contender w/ crooked chamber

[brotherdarrell]

gentlemen - In my possession is a Contender chambered for 7mm tcu. This pistol is from the mid to late 80's, 14" barrel, armor alloy and never been fired. When looking down the barrel from the chamber end the transition from chamber to barrel on one side there is a definite 'step' between rifling (8 groove) and as you move around the chamber the step is reduced to the point that at 180 degrees there is just the faintest mark from the chamber reamer. From reading about contenders on the lasc web site this is apparantly not a rare occurance for this chambering from that era.

Now, I think we all can agree that this is not conducive to accuracy. My question is to what extent does this problem affect accuracy, specifically with cast and generally with j-words?

This pistol belongs to a friend who will never shoot it and 'gave?' it to me to play with. I have lots of .223 brass, appropriate powder and primers, so I would only need dies and a mold. In short it would'nt cost a whole lot to shoot, but will it be a futile endeavor?

as always thanks for any and all responses.

brotherdarrell

[Alan in Vermont]

Can't offer much insight but I had a very early production Super-14 barrel in .357 Herrett that had the same issues with the chamber. It shot surprisingly well in spite of the defect. I wrote T/C about it and had a new barrel about three days later with a shipping authorization to return the bad one.

[uscra112]

Also common with their .357 Max barrels. In that case I think they failed to realize that the SAAMI reamer has a pilot that is .004 undersize for the rifle-type barrel blanks they were using. How that could be true for 7mm TCU escapes me. IMHO this will never be a tack-driver no matter what you do. Maybe it could be rechambered for a longer 7mm cartridge based on 5.6x50 brass? There's even a rimmed version of that which would ease headspacing issue in the 'Tender.

[Quigley284]

You will have to contact them to see what they want to do. Based on past experience, they will make it right. If it can't be repaired, they will send you a new barrel. Mike

[brotherdarrell]

Thanks for the responses. I can't help but look at this pistol and think maaaaybeee?, but I have my doubts. As far as contacting T/C about 'fixing', it is over 20 years old and it is an armor alloy finish. Assuming they would replace the barrel (big assumption) they no longer produce armor alloy, true? How hard is it to ream the pivot pin holes on the frame to allow installing a blue barrel? Hate to give up on a "free"? pistol!!!

brotherdarrell

[scb]

The barrel that produced these was less than a year old and they refused to do anything about it when it had been returned twice. Who knows maybe you'll have better luck.


http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/scb2008/17m2cases.jpg

[brotherdarrell]

The barrel that produced these was less than a year old and they refused to do anything about it when it had been returned twice. Who knows maybe you'll have better luck.


http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/scb2008/17m2cases.jpg

HMMM!!! That is one ugly sight.:holysheep

Sent e-mail to T/C this morning. Will see what they say. To be honest I don't know why they would but what the hay.

brotherdarrell

[stubshaft]

I've seen a few crooked chambers in various calibers. T/C had a Lee moment years ago and the chambers looked like the were done with a drill press. The easiest way to tell was to use cerrosafe or make an impact slug of the throat area. Usually you would see the variance in rifling that was cut when chambered. This is NOT the same as the horrendous long throat that T/C used on the Maxi and expanded its use to other calibers.

[fryboy]

mike bellm has several pages devoted to this on his site , look under chamber cast for but one page

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Brotherdarrel,
If you would like, pm me an address and I can send you a set of Bonanza dies for the 7mm TCU. Looks like Reizing and bullet seating dies from Bonanaza and a resizing die from Pacific Die. Got as part of a package deal at a pawn shop years ago.
CF

[brotherdarrell]

Chihuahua Floyd - I believe I will take you up on your generous offer. Shooting will tell the truth. pm on the way.

brotherdarrell

[brotherdarrell]

Brotherdarrel,
If you would like, pm me an address and I can send you a set of Bonanza dies for the 7mm TCU. Looks like Reizing and bullet seating dies from Bonanaza and a resizing die from Pacific Die. Got as part of a package deal at a pawn shop years ago.
CF

Picked up the dies at the P.O. today. Can't say how much I appreciate gesture.

I do have a few questions for those who have experience with this cart.

Any pointers/advice as far as forming or fire-forming from .223?

Picked up a handful of 140 gr. Rem psp at lunch. A quick check showed seated half-way down the neck does'nt touch rifling on a few re-formed cases. Do I try to get close to rifling or not?

Any other tips or ideas are much appreciated. If all goes well and weather permitting (supposed to blow on Sunday) I should be able to fire some shots on Mon. or Tues.

brotherdarrell