Contender pistol ...best cast bullet round?

[marshall623]

7-30 waters loves cast boolits as does 7 TCU

[McKee Boykin]

I would opt for the .338 Woods Walker myself.

[Ole]

357 Max.

190 grain Ranch dogs up to and including 2000 FPS and any amount below that.

[uscra112]

For hunting a 12" hunter barrel in 35 rem is hard to beat. Mines not a target gun,but put a red dot on it and you have a 200 yard deer pistol. Beware of factory 357 max barrels long throat with forcing cone instead of a proper throat. Get a 357 mag barrel and get it rechambered to 357 max. That will cut most of the old throat out.

+1 to the Max chamber. Lengthening a .38 or .357 barrel is the only way. But you can buy a reamer from Dave Manson for very little more than Bellm charges to do it for you. I did, and I ain't sorry at all. Just make sure Dave understands that you're going to ream a 'tender barrel. The SAAMI pilot is .346 diameter, and you need .350 for this job. Dave will grind a short straight section at .358 as a bullet seat, so the guidance problem that the stock SAAMI chamber has will be eliminated. Using a SAAMI reamer is probably why so many OEM T/C barrels in .357 Max don't shoot well.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

you cant go wrong with a 44mag or a 30/30

[Blammer]

for first one I would go with 35 remington.

[pls1911]

Make it easy on yourself.
The most ecooimical and versatile round is easily the 30-30.
I have .45 Colt, 45/70, 357, 7mm TCU, .223, 35 Rem, and 30-30... they're all scary accurate , but day in and day out the 30-30 with a Ranch dog 165 bullet and 25 grains of reloader 7 answers the call for pigs, deer, and all sorts of critters without the brutal beating from the 45-70.
The ratio of power and trajectory vs physical abuse ranks the 30-30 simply better than the rest. The 35 Rem is a close second.

[donald duck]

Contenders are a lot of fun shooting. Great for testing light loads. Look down the barrel to see if it is clear, no problem. .38/.357 is a good place to start, CAUTION adding different calibers is contaigous!! THERE IS NO CURE FOR CONTENDER FEVER!!

[Longone]

I've been kicking this idea around also and the more I read the better it sounds. I am thinking I would start with caliber that I currently cast for and see how that goes, it would be a paper puncher only.
Does anybody make barrels that you could chamber to a wildcat?

Longone

[Leadmelter]

Longone
Check out SSK Industries. I had them make a 357 AMP barrel from a 357 Mag barrel. It shoots great. I have a custom 41 JMP barrel. Both have their T"SOB mount.
Very large selection of calibers to choose and a very knowledgable staff on the TC.
The barrel I have been using lately is a 375 Win.
They are all a great selection.
Gerry

[dragonrider]

I have two favorites, 30-30 and 7-30 Waters.

[TCTex]

Have the urge to get a Contender pistol (used) What are good cast bullet calibers? Thanks

Don't take this the wrong way, it is just what I am currently shooting cast bullets out of in "MY" TC's. It is not BS or what you could shoot, but what I am actually shooting.

22 Hornet-55 Bator
22 K-Hornet-55 Bator
7mm TCU-130 Soup Can
7-30 Waters-130 Soup Can
30 Herrett-120 Lee in the Contender and 150 Lee in the Encore
308 Win-170 Lee
338 Fed-200 RD
357 Mag-180 SIL/RCBS
357 Max-190 RD
357 Herrett-190 RD
375 Win-235 RD
375 JDJ-264 Lyman
414 SM-255 RD
445 SM-264 RD

[softpoint]

357 Herrett. I've had both a 10" and a 14" . Both were accurate, I killed hogs, sika, whitetail, and coyote with mine in the Tx. hill country. I used the RCBS 200 gr. cast and the 180 gr. Hornady SSP bullet. H4227 powder.

[Shooter]

Don't forget the .32-20.

[Junior1942]

Here's the MidSouth 7mm Soup Can @ 137 gr RTL and @ 1657 fps from a 10" 7mmTCU after blowing through 14" of wet newspapers.

[Larry Gibson]

99% paper shooting Maybe Whitetail deer use mainly

The 10" .357 Magnum barrel will suit your needs perfectly.

I've curently the following Contender barrels and shoot cast bullets in all of them;

Pistol barrels;
22 Hornet
.32 H&R
357 magnum
44 Magnum
45 ACP
45 Colt

Rifle barrels;
22 Hornet
223 Remington
30-30 WCF

I've had others over the years but the above serves most of my Contender needs these days.

Larry Gibson

[cabezaverde]

I have a 12" .35 Rem barrel that has had the clearance cut in it for a 30-40 Krag rim. So I just reform some 30-40 and have a rimmed 35 Remington. 20 cases will last a long time.

[kir_kenix]

I'm a big fan of the 30 Herrett as well. I think it is one of the most versitile rounds on earth. Also, most folks usually have quite a few 30 caliber molds around anyway, so its easy to start loading for. Yeah, having to buy dies suck, but you can usually get them used for fairly cheap (I have 3 sets now set up for 3 different barrels). Forming brass is not nearly as hard as it sounds. I usually form 50 at a time for each barrel and they last a looong time with mild to mid range loads.

30-30 is another good one if you don't want to mess with brass forming. TC does not know how to cut .357 mag or max chambers, so its worth buying a mag and having it reamed to the .357 max. I will eventually do this with mine. 45/70 is another good one if you are going to hunt someday.

Possibilites are endless with the Contender! From .17 mach 2 to .50 caliber muzzleloader...

[redneckdan]

375 JDJ is also a fun one. Brass forming is easy. It's max performance with 375-300gr loads also happen to be the upper limits for easy boolit loading. There are some decent 375 molds from the usual suspects and NOE has a few nice buys coming due in the next year or so.


-Dan

[Mark85304]

Have the urge to get a Contender pistol (used) What are good cast bullet calibers? Thanks

Be very very careful. Contender barrels are like potato chips....you can't have just one.

I think any barrel/cartridge combination will do well. The .357 Magnum with 150-158 grn SWC, .44 Magnum with 240-265 Grn boolits are fun to shoot. For light recoil I'd pick the 22. Hornet or .22 K-Hornet with 45-65 grn, 32.20 Winchester with 100-130 grn (.308), or the .30 M1 Carbine in 115 grn boolits are a nice choice. By far my most accurate cartridges are the .30 Herrett with a 150 grn and the 7MM TCU with a 139 grn boolit (getting a new 7MM mould in a few months I think).

It it is real power you are looking for, try anything from SSK Industries or MGM. I can't wait to shoot my .444 Marlin. I am partial to big bore cartridges (.44 and up). They don't call these hand cannons for nothing.

I started with a .22LR in 10" Bull configuration in 1982 and just purchased a .444 Marlin in Super 14.

Regardless where you start, have fun.