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Post by AxeHandle on Mar 1, 2023 20:25:39 GMT -5
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Post by AxeHandle on Mar 1, 2023 20:25:54 GMT -5
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Post by Encore64 on Mar 2, 2023 9:09:49 GMT -5
Type III Action...
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Post by bradshaw on Mar 2, 2023 10:24:09 GMT -5
Stan and Huey.... my guess, Contender receiver shown may predate the barrel. Either way, I associate this barrel configuration with introduction of the 7mm TCU (Thompson/Center Ugalde) in 1979. The sights specifically address IHMSA Production category competition. When I asked Warren Center whether T/C would offer an .080” blade in addition to the .100” blade shown, he said, “I can hardly see a 1/10-inch blade!”
The frame shown has the fine adjustable trigger, without which the Contender could not have won so many matches.
The walnut grip with hollow rubber backstrap came with the 7mm TCU, also. I found it much better than previous Contender grips, while not quite up to the Pachmayr Presentation and, especially, the Pachmayr Gripper.
Good to keep the T/C Contender alive on Singleactions. David Bradshaw
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Post by contender on Mar 2, 2023 12:24:44 GMT -5
I too have seen the prices of Contenders climb in the last few years. I said long ago,, that S&W would kill the Contender. At the SHOT show when they first got T/C,, they had a good booth for a few years. They slowly reduced the T/C presence to where you'd have to hunt for a corner of space in the S&W booth to see the Contender stuff. And in recent years,, not even a small section for them.
But the brainchild of Thompson & Center,, was & still is excellent. I do hope that eventually someone will buy it all off S&W & revive it. I'm just glad I already have my "needs" in the T/C line.
David is right about the trigger & the grips. I use "Grippers" on mine. (I did grind a little rubber off them to fit my hands better.)
And yes,, it's good we keep that fine handgun alive around here.
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Post by Encore64 on Mar 2, 2023 12:39:03 GMT -5
When TC announced they were dropping the G2 Frame from production, I asked my LGS to see how many they could find me.
I was able to add quite a few from different distributors. The S&W brought it back and I ended up with one more. Glad I went this route. I agree, too good to die. But, we never know...
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jeffh
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,622
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Post by jeffh on Mar 2, 2023 12:42:01 GMT -5
I am personally acutely aware of the jump in prices.
I was intrigued by the Contender when it came out. Took me close to fifty years before I made my mind up to "do it."
There was a tapered-barrel, stainless 223 on an adjacent table at a small show, plastic stocks, grimy, but looked OK otherwise. A Contender fan was bending my ear and I asked him to go look at it and tell me if it was a "good vintage," if it looked OK and whether the price was OK. He did. "Yeah, probably the "better" version of them, in very good shape, but $600 is way out of line - offer $500."
I waited until Sunday, when the guy was packing up and offered him $500, so he "wouldn't have to pack it up and drag it to yet another show,..."
A pause and then he sucked in a deep breath and says "yeah, I can do that." I helped him pack up while we waited for the background check to clear and ended up taking it home for $500 even. It was like new when I cleaned it up and no one had even messed with the trigger.
Paid $325 for a very nice blued receiver of the same era and the Contender guy who helped me thought I paid $50 too much. Snagged a matte-chromed one, sold as "stainless" from a trusted member of a forum,... maybe here even, for a very good price, but don't remember what it was. It predated Armor Alloy, but had a JDJ barrel on it and someone else told me it was probably one JD Jones had chromed, but it's different, in nice shape and didn't break the bank.
The $375, blued MGM 357 Mag and Max barrels about gave me the vapors, but I spent it anyway and am happy. Traded a 22 rifle for a stainless, 24" MGM 30/30 barrel, like new, so I only had $300 in that one. Got a couple complete plastic stock sets for right about $100 and have three complete carbines, plus a 357 Max barrel on standby for what I thought at the time was a pretty grand chunk of change, but it was what I WANTED and HAD wanted for a long time. I put that figure out of my mind and enjoyed.
This all goes back to 5 - 6 years ago.
TODAY,.... HOLY COW!! Contender frames are being offered - and bought at $400 and over online. MGM barrels have gone up about $100 and plastic stock sets are up 50%!
THIS is why I am still hopeful that SSK's SSK50 comes to life. Granted, the prices will be high, but look at Marlins. Before Remington got 'hold of them, you could go into a gun shop and find a decent 336 in 30/30 for $200. I saw one in WM - a "Youth-Model" just before the last Remington debacle, and it was only $400! What are they now, like a grand?
A lot of very good and useful gun and cartridge designs have taken a back seat in production, or have been flat out discontinued in the last few years that a LOT of things are becoming extinct and EXPENSIVE. I got very lucky that I decided to get off my butt and get my Contenders when I did. Another year and They'd have been out of my range. They are NOW, because I spent what I got selling other stuff to get them. If I had to do that today,... no way.
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jeffh
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,622
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Post by jeffh on Mar 2, 2023 12:49:20 GMT -5
When TC announced they were dropping the G2 Frame from production, I asked my LGS to see how many they could find me. I was able to add quite a few from different distributors. The S&W brought it back and I ended up with one more. Glad I went this route. I agree, too good to die. But, we never know...
I fear that the "fast and the furious" will come around in a decade or so, getting bored with simply making noise and churning the backstop,and will long for the days when such cool stuff was pretty common. Honestly, I have nothing against ARs and plastic pistols, but became bored with them long ago. I can't imagine they will manage to hold the attention of so many owners throughout a lifetime of shooting.
I do wonder, if this happens, who will pick up the ball and what stuff will cost THEN.
One of the BEST responses to the "component crisis" is single-action revolvers and single-shot pistols and rifles. I wonder how long before just paying more and more for ammo and components will get tiresome to those who respond by simply paying more. They HAVE to eventually see how single-shots go a long way to reducing the cost, while enhancing the pleasure of shooting. Right?
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shorty500
.327 Meteor
too many dirty harry movies created me!
Posts: 912
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Post by shorty500 on Mar 2, 2023 15:15:00 GMT -5
About the only ones I regularly use anymore are my favorite “fun” barrels- .45/410 vent rib & the docile .32-20. Would have to do inventory to remember what all barrel I still have, there are 4 maybe 5 frames still. One stays setup as a .22lr carbine. While I despise rubber grips of all persuasions- Bradshaw nailed it- the old Gripper was absolute best with the big boomers. Still have a .444, 300gra9ners at near 1900fps are a bit much for the wood gri-s
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rkrcpa
.30 Stingray
Posts: 259
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Post by rkrcpa on Mar 2, 2023 16:36:33 GMT -5
I had always wanted a Contender and never got around to it. Then, a few years ago a LGS had one on consignment, a 44mag Super 14 with a 2x T/C scope w/lighted reticle. He said he needed to get $325 for it. Needless to say, it came home with me.
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Post by ChiefTJS on Mar 2, 2023 20:07:28 GMT -5
Recently returned to Contenders and the price of admission definitely stung but I'm glad I did it. Top is SSK .357 and bottom is MGM. .38Spl.
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Post by pacecars on Mar 2, 2023 21:59:19 GMT -5
I got my first Contender in the early 80s from a sealed bid auction out Fish and Game dept conducted every year of confiscated guns. It was a .41 Mag Super 14 and I put a 2x Leupold on it. I shot a Fox Squirrel at a little over 100 yds with it and I was hooked. A slew of barrels followed and more game fell and I was happy. The Encore came along and I sold the Contenders to buy them. That was a mistake. Encores were more powerful but they were a lot heavier and it just wasn’t the same. Now I am back full bore with Contenders. Bought an easy open frame, a .375 JDJ 14” TC barrel, a Reeder 12” .257 Raptor barrel and a 10” TC .22 Mag barrel. Luckily the .257 and .375 came with brass and dies and bullets for the .257 and I found scopes on eBay at decent prices. Problem is I go whole hog and I k ow more barrels are in my future.
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rvolvr
.30 Stingray
Posts: 277
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Post by rvolvr on Mar 2, 2023 22:23:10 GMT -5
.. This 45/410 passed through the shop a while back. Don't remember if I bought it or not... So you don't maintain a detailed inventory record of all your transactions, both coming and going?
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Post by potatojudge on Mar 2, 2023 22:43:46 GMT -5
Found the fed!
Contender prices have definitely gone up. Reality is the dollar went down. There's a lifetime supply of Contenders in circulation and they won't be going away any time soon, though there will need to be some form of comprehensive aftermarket support to keep them running long-term.
Barrels have gone down a bit I think. For certain the relative value of barrels has dropped. New barrel prices have increased for obvious reasons.
It seems like the 70s and 80s were a time of explosive innovation in firearm and cartridge design. The Contender was well suited to that. Over the years, factory offerings have filled most niches and cartridge development has shifted to the AR platform.
I hope the new frames are as good or better than the original. I'd love to see a titanium frame and carbon wrapped barrels that would make carrying Contenders on the hip more practical, but they seem to be struggling with the steel casting.
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Post by z1r on Mar 2, 2023 22:47:50 GMT -5
Sadly, I got my first Contender a few years ago. At the time, there were several others but the .256 really spoke to me. I wish now that I had picked up several at those prices. Now, they are asking more than twice what I gave and I really want another.
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