Best Caliber for competition 21 1/2" Contender

[Longwood]

It would be hard to re-chamber my 308 brl for a 7 TCU

That be true!

[marshall623]

I would go 30 Herrett or 30 TCU either of those would be wicked accurate

[Got-R-Did]

Love the idea of the .30 Herrett. Found a Super 14 bbl locally, but does not have dies so I need help with locating a relatively inexpensive die set before I commit to purchasing the barrel. I found out about the shooting stuff from his relative's estate a bit late and all the loading gear was sold to a shop. The guns were distributed amongst the kin.
Any assistance is appreciated. I hope this does not side-track the thread too far.
Barring any news here, I will post on the WTB section.
Cheers,
Got-R-Did.

[redneckdan]

cheapest retail option is hornady.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/Brow...*&brandId=1165

Other option is to cruise gun broker or forum classifeds for dies.


If you can get the barrel for a reasonable price i would say go for it. If for some reason you can't get dies you can always rechamber to 30-30 or 309 JDJ and get a better throat in the process.

[Irascible]

Those dies are all over Ebay, gunbroker and Auction arms. I shoot an early 1 in 14 twist Contender at IHMSA silhouette matches and it is very accurate.
The only reason I'm not going with the Herrett is, that after shooting the barrel in 32 H&R I realize that even with 180gr bullets, I don't need all that powder for paper at 200yds.
The rimmed 300 whisper (from 357 max brass) should be perfect for my needs. The only reason I am getting away from the 32 H&R (actually 30 H&R in this barrel) is that it has a lousy throat and re-chambering it will enable a nice cast bullet throat to be cut.

[Rico1950]

Irascible,
Contact David White about your chambering requirements. Mike Bellm recommended him years ago. I had him put a maximizer on my Super 14 in 35 Rem to make it a legal carbine length. His stubbed barrels are superbly accurate but pricey. If you supply the donor barrel and a barrel blank, it's much more reasonable.

[gemihur]

Gary Reeder's Raptor uses .222 Rem Mag brass
Just got a 30 Raptor Bbl for my contender
more after field trials ...

[gemihur]

Actually the Raptors use 204 Ruger brass which is the spawn of the 222 Rem Mag but shortens when stretched to .308.
Starline 223 Basic much more preferred.
I've had three sessions with the little barrel in the field and really admire it's punch.
I'm throwing 168 gr Nosler BTHP just under 2 K.
Scary accurate!

[Groo]

Groo here
How about the 327mag.
Rechamber your 32H&R [just make longer.]
Hint,,, Some 32H&R chambers with the revolver cut are all ready long enough..
Just fire form.....H&R topper and t&c shooters have done this.
PS. stay away from 308 based rounds .
They can be to hard on the old contender.

[Rapier]

. I have owned just about all of the cartridges mentioned, in cast bullet only competition for 40 years. I would suggest the 7 TCU with commercial brass, selected by capacity, using the RCBS 145 silhouette bullet with 4227 and sperical buffer compressed. Alloy 7/2/1 water dropped, sized to groove diameter. The load is listed in the Handloading Annual at 1/2 inch at 100 I used it in my Sinclair built XP-100 based Unlimited gun.
The TC has a slow lock time but it will get the job done. I owned a dozen TCs at one time and they do not give much away at all.