.45-70 Contender pistol length

[Echd]

I don't know why and have no reason for it but I really want one of these.

It seems like I could load everything from gallery loads to thermonuclear death cannons in one.

I sure do love my Contender. I also love my .45-70. Are the two of them together as awesome as it seems?

Just the idea of popping open my Contender and dropping in a big brass cartridge with a huge hunk of lead seems to make me a little giddy.

What barrel length is optimum? I'm thinking something handy here and would like a 10" or 12" barrel, but would it be worth going 14? I have a 30-30 Super 14 and it shoots great, but my Contender wears its 12" comped .44 mag barrel 90% of the time.

[dragonrider]

14" would get the nod for me, I also have the 30-30 14" with muzzle tamer and it is sweet shooter.

[Smoke4320]

I have a 14" with a muzzlebreak .. and just love it .. RCBS 45-300FN gr Powdercoated is a killer out of mine
it also likes the NOE 325 HP

[Artful]

Mines a 14" as well - just becareful not to stretch your frame.

[jrmartin1964]

I don't know why and have no reason for it but I really want one of these.

Me, too. I opted for the Super 14 with muzzle brake, then added a Burris Red Dot on top.

I sure do love my Contender. I also love my .45-70. Are the two of them together as awesome as it seems?

Short answer is "yes!"

[lostsixgunner]

I have the 12" with the muzzle tamer. I like the handiness of the shorter barrel for hunting, but do prefer the 14's off a bench.

Like Artful said, don't over load it. I stretched the frame on my '79 vintage contender shooting 405gr. boolits, many years ago. Thankfully at that time T/C sent me a free replacement.

[Tatume]

The recoil of a 45-70 Contender shooting a 300 grain bullet should be comparable to the same gun in 44 Rem Mag shooting a 300 grain bullet.

[bearcove]

10 in. 45 colt, mine is 8 in. mild to wild, deer to moose

[unclebill]

i have the comped 14 coming as well
this oughta be fun!

[jhalcott]

The "THUNK" as the cartridge lands in the chamber is neat! Mines a 15" ported barrel. I have a Siamese Mauser in 45-70 also so it is VERY important to keep loads separate. I have a load using 4759 powder and a 405 grain pointed bullet that barely gets 850fps from the Contender. The kids at the range LOVE to see the plume of dust that bullet throws up. I let some of them(with parents permission!) shoot it off bags. Then give them the empty shell for a souvenir.

[Groo]

Groo here
Mine is a 14in SSK, with a magnaport 4 port system.
Factory 300gr are easy, 500 gr earthquake loads need to be worked up to.
Still can't figure out how they got the guidence system in the 500gr's.
3 shots touching at 100yds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[George Tucker]

Mine was a 16" tapered barrel, I like the 14" Hunter barrel better.

[Shooter6br]

Mine isnt 45-70 but 44 mag

[Echd]

I visited the Greensboro Gun Show today and purchased a matte silver finished Super 14 with comp. Hoping to get a few loaded tonight and I'll see about giving them a shot before work.

I can't decide whether I want a dot scope or my trusty Leupold M8 for this. I'm really leaning on the dot scope, personally.

[bbqncigars]

I've got the stainless comped barrel on my mid-seventies frame. It's a pussycat with the plinking loads (10.5gr Unique behind 405gr boolit), but is a stone cold bastard with rifle loads.

[jhalcott]

I do NOT like 2x scopes on my hand guns! They seem to make the target LOOK smaller. I tried a red dot sight , but the "dot" covered about 8" at 100 yards. The sillywet sights on the Contender seem to work almost as well as a 4x scope.

[Echd]

I do NOT like 2x scopes on my hand guns! They seem to make the target LOOK smaller. I tried a red dot sight , but the "dot" covered about 8" at 100 yards. The sillywet sights on the Contender seem to work almost as well as a 4x scope.

I went with the red dot. I have a 3 MOA dot sight so it's actually very reasonable for this handgun. I personally have never understood the huge dot trend, I love micro red dots and put them on a lot of my handguns, I always see 8 MOA and 3 MOA dots offered and can't imagine why you would want an 8 MOA... A 3 is very quick to acquire in the 3 different dot sights and scopes I have.

Load I liked best was 12.5 Unique with a 405 Lee hollowbase. Shot very accurately for me out to 75 yards ( I didn't paper it, I will soon but I'm planning on a new mold for it, maybe an Accurate, but the first shot popped a milk jug at 50 yards, so I felt that was "good enough"!) which was as far as I took it.

Lots of fun, just enough recoil to know you've got something in your hands, not enough to be even slightly punishing. Also had no trouble going straight through a tree that was at least 20" thick... the .45-70 never disappoints!

I moved my 4X to my .44. Overkill, maybe, but it shoots so well... I have one of the Mihec 44 HBWCs on the way and I want to see how accurate that barrel is! Plus the dot scope on my .45-70 improves the balance and weight, the 4X was a bit too much.

I don't hunt very frequently but Dad has been asking me about using my Contender or Buffalo Classic for deer for a long time. I think he'll like this a lot.