Tell me 10 things I don't know about Contenders

[ChuckJaxFL]

I've never owned one. I tend to "Rubik's cube" my guns. I get a project going, get a good load for it, then it's "solved". After that, I lose interest because it's time for a new puzzle. I'm thinking with a Contender, I could simply buy a new barrel each time, instead of a whole new gun.

What do you look for in a used one?
How can you tell if one is worn out?
Bad years?
What's with the G2, what's that all about?
Interchangeability w/ Encore/Contender/G2 parts?

[smoked turkey]

They are fun
They multiply like rabbits
They are addictive
They are accurate
They are available
That is five. Someone will have to come up with the other five.
Seriously though I can't speak for the technical side of the design. Some here can do that and they will probably chime in. All I know is that I have several different calibers that I switch between two frames. I enjoy them all. I really enjoy shooting my .22 LR match barrel. It is so darned accurate. I can recommend that you get going with one. Pick a caliber that you think you would like to try and get to it. I think you will be glad you did.

[stubshaft]

Contenders are not compatible with Encore parts.

Early tender barrels had a solid lug.

Later versions had a split lug.

Early receivers were harder to open (had to do with the pivot angle)

Later models adressed this and T/C is? able to retrofit the quick release.

Early Tenders have a MUCH better trigger.

G2's use a different trigger design. (It can be adjusted but IMHO is not as good as early model)

Almost all Tender barrels interchange. The exceptions are the very early models and those marked "Armor Alloy".

Even if you wear one out T/C used to Warranty them. (Don't know if they will now as they were bought by S&W.)

If you store them in a dark place they WILL multiply, and barrels will start to appear out of nowhere.

They carry the same type of addictive virus as boolit molds!

[secondshooter]

armour alloy barrels have a simple fix if you want to use them on a blued frame, allyou need is a wooden dowl and some very fine emery paper, you gently polish down the armour alloy coating in the pivot pin hole untill a blued pivot pin will slide through.
there is a little selector for centerfire or rimmed on the hammer so you can use both types of barrels.
i do find my encore a little bigger and more comfortable to shoot , if you have larger hands you may like one of them?
buy one soon!

[Matthew 25]

I have an old Contender and I agree it takes a special touch to open it and the trigger is just right. My only pistol barrel is a 44 and it's as accurate as you can load and shoot. So I love the Contender, but sometimes I do wish I had the Encore so I had the option of going to a high power rifle cartridge. 30/30 and 45-70 are about the most thump you'll get from a Contender, the Encore offers barrels in almost anything you can imagine.
One thing is certain, though...if you asked the question, you better go buy one.

[subsonic]

I have a 10" .30 Herrett barrel with weaver base, loading stuff, and brass I'm about to put up for sale. PM if you're interested. I have it set up to use 6.8SPC brass (can still use .30-30 too), which is much better than .30-30 brass and easier to form too.

You didn't know that, did you?

Contender grip frame is much better than the Encore due to having a trigger reach that you can actually reach. Encore is very hard to shoot accurately unless you have gorilla fingers.

[Calamity Jake]

I have one in the second frame design where they moved the pivot pin for easy-er opening.
6 10" bull barrels and a 12" hunter barrel, my favorite, the 256 WM

Yap there addictive for sure.

[white eagle]

they break n the middle

[Moonie]

They will haunt you after you get rid of them, ask me how I know.

I seriously need another one, my first pistol was a tender in 7-30 Waters, got it right after I turned 21.

[405]

I've had an older Contender in 22 Hornet, 10" thin bbl for a long time. Extremely accurate! I bought a heavy carbine barrel with carbine stock for it in 22 Hornet. The 10" Hornet set up out shoots the full carbine Hornet set-up by a wide margin. Go figure

[jh45gun]

They are a hoot to shoot in the 45 colt 410 barrel. Only drawback with that barrel is the cheap sight set up on the shotgun style rib on the barrel but a 30 dollar set of Williams Slugger Fiber Optic sights. With these fiber optic sights the barrel will shoot 45 colt just fine. At the range at 25 yards I can keep them in a 2 inch circle. That is more than acceptable to shoot deer out to 50 yards I figure. With the 410 if you keep the range at 20 yards no more than 25 it will kill grouse just fine I shot 5 so far with no cripples or lost birds.

[scrapcan]

the wrench for the choke tube extension on early 38/357/ and 44 mag barrels can be hard to find.

There are lots of aftermarket barrel makers. The price of bling is dependent on your wallet and can be measured in cubic dollars.

[35remington]

The throats in some calibers are nonexistent, and sometimes the necks are cut overly long.

This makes accurate lead bullet shooting problematic.

Older Contender frames had to be broken open again to cock the gun if the hammer is let down without firing. Not the G2's.

The G2's came about because TC was tired of replacing all the stretched Contender frames that were shot with overly hot loads using cartridges that had a lot of base area to transmit a lot of thrust on the action. The G2 has frame bosses on the side that help the frame resist longitudinal stretching and damage.

[Inspector-Callahan]

Go for it!
http://images5a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp63272%3Enu%3D3879%3E%3B9%3A%3E25%3A% 3EWSNRCG%3D328%3B%3B%3B%3A49%3B34%3Bnu0mrj

[ChuckJaxFL]

Thanks for all the responses so far. A lot of this is exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for.

I have tiny hands, so I can rule out the Encore. I have nerve issues in both hands; heavy kickers are not my friends. That renders most of the benefit of the G2 moot for me. But, for clarity, G2 barrels and Contender barrels are interchangeable? And the lack of the good, old trigger is the only tradeoff to the G2?

How significant is the different between the old and new production triggers, and are the triggers workable?

Does the split lug/solid lug affect the ability to mount the barrels to different Contender frames, or does either style pretty much fit all of them?

Regarding the cubic dollars comment, I've been through "black rifle disease". It's so stupidly easy to spend $4k before you know it,.... I was hoping this would be a relief!

[uscra112]

Cubic $$ ?? If you have the accessorizing disease, I suppose a Contender could get pricey. But I'm perfectly satisfied with my G1, with not much invested. Bare action cost me $275. It had a misfire bug that I fixed for zero $$. Got a 12 inch Bullberry .38 Long Colt barrel on Gunbroker for $120, (they aren't in high demand), paid Dave Manson about $100 for a reamer to take it out to .357 Maximum. With that chambering I can use the cast boolits and other reloading stuff that I already have for for my revolver, and what with all the .357 load variations that are possible, that one alone could keep me occupied forever. Scope is an old 2.5 power Bushnell Phantom from a gun show; I think it cost me $60.00.

I felt that I needed something that shot frangible bullets for chucks around the farm, so I bought a used 14" Hornet barrel for $160 or so. I eventually rented a reamer for $35.00 to "K" the chamber. Already had the K-Hornet dies and brass from another project.

The Gen 1 will now do for anything from squirrels to deer, and I'm well under $1K invested. At the range it can keep me entertained for hours, trying new loads. Haven't got the Hornet to the magic 1 M.O.A. yet, but I'm trying. Cost of reloading the Hornet is of course miniscule.

BTW buying a .38 barrel and lengthening the chamber is the way to go - T/C had a problem chambering .357 Mag and Max barrels, and many of them shoot lousy. Properly chambered, the cartridge is quite accurate. Make double sure the reamer used has the right size pilot. SAAMI specifies a pilot diameter of .346" for .357 Max, but 'Tender barrels are almost always .350 bore. The SAAMI reamer therefor cuts off center, and the barrels never shoot well. Dave and I discovered this together, and my reamer therefor has a live pilot with a .3495" bushing.

The split "lug" referred to is I believe actually the bolt or pawl that locks the barrel to the frame on closing. You do not want a solid-bolt barrel. They don't make as good contact with the ledge in the frame, and that can cause accelerated frame wear. Gen 1 and Gen 2 use the same barrels, otherwise.

As with all switch-barrel arms, headspacing is always an issue. My .357 barrel was right from the first, but the Hornet barrel had .006", which led to a lot of case failures. That's why I "K'd" my Hornet - I now headspace off the shoulder, and the problems have gone away.

Mine has a Pachmayer grip. I have significant arthritis on both hands, but with that grip I can shoot 100 rounds of medium-power .357 off the bench and not suffer at all. The grip DID interfere with opening the action, until I trimmed it a bit at the front.

The Gen 1 trigger is a true set-trigger. Nothing else can come close.

[subsonic]

If you get something that recoils, keeping the scope from sliding can be a problem. (this is a problem on all handguns, not just 'tenders)

I ended up with Leupold PRW rings on a weaver base. Red loctite on the base screws and use a torque wrench to the proper specs on the rings where they clamp the scope tube.

Until then, I chased a sliding scope for about a year on my .30 Herrett.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

http://i53.tinypic.com/153qrsk.jpg
Ugly, what?

[Hammerhead]

I've had a Contender and a G-2. I actually preferred the G-2 after it got a trigger job, better recoil control being the main reason.
On early Contenders the rimfire/centerfire selector was on the face of the hammer and had to be turned with a screwdriver with the hammer cocked. Later models had the selector on top, much better.
My original .357 barrel shot very well, but back then I didn't handload so it was mostly jacketed ammo I shot, but it would shoot .38 LRN like a laser.
My favorite barrel is a friend's 12" 30-30. I never thought I would like a rifle caliber in a pistol, but I just love shooting that gun. Even with a stiff load of H335, recoil is very soft and accuracy is amazing. The fireball at the muzzle is impressive too!
He has the old Pachmayr presentation grips and forend with metal mounting block, so the extra weight is soaking up some of the recoil, but still, the 30-30 is a real pussycat compared to .44 Rem mag in the Contender.
This is the one that got away, my G-2 w/custom 7" MGM .357 barrel and modified factory wood.
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo205/FF1063/Contender%20G2/MGM357001.jpg

[Dframe]

VERY early contenders had plain sides with no cougar.

Early guns had a half moon shaped hammer nose that was rotated up or down to strike either of the guns two firing pins

Early guns had a diamond head shaped screw under the barrel and the forearm was a snap fit. It would frequently fly off during recoil

OK thats only three but interesing anyway!

[Old Caster]

The earlier triggers were a little harder to take apart and put back together but both are reletively simple to do a great job on. -- Bill --

[Czech_too]

There have been at least three different hammer 'styles' for the 1st gen. that I'm aware of. The earliest had a sliding bar of sorts to change from rimfire to centerfire. Then came the 'half moon' which you changed using a screwdriver. There are detent balls, one on each side, which prevent this 'half moon' from rotating. The last version moved the selector to the top of the hammer.

Solid, or one piece, locking lugs were used on the earlier barrels. At some time T/C went to a split, or two piece, lug. The lugs themselves are easy to change out if you should feel the need to. SOMETIMES you may find a barrel which does not want to lock up, or which may lock up and then you can't get it to open. This is when you would want to lightly stone the one facet(?) of the locking lug until it fits/works properly. Of the several barrels which I have bought (used) this has only been a problem on one.

I don't find the pre-easy open frames any harder to open compared to the easy open. One of the differences between the 1st gen. and the G2 is that the frame/barrel doesn't need to be opened in order to re-cock. Some feel that this is an advantage when actually all that's needed, with the 1st gen. is the squeeze the trigger guard enough to unlock the barrel, release the trigger guard and re-cock the hammer. It's not necessary to actually break open the action.

One thing I would look at if buying a used frame with the furniture/wood attached is remove the wood from the frame and check for rust. To often a person may run an oily rag over the frame and neglect the area of the frame under the wood.

As stated previously, a 22 barrel with a MATCH chamber can be boringly accurate.

You may find that some barrels of the same chambering don't have the same throat, the .357 barrels come to mind. This may be due to the fire that T/C had some years ago. A lot of the original tooling was lost in this fire.

The only barrel which I have been unable to keep a scope from shooting loose is the .357 Max. My favorite barrel would have to be the 32-20.

[Combat Diver]

I have a older generation thrid gen TC that I've had for years. It has the .357 hotshot bbl with choke tube. Second bbl is a 14" .41 mag. Love the guns and looking forward to hunting with them this year.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Contender.jpeg

CD

[45r]

I shot j-words in wildcats when I first shot my contender,what i know now is they shoot cast exceptional well with a 30-30 barrel and a 357 mag barrel rechambered to the 357max with a dave manson rifle reamer.I've got one inch groups with both sometimes,I expected and seen the 7 tcu with j-words shoot that well but was surprised that cast shot so well in 30-30 and the max.I should have realized that being able to seat the boolits so they engrave in the throat with a contender would make cast shoot just as well.

[canyon-ghost]

Well it took two shots to make sure of zero on the 22 lr, at 50 meters (our range isn't in yards but, same difference). http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/22lrWeaver001.jpg

And this is how the 32-20 barrel shoots at 100 meters off sandbags
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/contenders/32-20WCF800x6002.jpg
I also use on in 410 for rattlesnakes on the range
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/contenders/originalphotos001.jpg

[canyon-ghost]

As you can see, all of mine are easy open frames, they call them type 2 I think. Anyway, these came along in the 1980s. The 22 Hornet scoped is capable of 100 yard groups of 1/2" if you use Hornady V-max. I use lead in all of mine. As to throat length, I set them within .020 of the rifling and closer if I can. I've been shooting them for 10 years, scoped, open sights, any way I can.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/contenders/2007079.jpg

Hunter's pistol with a rifle scope takes some practice. We use it for everything up to 30 carbine and 270 ren. The 7mmTCU I shoot went on paper at 200 yards from a 10" barrel, in the photos of 32-20, that's only 100 yard group on the right. They shoot better than I do.

Ron

[Four Fingers of Death]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that you FLS and don't neck size.

I am not into Contender Pistols (I have an encore rifle with 2x Bbls and am considering a used Customised Contender rifle), but it is amusing that in Australia you can get a new Remington/Savage or Howa rifle cheaper than spare barrels for the T/Cs, go figure. All of the American stuff has dropped in price but the T/C stuff has climbed in price over the past few years.

Contenders and Encore are great if you like a puzzle, you have to really fiddle about to get the same results that the average bolt gun will do with any old load.

Finicky, but strangely fascinating.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Just a question, seeing we are talking Contenders. The 'engraved' ones are the older ones aren't they? At what serial number did the triggers of the pistols and rifles go south?

[stubshaft]

When they came out with the G-2. Don't know what the ser # was but that was when they redesigned the trigger assy to resemble an Encore.

[canyon-ghost]

The G2 came out in 2002. Most of mine were made from 1985 to 1999 or so. I do neck size the 22 Hornet and 32-20. They're not a tough puzzle, you can measure the seating depth when you first set the dies. I like the idea of using a handgun that can do what a bolt action rifle does, the accuracy is wonderful.

The fully adjustable trigger on mine will go down to ounces, that's nice. They can be disassembled with straight pin punches. I love these old silhouette classics.

[stubshaft]

I have yet to break sub 2's with this one. IIRC - the best I've got so far is .214" @ 100yds with j-words. It is a stepped barrelled 6mm TC/U in an old 1984 frame.

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/stubshaft123/6tcu012.jpg

[Char-Gar]

How can I tell you what you don't know, until I know everything you do know?

[canyon-ghost]

Okay, I'll try playing for real:

1. The pin you see over the trigger denotes an easy-open frame.

2. The trigger on an easy open is curved, the earlier ones are "S" shaped.

3. TC used custom touches to make some barrels. All 32-20 and 32 magnum barrels are a .308 bore for better bullet selection.

4. Some barrels run a fast twist rate, it's tighter than original to help stabilize a bullet in a rifle caliber from a shorter barrel. With store bought ammunition, sometimes, they can kick fairly hard.

5. The Contender swithes to 22lr to shoot rimfire almost as quickly as switching between other calibers (about 60 seconds).

6. The black strip of rubber you see on the rear of walnut grips is an air void for recoil.

7. The trigger cocks when you open and close the action, not connected to the hammer. That makes it possible to set the trigger without cocking the hammer.

8. The trigger adjustments are possible with small allen head wrenches.

9. The 38 special, 9mm, and .357 barrels all share the same bore, .357, again for better bullet selection.

10. Some manufacturers, Redding and RCBS make a special set of taper crimp dies especially for reloading TCs, they're called TC sets.

Aside from those goodies, "The Ultimate Hunting Handgun" only needs "One Good Shot" to do what it does!

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/contenders/37964.jpg

Notice the "S" shaped trigger and no pin over the trigger, it's an early non-easy open frame. But, man, check out those calibers!

[ChuckJaxFL]

Okay, I'll try playing for real:

You WIN at "Tell me 10 things"!

Seriously, there's a lot of good useful information in here. When I go looking later on, this thread will really help a alot.

Thanks everyone!