Contender barrel rimed or rimless cartridge

[M-Tecs]

I have Contender rifle/pistol Barrels in 17 Mach II, 17 HMR, 22LR, 22 Mag, 222 Rem, 223, 6,5 JDJ, 7-30 Waters, 30-30, 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Mag, 35 Rem, 375 Win, 44 Mag, 45 ACP, 45 Colt, 45 Colt/410 and 45/70. I have had zero issues related rimmed verse no rim.

The only barrel I have sold was the 357 Herrett once brass forming became a bigger choir than I wanted to deal with. The 222 Rem, 223, 6,5 JDJ,7-30 Waters and 45 ACP. are most used. To me the rimmed verse non-rimmed is a non-issue.

[eastbank]

i have two tc g-2 rifles, a 7x30 waters and a 375 jdj and i like the rimmed cases, upon opening the action i roll the rifle to the left-right and as the case falls out and i have a new one already to insert.

[dale2242]

I have several barrels in both rimmed and rimless cartridges.
I see absolutely no difference in the way either of them function.
Both are good to go.

[Three44s]

Rimmed are easier to save with gloves on when extracting the empties.

That said, I really like my rifle and pistol barrel in 7 mm TCU (not rimmed of course).

I have a 10” in 30 Herret and like it as well. My 14” 30-30 Win is superb!

A compromise is a hybrid of 30-30 and 30 Herret. You cut a 30 Herret for the neck all the way to 30-30 win but the shoulder and body is 30 Herret. Bye bye excessive trimming hello smaller case capacity!

Three44s

[Tar Heel]

Pick whatever cartridge works for you. "Headspace" issues are generally caused by 1) poorly cut chambers by incompetent "gunsmiths" or 2) improperly sized brass. This usually manifested in the 35 Remington cartridge where shoulder setback allowed the cartridge to set too deep into the chamber. Remember that in the firearm world, .001" is like the Grand Canyon. Do NOT confuse headspace and barrel gap in a Contender. Both must be correct.

Having shot Contenders since the late 70's in many many calibers, I can assure you that attention to detail on the loading bench will prevent most, if not all, of the "issues" you may be familiar with in Contenders. I have no preference to rimmed or rimless in the Contender. You only have the one shot anyway when hunting so ease of extraction or speed of extraction is meaningless. On the range, you will develop a cadence with rimless or rimmed both being the same.

I would order the barrel from a known Contender 'smith rather than have Goober re-chamber an existing barrel for you. Chamber to bore alignment is important and any offset there will serve to frustrate you.

Takeaway: Most "headspace issues" in a Contender are caused by sloppy or impropper handloading technique.