Bellm TC

[f3]

Recently purchased an older Contender for my kids to use (also for me).I plan on having Bellm chamber a barrel for it. Any experience with his work ?

[cas]

Asking about Belm on a "technical pistol" forum will get you opinions of him ranging from one extreme to the other. (asking about him on some forums will possibly get you banned. lol)

While I did own a Belm barrel briefly, I felt it was no better or worse than anything else. Personally there are several other options with less chance of drama that I'd go with first.

[AxeHandle]

Bellm can be pretty polarizing. From what I read his business got complicated with a divorce much like Bill Wilson. Don't get caught up in all the negative stuff. Read all the stuff he has posted about TCs. Best I can tell he has lots of hands on experience with them.

[Encore64]

Believe he worked with P.O. Ackley. I have read a lot of his stuff. Seems he spends a lot of time stating what others are doing wrong instead of what he's doing right.

Had one of his barrels and wasn't impressed. Gave it away just to see it gone.

[jsh]

Bellm has some pretty good input, but as mentioned he isn't the last word. I use his springs on the encore and G2 frames, no fuss no muss to get excellent triggers.
He has rechambered and or throated a lot of other folks barrels, yet to my knowledge he has yet to build any from scratch, as in weld a lug on to a barrel.
I have shot several of his barrels in various calibers. I never saw much if any difference on paper,target or critters.
Why pay for a rechambered barrel (used)at a brand new custom for the same $$$, there are still folks out there that build high quality barrels from scratch.

[Encore64]

SSK and MGM both do stellar work. MGM is one of the few who does great work at great prices.

[sixshot]

If we're talking about Dennis Bellem I met him in the late 70's at a Silhouette match in Filmore, Utah on New Year Eve. I delivered the match package to the match director & also had 2 awards for 2 of the first All Americans, one was Curt Plexico & the other, who was from Filmore I can't remember his name.
Anyway, Bellem was there & had lots of TC stuff for sale, including some forends & grips that had been machined or cast out of aluminum & were left quite rough. Not sure why.
Later the next spring myself & Elgin Gates had a table at the gunshow in Pocatello, Idaho where we were advertising Handgun Silhouette. The two of us had a few guns for sale, Elgin had a whole bunch of gold for sale plus a lot of Auto Mag parts. Bellem showed up & wanted to put some stuff on our (my) table, I let him put some of it on there as I had limited room.
Later on I became very well aquainted with Fred Smith at Bullberry & at one time had 41 of his barrels. He invited me to Africa on a handgun hunt with him where we both took several head of plains game. He told me that at one time Bellem had approached him about working for him & that Fred had declined, never said why except that there had been some previous problems. I owned one Bellem barrel in 25 caliber & it shot very well.

Dick

[2 Dogs]

Apr 25, 2016 13:47:24 GMT -5 sixshot said:

If we're talking about Dennis Bellem I met him in the late 70's at a Silhouette match in Filmore, Utah on New Year Eve. I delivered the match package to the match director & also had 2 awards for 2 of the first All Americans, one was Curt Plexico & the other, who was from Filmore I can't remember his name.
Anyway, Bellem was there & had lots of TC stuff for sale, including some forends & grips that had been machined or cast out of aluminum & were left quite rough. Not sure why.
Later the next spring myself & Elgin Gates had a table at the gunshow in Pocatello, Idaho where we were advertising Handgun Silhouette. The two of us had a few guns for sale, Elgin had a whole bunch of gold for sale plus a lot of Auto Mag parts. Bellem showed up & wanted to put some stuff on our (my) table, I let him put some of it on there as I had limited room.
Later on I became very well aquainted with Fred Smith at Bullberry & at one time had 41 of his barrels. He invited me to Africa on a handgun hunt with him where we both took several head of plains game. He told me that at one time Bellem had approached him about working for him & that Fred had declined, never said why except that there had been some previous problems. I owned one Bellem barrel in 25 caliber & it shot very well.

Dick

Dang Dick, would you happen to know what happened to Jimmy Hoffa??

[Encore64]

Stan, believe he's talking about Mike Bellm.

[sixshot]

Fermin, I have no "concrete" evidence about what happened to Hoffa! And you are correct, it was Mike Bellem. At the time he was living somewhere in Utah, not sure where he's at now.
Now Fermin if you were to ask me about the guy up in Seattle that killed that woman last week & dismembered her I could tell you a little bit about that situation since the killers address was Inkom, Idaho. Thats where I use to work before I retired & the guys uncle worked for me for several years. Not only that but he (the uncle) was married to my daughter for a short time against my wishes. There's going to be a special on Dr. Phil about it tomorrow.

Dick

[flyfisher66048]

I would look at d&t custom gunworks as an option. I had him rechamber a 357 mag to max. No drama, and the barrel shoots good.

[AxeHandle]

I'm holding a bunch of TC factory and few Bullberry and SSK barrels. FWIW the draw to the better barrels is that the maker guarantees that they will shoot.

Also when you buy the older TC Contender frames look for the ones with the pin in the frame above the trigger. This is a sign of a later production frame or the addition of their easy open modification.

Bellm has a web site: bellmtcs.com/store/

[Encore64]

My favorite barrel is a VVCG (now MGM) chambered in 25-35 Ackley. On a G2 frame it easily shoots a 100 grn Ballistic Tip @ 2800 fps.

Most of mine are classic calibers and metrics.

[Ken O'Neill]

Axehandle makes good points. I recommend either a stainless action or one with a S/N above 195,000. Both will incorporate all the necessary performance upgrades. I personally prefer these to the G2 Contenders, because of the adjustable triggers, but the G2's do have equal strength to the originals with upgrades.

Of course, you've already bought your action, so this advice is of little value to you, but may help others.

I have found the accuracy of most standard factory barrels to be quite good. I personally believe that most people will require nothing else. However, for custom barrels in special calibers, SSK is my choice. I have 10 of them in service, the oldest one for almost 27 years. All of the JDJ Contender caliber barrels have proven their value to me. What to choose, whether factory or custom, depends upon what you want to hunt or shoot. My personal favorites include the .257, .338 Number 2, .309, and .375 JDJ's.

I also agree that MGM makes very good barrels, based on those I have seen, owned by friends.

[contender]

+1 Ken.
I own a few Contenders,,, and my experiences mirror yours. I just don't have any SSK barrels at the moment. I sold a pair in a moment of weakness a few years back,, when an OM Ruger was on the line.