10 inch contender barrels-why all the hate?

[str8wal]

I love 10" barrels for handling, but 10" just too short to get decent performance out of some chamberings. Straightwall pistol cartridges perform well, but bottle necked cases like 30-30 or 7-30 Waters for instance really suffer with the short tube. I chrono'd the same load in 7-30 from a 16" barrel @ 2560 fps, and from a 10" barrel @ 2050 fps. The shorter barrel also was significantly LOUDER and had a lot more muzzle flash. I went with 13" for my MGM barrel as a compromise and am happy with it. The 223 is another that really gets starved in a short tube. One needs to match length with the case capacity and bore size.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

from me!

[charlie b]

They all have their place. Yep, 10" is about as much as I would want for shooting off hand. But, most of my shooting was laying down and laying the barrel against my leg. The scoped, 14" barrel (.30 Herrett) was very accurate out to 300m. If it was benched steady it would do MOA. I was not that good

I also had 10" .357Mag and .223 barrels with open sights. I did not shoot them much.

[lightman]

I'm not sure where the hate comes from but the 10 inch is all that I have or ever wanted. I would even go for a shorter custom barrel. I also favor the heavier barrels. Right now I'm down to 45 Colt, 357 Herrett and 22 Hornet. Have had 22LR, 30-30 and 44 mag.

[TCLouis]

Love all my 10" barrels excep the 30 Herrett.
Nick is so over size that it really works the brass. Sent it in and TC said it was "within specs"
So I just don't shoot it.
My 10" octagon 22 LR is the most accurate 22 at 50 yards that I own.
I bought the gun to get the frame and was going to sell the barrel.
So glad I shot it first.
Unfortunately I have a very limited supply of ammo it likes best and there is no replacement so I'm going to have to find what it likes again in the future.

10" 7 mm TCU is a barrel of fun with Soup Can and something close to JR's WC 820 load . . . . If I could just remember what I had worked up. Dang why did't I write that down?

[charlie b]

On my Herrett I did two things. I opened up the sizing die a bit and then did not ream the case as much. Bonus was the case in the neck and shoulder area was thicker and seemed to work well. I only had one case fail, after about 20 reloads at max.

[mozeppa]

i guess you either love or hate thompson contenders ....

i'd shoot one for the experience....but...they are so darned ugly ...i'd never pay money for one.

[high standard 40]

On my Herrett I did two things. I opened up the sizing die a bit and then did not ream the case as much. Bonus was the case in the neck and shoulder area was thicker and seemed to work well. I only had one case fail, after about 20 reloads at max.

I used a 10" 30 Herrett for many years in IHMSA silhouette. I never reamed a case neck on any of the brass I used in that barrel. It fit my chamber just fine without doing that step. Case life was excellent.

In regards to the original intent of this thread, I can only guess, but 10" barrels have probably lost favor with most shooters who still shoot Contenders. Back in the early days of handgun silhouette, 10" barrels were the longest length allowed for Production category and the 14" barrels were used for Unlimited category. T/C sold many, many barrels of both lengths during the silhouette golden years. As popularity of silhouette faded, most Contenders were used for hunting and most people opted for the longer barrels. 10" sales suffered to the point that T/C could no longer justify cataloging them.

My opinion only because I have no hard facts to back this up. It's just what I consider to be the most logical explanation for the lack of popularity of 10" barrels.

[TCLouis]

Charlieb
I do NOT ream my brass.
The chambers neck is so oversized that one day I short cyled for some reason and there was a noticeable difference where I stopped.
I would guess it is 3-5 thousandths, maybe more.

Dang 10' 30 Herrett is the cats meow too.

[arlon]

Only barrels I really like are the 10" barrels. I have a few heavy and a few octagon barrels. I like the heavy in heavy recoiling calibers and the octagons in lighter calibers. I shoot mostly off hand and favor the old octagon barrels have them in .22, .222, .357 and .44 mag (shoot specials). Have heavies in .222, .357, .41 mag, 45 LC, 30/357 Herrets and 7mm TCU. Sold a few longer barrels, only long barrel I still have is super 14 in .223 that I never shoot.

[charlie b]

Charlieb
I do NOT ream my brass.
The chambers neck is so oversized that one day I short cyled for some reason and there was a noticeable difference where I stopped.
I would guess it is 3-5 thousandths, maybe more.

Dang 10' 30 Herrett is the cats meow too.

Sorry. Bad of me to make assumptions.

[Texas by God]

One of the most unpleasant handguns I ever fired was a Contender 10" octagon 30-30 Win with 170gr CoreLokts. That handgun was trying it's best to hit me in the head on recoil. That said, I'd love one in something tamer.

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[rking22]

Texas, I fully understand. I was sbooting a IMSA match back in the day, 44mag standing production. Guy beside me creedmore with a 10 in Contender. Once time started, I was on turkeys, when he touched that thing off I flinched so hard dang near hit the pig berm! Felt the shockwave, layed down the SBH and got head phonez to go over the plugs. I still waited till he shot before I even lifted the gun. Afterwards found out it was 30-30, and for sale. I shot it on rams after the match and bought it ,50$! Was worth 50$ to me to not shoot beside it again, but it really took down the rams! Got home and found he was shooting 10% over max of 4895!!!!!! Even loaded to spec it was stout, but much worse to the side than behind it
Recoil didn't hold a candle to the octagon 44mag. But I now have 14inch 30-30 and 10 inch 30Herrett! Seems more fitting. Always seemed like the bullet on that 30-30 was gonna be pooking out the muzzle on the shorty!
All this talk of the 10 inch guns,,, I got my 30 Herrett on the bench to shoot tomorrow, may hunt with it this year.

[Hamish]

Shot thousands of rounds of 7TCU and 30 WCF through 10" barrels. The only thing I didn't like about the 10's was I couldn't shoot them "dead frog" like I could the 14'ers.

[Three44s]

That’s my situation as well, a ten in the 30 Herret and 14 in the 30-30. My 7mm TCU’s are 14 and 21”.

I have a ten octagon in 222 that I have not had much luck with yet but have not spent enough time with it yet but a ten in 22 Hornet seems to hold promise.

A Custom SS 22 Hornet improved to a “K” in 14” Bull is a show stopper!

Addicting these Contenders!

Three44s

[marshall623]

I have 10's and 14's and all mine shoot great . I think 7-30's , 30-30's and similar capacity round's make better use of the extra powder in the 14's

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[TCLouis]

Charlieb
I think that is a reasonable assumption.
It is also why I thought it was far too big to be in spec, but obviously TC disagreed.
A boolit would drop in the case without sizing the neck down
Maybe I should have looked at .321 -.314 boolits.

Did you ever notice how they don't crowd up on ya at the range when you are shooting 10" 30 Herrett with ball powder?

TbG
Back when Contenders were still growing in popularity a guy came to the range with a TC 10" Octagon pistol roll.
One assembled gun and several octagon barrels.
He explained that he had just bought it and wanted to test it out.
This is back in the all wood handgrip days too.
He set up his bags on a bench, grabbed the assembled gun (30-30), loaded er up, settled into the bag, pulled the trigger . . .
Got up, placed the gun in the roll, rolled her up, gathered up his bag and left for the day.
Guess it hit where he wanted

[marshall623]

I have had people laugh when your setting up targets at a 100 . After they see a T/C shooting MOA or better they usually want to know what you have and how can it shoot like that.
==TClouis , that fellow you seen with the contender roll probably thought a few fire crackers went off in his hand when he squeezed the trigger on 30-30 on those old wooden grips .

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