Competitor Pistol

[joeb33050]

I’m interested in trying the Long Range Handgun, partly because of the results to 100 yards with the Ruger MK II. After ~15 years with the Contender I gave up, and from the looks of match results I’m not alone. The Contender is as over-rated and over-priced as the Ruger #1/3. While up here in the frozen North I found an XP100 for $495 that had been re-chambered to 222 Rem, that with a new barrel and stock might be competitive after the gunsmith-to-be-found finished it, many years from now if the past is an indication. One of our daughter lives in southern NH with hubby and the tribe. While staying there I called Competitor Corp. in Jaffrey NH and asked if I could visit. I’ve seen these pistols in the Gun Digest for years, but never in the flesh. I’d asked on several forums for opinions, and got few but very positive responses. After a nice drive through the mountains I found the shop and met Mr. Al Straitiff, I think the owner. He showed me pistols, barrels, stocks and how the pistol works and how to change barrels and if needed, ejectors. He told me stories of accuracy and showed me examples of many of the 400 odd cartridges that the pistol can be chambered for. Some cartridges (416 Jamison?sp?) are simply terrifying.
I’m sold, and ordered a wooden stocked pistol in 30 BR. I can’t understand why anyone would think of a Contender or Encore after seeing the Competitor, and I gave up on the XP 100 because the time-to-complete could very well exceed the time-to-the-box.
The Competitor pistol is $500 with a wood stock, standard barrels, 14”, are $175.
I’m impressed.
Joe brennan

[JSH]

Joe, I have had some bad TC barrels over the years. But, on the other hand I have had some very good shooters. TC does make a very generous throat most of the time, which in turn can be frustrating at times to say the least. If you think TC's are a turd, I have seen TC's out do XP's, BF's and MOA's on good days. I still feel like I can hold my own with a couple of my TC's.
XP's ya say are a bit pricey. I have to agree for the most part. BUT, imho, they are the best platform out there for building a SS pistol on. There are just too many parts and pieces available for them.
As to the Competitor, I have shot one a few years back and was not impressed by it at all. It is a very well built piece and should be bullet proof in toughness. The trigger on the one I shot was terrible and left a lot to be desired. The gent that had it had a 4X scope on it and was very happy at hitting a pie plate at 100M.

Gun equipment is just like racing equipment. Speed is money, how fast do ya want to go?
Good luck with your project. I have a 30BR barrel that I have been wanting to get put on an XP I have for over a year. Look forward to your finding s of powder a load work.
Jeff

[Bullshop]

Well Joe you done it again. You dropped a spark that will likely become a blazing inferno. Comon bud the Contender didnt get to the production status it has because its junky or inaccurate. It hasnt grown from a shy little rim fire shooter to and elephant basher because its poorly made. It hasnt spauned all those specialty after market businesses because its impracticle. And I think it has more than a few wins in whatever games its used in.
There will always be some that just dont have things go well no matter what they are using. I bet someone will even have problems with the new apple of your eye. You mighta stepped in it when you insinuate in a place like this that a gun that has been in production for about what like over 30 years is not worth having.
If you havnt figured it out yet I wont be shy about saying I am a contender fan. I have nothing but praise for mine and at present think I have four frames and about ten barrels. Some of my favorite will shoot sub MOA with Bull Shop boolits which is about all we shoot in them. I just recently rechamberd a Bullberry 22 mag match to a 22 CCM and on the first outing was shooting veyr close to .5" MOA with the NEI #2.
I must admit that I have zero experiance competing with any handgun. My game is I feel much more practicle than that, I hunt with them. For my needs and requirments and apparently countless others the contender fills the bill quite nicely.
Funny how a single bad experiance can turn a fella sour on something. My Dad had a bad Leupold scope nearly 40 years ago. To this day he says they are junk and wont have one. Even if I gave him a good one now it wouldnt be good for him because that rinkle is burned into his brain and he just wont let it be good.
Maybe that pistal your buying is better and maybe not but something I would bet on is it will never see the success or availability of the Contender.
BIC/BS

[jhalcott]

Now be nice guys! I have had BAD experiences with several scope and guns,but being hard headed I often fixed (or had fixed) the problem. I have several T/C's and other bolt pistols and a few revolvers. Most of the problems I've had with T'C's were caused by original owner mistakes. I'll stack my TARGET contenders against the COMPETITOR and expect to win. Of course a caliber like the 358JDJ or the 45-70 while accurate enough for ground hogs is NOT a target caliber. If I felt that any thing that did NOT live up to MY ideas was no good, I'd never gotten married 40 years ago. My 1st girl just plain broke my heart.

[beagle]

Joe,

The Competitor is a nice little rig. I played with one for a while in .256 Win Mag, 9mm, .45 ACP and .223. Not bad for a single shot. Accuracy was on the same level as the Contender.

I much preferred the Contender and I've been through that phase too.

I was dissapointed in the 9mm as I was blowing primer pockets left and right trying to "hop" up some 147 grain loads.

The Competitors are built like a bank vault and I had no problems in maybe 5K rounds of assorted ammo.

As I said, it was a phase and I much prefer the SA Ruger style over either the Competitor or Contender.

Had a chance to borrow a .300 Win Mag barrel for it but I passed./beagle

[joeb33050]

I had contender barrels in 32/20, 30/30 rifle and pistol, 7TCU, 6.5TCU and others. I never found a cast bullet load that was accurate enough for competition. I worked with it for 15 years or more, off and on. Spent a lot of money, had the traditional series of problems, read all the forum stuff I could find, read the Bellm writings, did the headspace shuffle back and forth, had a lot of molds and dies. Wouldn't reliably shoot 223 accurately with cast either.
I had and have a Lindy Blaisdell bench rest adapter that makes BR shooting steady and consistent.
I used scopes from 4 to 20 power, thought the scope might be the problem from time to time.
There seem to be no contenders used in CBA matches, XP100s are most often seen.
Some jacketed bullet loads worked well, but I never was able to average 1" five shot 100 yard groups, or even close.
Hunting or plinking may be the contender's forte', and if you love them, God bless you-but I'm resting my hopes on the Competitor for now. I hope to end up with a pistol that will average 1.5" 5 shot groups with cast at 100 yards. That will place in CBA matches.
joe brennan

[bobthenailer]

i also had a cast bullet problem in the contender in 32/20 and 7mm tcu i tried 2 cast bullets in the 32/20 with about 8 different powders , and diamiter bullets . conversley these 2 bullets are very accurate in my 32/20 rpm xl . and 4 different bullets and 8 powders in the 7 tcu however the same bullets shoot well in my 7mm ihsma xp 100 . whats funny the contender barrels shoot jacketed bullets well