 150 spitzers and got great acurracy out to 100 yds.
The 45-70 was a super 16 barrel with the sporter shoulder stock and an Aimpoint red dot. That was my pig gun for a long time.
The 45-70 was a real crowd pleaser but I had to be carefull who I let shoot it. The recoil would drive the hammer up into your face if you weren't carefull. I actually had a guy split his lip pretty bad this way. I told him several times to keep his face back away from the hammer but he didn't listen.

[Trapper L]

Yeah, I love my Contender. I have the 22lr bull barrel 10", 221 Fireball, 218B, 222 rem, 6x47, 6 TCU, 6.5 TCU, 270 Ren, 30-30, 30 Herret, 357 Maximum, 44mag with choke, 45/410 all of those in 10" barrels, and in 14" just the 30-30 and 375 Winchester. The 30-30 in the 14" is a dead accurate barrel to 200 yds if the shooter is capable. The frame has the SSK trigger and hammer spring set. It goes off at 6 oz which means if somebody else is going to shoot it, I make them pull the trigger several times before loading. It's that light- but I like it.

[1006smith]

Haven't shot mine in sometime but love it. Have two older frames.
barrels:
10": 221 fireball, 22 hornet, 22 lr, 223, 357 maximum, 41 mag, 7mm tcu, 30 herett, and a few others I can't remember. All scoped except the 41 mag.
14": 41 mag.
some 10"ers I've traded: 45/410, 30-30, 5mm.

Had a guy try to sell me a 444 marlin barrel one time. He said it was a 44 mag barrel bored out. AFTER I passed he said it had broken his brother's arm when fired so he was getting rid of it.

chuck

[jem375]

Years ago, I bought a SSK Industries T/C Contender pistol in 375JDJ....a 444 Marlin case necked down to .375 and it is my favorite pistol and creates quite a boom at the gun range and everyone moves away from my shooting bench at the gun club....I reload a Hornady 220 gr. FP for deer at 2300 fps with 54 grs. of AA2520 rifle powder....I recently bought a T/C G2 Contender rifle in the same caliber and haven't broken the barrel in yet, waiting for warmer weather up here in the far North...lol

[TexasCop]

I've got an old style TC contender with barrels in .223, .22lr, 30-30, and 44 magnum (with the additional snake shot spread choke)

works for me...

[SD Handgunner]

I started Shooting / Hunting with T/C Contender Handguns back in 1982. In the years since then I have enjoyed shooting
.22 LR (14")
.223 (10" & 14")
6mm-223 (15")
6mm T/CU (15")
.250 Savage (14")
7mm T/CU (10")
7-30 Waters (10")
.30-30 Winchester (10" & 14")
.30-30 Ackley Improved (14")
.44 Remington Magnum (10"

All of these have been scoped.

I have had the good fortune to Hunt & Harvest various Small Game & Small Varmints, Prairie Dogs, Woodchucks, Crows, Coyotes and White Tail Deer.

I currently have 2 new Stainless-Steel G2 Contender Frames. After I had a gunsmith buddy perform Trigger Jobs on both of these Frames I actually prefer them to the original Contenders. I also absolutely love the new Rubber Grip and Forend that T/C puts on the new Stainless-Steel G2 Contender Frames.

I currently have 3 Barrels for my 2 G2 Contender Frames.

Barrel #1 is a Stainless-Steel Super 14 .22 LR Match. This one wears a Burris 3x12x LER Handgun Scope with Fine Plex Reticle and Target Turrets. This scope has been modified by Burris so it will parallax down to under 25 yards for when I use it for Indoor Bench Rest Competitions at our local Club. This Barrel is amazingly accurate and will outshoot many a .22 LR RIfle from the Bench.

Barrel #2 is a Stainless-Steel Super 14 .223 Remington. This one wears a Burris 3x12x LER Handgun Scope with Fine Plex Reticle and Target Turrets. I have tried a couple factory rounds in this barrel as well as a few different Handloads. The load I settled on consists of 40gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip Bullets loaded with Hodgdon's Benchmark Powder in Lake City Military Brass with Federal Gold Medal Match Primers. Accuracy with this load (100 yard 5 shot groups from the Bench) average 5/8".

Since I am a Varmint / Predator Hunter year round (only hunt Deer once a year, but am after Varmints or Predators the rest of the year) the above 2 Barrels / Cartridges see the most use for me. I am always amazed at the accuracy of the Contender Handguns in either of these chamberings. I have used the .22 LR Match Barrel to dispatch Flickertail Gophers at ranges approaching 100 yards. I have also dispatched Prairie Dogs with the .223 Contender at ranges most people wouldn't believe.

In my opinion T/C Contender Handguns are easier to shoot FROM THE BENCH than a Rifle.

Barrel #3 is in the works. I recently purchased an old style Super 14 .30 Herrett Blued Contender Barrel that I am going to have rechambered into another .30-30 Ackley Improved Contender Barrel for Deer Hunting. In the previous Barrel I had in this chambering I was able to achieve 2600 FPS with 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips. Accuracy in my previous barrel in this chambering would consistantly put 5 rounds from the bench at 100 yards into 3/4" or less groups.

Yep I am truly addicted to T/C COntenders and do not see the addiction going away soon.

Larry

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Father In Law was a collector, & we inherited the collection... I have since tried to buy any barrel he did not have... unfortunately right now, I need to re-inventory, as I don't know all of what I have anymore...

toughest thing for me was buying scopes for all the barrels, as the wifes dad only had 4-5 of them scoped...

I have 4 "old style" actions... just haven't gotten around to ( or felt the need to ) buy the new style or the Encores ... yet.

... one action always wears the 45-70 hunter barrel with a 2 X 7 Posilock Burris, one action always wears a 16" vent rib 410 barrel & a Faijen laminated thumb hole stock & for arm in camo colors... one action always wears a 10" octigon 22 Hornet barrel with a 2 X 7 Burris scope...

the other action typically wears a 7-30 Waters, a Custom 10mm Magnum, or Custom 50 AE barrel, or the 14" - 375 Winchester barrel, or the 222 carbine barrel...

the 45-70 is my regular deer hunting gun, it wears Pachmyer grip & fore end & turns out 3 leaf clover patterns from a field rest at 75 yards... the 410 is my rabbit gun ( dang rabbits kill off a good share of my newly planted trees each year, so it's my heaviest used Contender )... I love the 22 Hornet round & gun... I took it Prairie Dogging with me a few years ago, when I went to SD, & found I was good to beteen 100 - 150 yards with it...

I dont have time to do much loading right now, so most of the hand load cartridge barrels just stay in the collection, ( old Joe spent much time handloading, so there are all kinds of improved cartridges, TCU's, Herrets & etc. )& the Match 22 barrels ( both rifle & handgun ) I find I'd rather shoot my Custom Ruger 10/22 or my old Ruger ( fat barrel ) government target model than single shot the 22...

[Taxidermist]

I have one that I bought about 16 years ago in 35 rem. I hunt with it every year for whitetail. It seems to work fine between 100 to 125 yards. I never had to shoot farther than that so I can't say how far I could shoot and be accurate. Where I live and hunt in northern N.Y. a 100 yard shot is rare. The usual shot is 60 yards or less. But I love the gun. It always attracts looks and comments.
It gets a bit heavy in a shoulder holster but I still prefer it to carrying a rifle. There are times though that I have thought about taking the scope off like when the sun is at my back and it is hard to see through the scope. I am getting old so maybe I need one of those 40mm red dot scopes.

John

[Patsy4fingers]

between myself and some friends, we have close to every barrel ever made. my favorite so far has got to be the .357max. we load them light for indoors and can easily be a 200 yard deer gun. put a red dot on it and it is very accurate.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I've got to redo an inventory list of barrels again one of these days...

I'd be interested in seeing a list of some of the other collectors... so far I have everything listed ( in caliber )except the JDJ barrel...

BTW... does anyone have a 300 Whisper barrel ???? I've been intrequed by it, & been wanting one...

[Ranger61]

Here's my barrel inventory.
8" octagon: 45/410

10" octagon: 22 LR, 22 Hornet, 22 K Hornet, 223, 45 Colt.

10" Bull: 22 LR, 22 WMR, 30 Herrett, 32 H&R Mag, 357 Mag, 357 Max, 357 Herrett, 45 Win Mag.

Super 14": 22 LR, 6.5 TCU, 357 Herrett, 41 Mag, 45 Win Mag.

I DO LIKE EM!!

[Whisk]

I just purchased a G2 with 14 inch bbl in 223!

I love that gun!

I always wanted a Contender, but should have gotten one before they became so of proud of them! Plus I think they were just made legal in CA (pistolas at any rate) -- still can't get 410 bbl though.....)

Just using iron sights, I started at 50 yards then move up to 100. Took a few shots at 200 yars (thats as far as my little "range" goes for now) and realized I'll have to work on that. The iron sights that come with it are very good and I'm gonna use them whilst looking for some good EER glass for it!

I don't figure I'll be using it much past 100 (for sure not past 200) as I wanted it for yotes from my rig when they come down lookin' fer calves or around my water troughs. I never seem to have a good quick gun handy when that happens. This 223 will be perfect!

Think I'll get me a bbl in 17HMR as I have wanted a pistola in that round but always figured it would need a 10" or better bbl. Taurus 12" hasn't passed drop test in CA yet and haven't seen many others over 10" in 17.

I would also like to get a little bigger calibre for pigs, etc. There are a lot of 7mm TCU bbls out there fairly cheap. My bud reloads for his (necked out 223 case) and he loves it. Even for them tough big wild boars out here.

Any one hunt pigs with one? Wiley Coyote? Deer? Anything else?

[mikejonestkd]

I used my contender in .223 for small game and woodchucks, and the .44 rem mag barrel for deer for years.

I now use an encore for deer, either with a .243 win barrel or a .308 win barrel with a muzzle break.

I love TC Products!!!! Great quality, great service, tons of selections of calibers...

[Whisk]

Now the 243 sounds like it would be a good one!

Big enough for deer or pigs, still good for coyotes, and not the recoil of say a 308!

Also you can get the rounds at a Walmart, etc. where the TCU you have to reload.

Just haven't seen many 243 bbls around. Will keep looking. How's it shoot?

(I love my contnder already........Think its gonna be my favorite "rig gun" on the rancho..........)

[mikejonestkd]

Whisk,

don't get too excited about the .243 win...TC does not chamber the G2 in it..Encore only....Sorry

You can easily do the .30-30, 7mm waters ( 7mm-.30-30 ) or a .35 remington though.

The .243 is NICE in a encore, I have both pistol and rifle barrels and they are da bomb...

G2 pistol caliber chart from TC: http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/g2Con...stolCharts.php

G2 rifle caliber chart from TC: http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/g2Con...fireCharts.php

[Whisk]

<sigh>

Story of my life.

Hey! Maybe I'll find an Encore someday!

My bud loads for his 7mm TCU and since I'll have lots of 223 brass that might be a good choice. Don't know if it'd be good enough for some of the wild boars around here, but he says it is OK for deer if they aren't too far away.

Maybe I'll get a 7mm TCU

Tons of them for sale!

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I highly recommend the 7-30 Waters, also now that they have the "pointy" 30-30's in factory loads, they might be just the ticket... I haven't shot my 30-30 barrels much, as I haven't had much time to reload, & didn't think the flat points in 30 caliber offered me what I wanted out of the Contender... though the 7-30 Waters in Federal factory loads shoot really well in my barrel... but I'm going to have to try the new "pointy" 30 - 30's & see how they do...

[garryc]

I've killed several deer with the 44mag 14". I found the scope to be a hinderance. Useing open sights I've killed deer at 150yrds. That was with a 300gr GC flat nose and a healthy dose of H110.

As for the 223, the scope is a good call as long as the magnification goes low enough. My 223 barrel shot hornady 40gr V-Maxes very well.

[Hammerhead]

I found the scope to be a hinderance

I have to agree, tried a 2X pistol scope and a red dot. I keep going back to open sights.

Just bought a G-2 to go along with my Encore.
Nice and light with a trigger that needs some work. The .22WMRF barrel is a good shooter.

Still like the Encore better.

[Whisk]

What is twist rate on 223 14 inch bbl for contender G2

seems like a 1 in 12 would be good for the 45 to 55 gr and the 1 in 9 would be better for the heavier (longer) bullets?

(I always get that backwards for some reason )