Contender muzzle brake question

[historicfirearms]

Stopped by my favorite gun shop this morning and he's got a Contender I'm interested in. It's a stainless steel frame and barrel pistol. It's a 223 with iron sights and a factory muzzle brake. My question is, is the brake threaded on? I think it would be very loud with the brake and would like to be able to take it off for bench shooting. The brake is a larger o.d. than the barrel, but I couldn't tell if it was threaded or soldered on. If it is threaded, anyone know what thread size and pitch it should be? Suppressor paperwork is in the mail....

$500 seem like a fair price? Its unfired and like new.

[williamwaco]

If it is threaded, It should have some visible means of attaching a wrench to it.
If it is "Unfired and like new" it should have the wrench with it.

I have heard them at the range without the brake.

I wouldn't fire it with a muzzle brake for a hunnerd dollah bill.

.

[historicfirearms]

I've bought two other rifles this year that were factory threaded, brand new, neither came with a wrench to remove the flash hider.

The brake on the contender, if threaded, didn't have any flats for a wrench. Anyone with actual experience with these?

[jhalcott]

If it's the "HUNTER" model, the brake is PERMANENT. Call T/C and ask how it is removed, get the serial ## so the age,year of production is known. I recall others saying the "BRAKE" was attached with a glue and press fit at times.

[Hamish]

New and unfired, the price is good. I have also heard the glue thing, somewhere I read where one came loose.

I have a 10" .223 bbl. that I have fired one round of russian silver bear ammo through.(not just loud, but high pitched loud) Not nearly as bad with 2015BR and jacketed.

As soon as the 225107 mould gets here, it is going to become a pseudo 22LR/Hornet bbl.

[historicfirearms]

Hamish, I've got that mold coming too, should be a fun one. Is your 10" barrel with a muzzle brake? If I get this one it will be mainly a cast boolit gun so I don't think the noise will be terrible. I'd still like the option of shooting full power loads through it, so if the brake is epoxied on maybe it can be removed.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i had a 223 Contender barrel that had a factory brake on sold it quick
good shooter but loud i mean LOUD like put earplugs in and muffs over
them LOUD

[45-70 Chevroner]

I'v got a standard Super 14" 223 and it is loud enough with out a muzzle brake. I have religated it to cast. The noise shooting 8 grains of Unique with a Lyman 55 gr boolit at around 2000 fps is not bad at all. 8 grains of Unique is completly burned up befor the boolit leaves the barrel. Most rifle powders will not burn up in a 14" barrel and that is where the louder noise is coming from because a lot of the powder is burning out side the barrel.

[Hamish]

Yep, it's got the muzzle brake. I have considered the can thing myself, but I'm betting it will be plenty quiet with 2 or 3 grains of a couple of different powders to make a decent 40 yard squirrel gun.

BTW, the 225107 came today, as usual, it's purty!

[NSP64]

Muzzle brake was soldered on, on a super 14 I had.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Yep, it's got the muzzle brake. I have considered the can thing myself, but I'm betting it will be plenty quiet with 2 or 3 grains of a couple of different powders to make a decent 40 yard squirrel gun.

BTW, the 225107 came today, as usual, it's purty!
Hamish! What is the weight of the 225107 and the ogave design, and who makes it.

[williamwaco]

Did you buy it?

How loud was it?


.

[quilbilly]

You will hate that brake (called a muzzle tamer) which I believe is permanent. I have one Contender with the brake (7mm TCU - 10") plus a TCR rifle in 338 WM with it and used to have a 30/30 - 12" with the brake. It really makes the recoil almost disappear (good) but it sends the noise right back into your face and the gases may make you hat fly off. The 223 is nasty for noise anyway in a Contender and the brake would make it that much worse. In the 338 WM rifle, I found the noise only got bad above 1850 fps mv. therefore I keep my cast boolit loads right at 1800 so it is a joy to shoot. That 223 might be similar. All the 22 centerfires in Contenders are noisy beasts so have avoided them until I recently acquired an unfired 222 barrel for almost nothing. By keeping the cast boolits at an MV of about 1800 fps mv. with Unique, that 222 is a fine shooter and at current prices for ammo, almost as cheap as a 22LR.

[historicfirearms]

Did you buy it?

How loud was it?


.

I took everyone's advice and decided to pass on the deal. It was a 10" barrel, so that was a minus as well, at least for me.
I'm a little gun shy on extremely loud guns anyway. The AK pistol I had with the 10 inch barrel literally felt like I was getting slapped in the head each time I fired it. Ear muffs and ear plugs together didn't make much difference, forget about firing it without protection, even just once.

The contender 223 would probably make a good little cast gun. If anyone is interested it is at Ebel's Hardware in Falmouth, MI.

[williamwaco]

I took everyone's advice and decided to pass on the deal. It was a 10" barrel, so that was a minus as well, at least for me.
I'm a little gun shy on extremely loud guns anyway. The AK pistol I had with the 10 inch barrel literally felt like I was getting slapped in the head each time I fired it. Ear muffs and ear plugs together didn't make much difference, forget about firing it without protection, even just once.

The contender 223 would probably make a good little cast gun. If anyone is interested it is at Ebel's Hardware in Falmouth, MI.



Sounds like a good choice to me.
I wouldn't shoot it for a hundred dollar bill.

( well. . . , maybe just once.)

[fryboy]

stainless steel frame ? ummm g-1 or g-2 ?

personally the brakes dont bother me ( it's usually the folks around me :P ) i have a coupla calibers i'm glad that have a break !! factory breaks are supposed to be permanent ...but ...it's a two piece contraption so yeah it could come off , umm with work ( on someone's part )
the .223 however never did it for me in the t/c's [shrugz] at least not in pistol or carbine versions ( i love a long encore barrel ! ) recoil in a 14" w/o a brake isnt that bad ( noise ,regardless, is more apt to be varying by perception of the shooter )
still ... that stainless frame .... thankfully it's to far away to tempt me :P

[Zim]

I've seen two of the brakes fly off while shooting.
The 222 was found after we had given up on it at 40 yards. Undamaged and was glued back on. It was a loose slip fit. The other went somewhere never to be found.

So they are semipermanent.

[flipajig]

I have a super 14 in 223 and I don't like factory 223 but my hand loads with J words cuts the muzzle blast almost in half makes it much more pleasant to shoot.
I also have a Super 14 in 44 mag with a break that is pined in place witch makes it just over 16" so I'm able to use it as a pistol or a short Barreld carbine the muzzle blast and recoil is not bad at all I think it makes it a pleasure to shoot.
Flip

[NVScouter]

I had a 14" Hunter in 7-30 Waters. That brake does zero for recoil management and is LOUD! I tried removing it but ended up cutting it off and recrowning. Recoil is the same, I dropped about 1.5" of useless barrel length and it shoots better. I just never shoot it since I've become a hardcore 357 Herrett fan and they do almost the same thing but the 357 does it better with a 10" barrel.

$500 seems a bit high to me since you can get lots of package deals in the $350-500 range with scopes and barrels.