Hit a Home Run!

[sixshot]

Sometimes we all get lucky and end up in the right spot at the right time. I did that tonight at our annual Shooting Club Banquet. We always have a swap meet before dinner & everyone usually brings something they don't need & they stick it on the table. Tonight I got there kind of early & the first thing I spot is 4 boxes of brand new 41 magnum brass, marked $4 a box! Actually 3 of them were, one was marked $5. I grabbed the three & peeked at the 4th one & thought it was once fired, someone else bought it & it was also new but primed, dummy!

I moved on down the tables & picked up a box of Hornady 40 gr Vmax's for $10 & then spotted an almost new Contender, one that was almost brand new & almost unfired. I know the guy that owns it & he hasn't fired a single shot hand gun in years, many years. This one has the Puma on the side of the frame, also had the side hammer spur, a Pachymar grip & forearm & a custom shop 6 TCU barrel. I've often said of all the single shot barrels I once owned, the one I miss the most was my 6 TCU. I took several deer & 3 Antelope with that gun using the 70 gr Ballastic Tip bullet. I know, I know, that's a varmint bullet, at least in a rifle but load it in a pistol barrel & in a reformed 223 case & it's a bad dude on deer/Antelope size game.

I got the gun for $650. Now you're probably thinking, that's not such a great deal even if it is almost brand new but I'm not done. It also has Leupold mounts & rings & a 2 1/2 X 8 Leupold scope!! I know for a fact this gun hasn't had 50 rounds fired through it & it will compliment my Remington Custom Shop XP100 223 very well on coyotes, foxes, & rock chucks, yippeeeee!!

Dick

[cmh]

Id say you did very well 😁

[jsh]

Dick, sounds like you cleaned pretty good!!

I had various 6TCU barrels over the years. I swapped off my last 14" barrel for somthing some time back. How ever I did keep my XP in 6x45/6-223. It shoots extremely well. It's not picky on bullets from 55-80 grain. H335 is my go to powder. Yes, a big fireball but accuracy is hard to argue with.
It was my very first XP. Got it from Bobby T out of Shiner Texas.
Since acquiring my first 41 mag, I have accumulated plenty of brass. Went to one of my local haunts, dug through some "new" boxes of stuff he had in. Picked up a pile of 41 brass and bullets, life time supply pretty much. Dunno why I bought the full length gas checked bullets, but for $10 a box.....

I look forward to hearing on the 6TCU.
Jeff

[Ken O'Neill]

You're living right, Dick!

[markhampton]

Dick, That clean living is paying off

[bigbrowndog]

Very nice!!.....with that kinda luck, now you need to go look for that cow elk and HIT a Grand Slam.

Trapr

[contender]

Congrats on ALL the deals you found.

[sheriff]

Ya done well my friend!!

[sixshot]

Trapr, I've hunted for a cow every day this week but they've been a little tough so far. Quite a few deer & the best buck I've seen in 3-4 years, at least 30" & I had him at 148 yds but no tag. Sure fun to watch him for several minutes though.

I had no intention of buying another single shot but when that 6 TCU showed up last night it took me about 20 seconds to pull out my wallet, it was cleaner than my dinner plate. I'm tumbling some old formed brass I kept & later today I'll give it a test drive just in case a coyote falls for my cottontail call.

Dick

[oddshooter]

I love my single shot T/C Contender for testing my handloads. The accuracy is scary.

I never thought I would need another T/C until I wondered into a T/C 357 Max barrel for an Encore. First the barrel, then the Encore. OK, for sure that took care of the single shots. Nope.

I started shooting 45 Colt in a big way and got hooked. I then discovered Kirt Bellm, Mike's son, and MGM barrels. So then I had to have one of his enhanced G2's.

Barbie and all her accessories has nothing on the T/C. If you like kits and playing dress up, this is the platform.



Prescut

[sixshot]

Went over to the guys house today & he gave me a set of Redding dies & told me the gun was new, unfired! I came home & loaded some brass I had going in the tumbler. I also had 2 rounds left over from my first 6 TCU that were loaded with 28.5 grs of H335 with the 70 gr Nosler Ballastic Tip & both were moly coated.

I loaded up 14 more rounds of the same load & headed to the range in a snow storm. At least the benches are covered so it wasn't too bad. I set up a box at 25 yds to see if I would be on target and touched off one of the new loaded rounds. Holding between 4 smaller targets so I could hopefully get on paper with the first shot I hit did center & about 6" low, I made a quick adjustment & fired another fresh round & the shot moved up about 3". I made another adjustment & held on the lower left target & fired one of the moly coated bullets.

The wind was blowing a bit so I had put a box of my 480 slugs in the bottom of the box to keep it from blowing over. That 3rd shot, after 2 scoped adjustments didn't show up, I thought it must have went a bit high into the black square just above the small circle I was holding on. Now I shot my fourth shot, another fresh load that wasn't coated. That one showed up almost centered in the lower left bullseye. I decided to shoot the other moly coated bullet & it didn't show up either so I walked down range. To my total amazement both of the moly coated bullets had went 4" low at 25 yds! Both of them had just nicked the ammo box of loaded 480's, yikes! Years ago when I shot moly coated bullets I knew you always had to "season" your barrel before your group would go to sleep but this was totally amazing at 25 yds!!!

My fingers were freezing as I stapled a fresh target up at 50 yds, the gun shot great even though I didn't have my best rest with me. This new 6 TCU is going to be a winner no doubt about it. You will notice a little custom rest added onto the forend, these work great & I've always used them. A friend made them for me years ago & you just turn them in line with the barrel when not using them & turn them sideways when shooting, makes the gun extremely stable. You can also see where I just broke a piece off the bottom of my ammo box, 4" lower at 25 yds!!! Forgot to take a photo of the target at 50, it was good.





Dick

[cherokeetracker]

Boy, I bet you are happy right now... great snag on this.

[Ken O'Neill]

Dick, I just know you know this, but get rid of that hammer extension before it busts your hammer spring!

[bradshaw]

Dick.... combination of a T/C Contender, a good cartridge chambered in a good barrel, with Leupold scope and, Pachmayr forend, with Pachmayr Gripper----quite a tool reaching out there. The Pachmayr Gripper is a real deal maker on the Contender, the best cross section of any Gripper, wide with air pocket, spacing of finger grooves perfect for my hand. The Gripper on a stock bull 10-inch in 7mm TCU probably saved my bacon in a few single shot matches when the clock was running out.

My first sight of a 6mm TCU may have been when Skip Talbot took me over to Wes Ugalde’s house in Fallon, Nevada. Wes, along with Skip made, near as I could tell, the vanguard of Unlimited pistols at that time, 1978. Wes Ugalde bypassed the Contender, selecting the .221 Fireball XP-100 for his action. Simple, same bolt face. Whereas, a custom Contender barrel requires the dicey proposition of securely welding the underlug----without distortion. Not to mention, Warren Center had not yet strengthened his Contender to withstand IHMSA developments. The 6mm remained a marginal cartridge on many of the woolly ranges, where cratered and warped silhouettes stood muddy-foot on rocking horse stands made from railroad ties, dozer blade, scavenged iron. Later on, we heard rifle shooters blow-mouthing about how a 6mmx223 can’t shoot, a posture already disproved by some stiff IHMSA silhouetters. A good 6mm with the right bullet for velocity is a deer hunter’s song.
Good shooting,
David Bradshaw

[potatojudge]

Dick, congrats on a great find!

I put together a similar package this year except it's in 6.5TCU. Really wishing I had that long barrel of yours to help pick up some extra speed.

ibb.co/heDw3G

Loaded round next to a 223 to show the different shoulder position and angle.