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Post by dougader on Dec 30, 2021 21:18:59 GMT -5
I've only had the one Contender with the Super 14 barrel in 30-30. Cast bullets mostly now, shooting paper. I used to shoot IHMSA with it and hunt western Oregon blacktail deer.
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Post by contender on Dec 30, 2021 22:36:15 GMT -5
Well, Dick has opened the door for me,, so I'll stroll right in.
By my handle,, you can see I enjoy my T/C Contenders. I own 3 Contender frames,, and 1 Encore currently. I own about 20-25 barrels,, (haven't bothered to count.)
And by far,, my favorite caliber is my Super-14 in 7x30 waters for big game in general. Dick has ragged me into hunting with a revolver,, so this season, I used my El Dorado. (See my hunting post today about a banner day.) But yes,, I've taken well over 100 whitetails with my 7x30 Waters. The best part,, is almost all, (only 2 weren't) were well placed neck shots,, for a DRT, drop in their tracks kill. It's accurate enough to easily do that,, if you take the time to make the shot. Many were over 100 yds away. Dick was there in Idaho several years ago when I took an elk with it at a bit over 150 yds, AND shooting uphill. I've taken a lot of other odd stuff over the decades I've used this combo. In fact,, I've used it so much,, I often thought that I might wear out the throat,, so when a 12" ported barrel popped up half a dozen years ago,, I bought it,, "to have a spare." It too is deadly accurate.
Now,, my handloads are using a heavier bullet than many,, I use a 150 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip for deer. But if I do my part,, that gun will BORINGLY put a 5 round group in about a nickle sized group off the bench at 100 yds.
I do shoot other calibers & such,, but when I'm serious,, I use that single combo. In fact,, it's dedicated to a complete gun by itself.
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Post by Encore64 on Dec 30, 2021 22:41:12 GMT -5
I've got a variety too. Range from 17 Ackley Hornet to 50-70 Govt.
They're just so versatile. Some notables are 225 Win, 6.5x54, 7x57, 358 Win, etc.
If (when) I decide to do different projects, the TCs are the ticket.
Like the Rook Rifle Cartridges. Order a couple barrels and go...
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Post by 45MAN on Dec 31, 2021 8:30:20 GMT -5
CONTENDER: YOUR ALLEGIANCE TO/USE OF THE 7-30 WATERS REMINDS ME OF THE MOVIE LINE: ITS NOT PERSONAL, JUST BUSINESS.
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Post by contender on Dec 31, 2021 8:46:08 GMT -5
"CONTENDER: YOUR ALLEGIANCE TO/USE OF THE 7-30 WATERS REMINDS ME OF THE MOVIE LINE: ITS NOT PERSONAL, JUST BUSINESS."
That made me laugh.
However,, it truly is a very business like gun to me. Very dependable,, does exactly what I ask of it, and has been my personal choice for many, many years. And remember,, I'm a huge Ruger fan. In fact,, it was the failure of a Ruger,, on a deer that made me switch to the Contender way back when. Well, actually it wasn't the Ruger's fault,, it was my fault.
I'd bought a 44 mag Redhawk just for deer hunting. That gun was the tightest DA revolver I've ever owned. With the scope, at 50 yds, off the bags,, I could put all 6 into a tiny one ragged hole,, that the OUTSIDE measurement would be under an inch. I could take the scope off,, shoot it with open sights, then put the scope back on & it would still be zeroed. Boringly accurate & dependable. Well,, until I screwed up. Back in the 80's,, I'd carry the Redhawk a lot. And often, I'd remove the scope for casual carry, but when it came to hunting,, the scope went back on. Lazy ME,, did NOT test fire the gun before going hunting. This was due to never before having any issues. Well, it cost me a BIG buck,, and a smaller buck the next day. I missed an easy 30 yd shot at a big boy,, TWICE! A couple of days later after I left deer camp,, I went to my range,, and found I was almost 18 inches off. I was so upset,, I just put the gun away,, and picked up my Contender,, and went back hunting. I killed a couple of deer easily with it,, and that began my more serious appreciation for the Contender. A few months later,, when I'd calmed down,, I took out the Redhawk,, and found that upon my re-mounting of the scope,, I'd screwed up. My fault,, not the gun. Then a bit after that,, the Redhawk had the barrel separate from the frame,, and it's replacement wasn't nearly as accurate. The Contender on the other hand,, WAS scary accurate. So,, my long trail of killing whitetails with it had begun,, and mostly continued since. Sixshot ragged me (in good natured fun,) and I kept saying I was going to put it aside & use a revolver a bit. I took my El Dorado to Colorado in 2019 for elk,, but never got an opportunity to use it. SO, I decided to quit putting off killing anything with the El Dorado any longer & started carrying it this season.
Now,, yesterday,, that deer I shot with the El Dorado,, (and myself making a bad shot placement,) had me cursing myself a bit until I found him.
I will likely go back to surgical bullet placement with my 7x30 waters some more,, and I will not discount a revolver either. But my Contender in 7x30 is what many would say; "It'd be one of the last guns to go" due to what I've done with it. It's HARD to beat such success.
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Post by sheriff on Dec 31, 2021 12:19:14 GMT -5
The passage of time and diabetes has caused me to switch from open sighted revolvers to primarily contenders. My favorite 'go to' is a 14" 6.8spc. It's accounted for deer. hogs, and several head of assorted exotic critters.
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Post by bigbrowndog on Jan 1, 2022 13:33:15 GMT -5
Used to have one with two barrels, .223 and 4570, both were the 12” muzzle brake barrels. Never really liked having to size my 223’s differently from my bolt guns and gas guns so got rid of it and then when I realized the 4570 wasn’t doing anything my 44 mag wouldn’t do except use more powder and recoil more, (medium game use only at the time) I got rid of it and went strictly revolvers, Until more recently.
Trapr
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Post by zeus on Jan 1, 2022 17:26:40 GMT -5
I have mainly used the 309,6.5, and 375 JDJ over the years in the contender. I have a few of each of them in pistols and carbines in 6.5 and 375. Great rounds. The 309s have have are incredibly accurate.
Great guns. Have let them sit a long time but recently have started buying barrels again and wanting to get them out.
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jeffh
.375 Atomic
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Post by jeffh on Jan 1, 2022 17:48:39 GMT -5
I took the easy, boring and mundane route on Contenders, and strictly as carbines. Scaling back on what I have to take care of, buy components for, etc., I wanted a platform with some versatility and, since I have no need for anything especially powerful or exotic, the break-action/switch-barrel worked out well. It's compact, light-weight and well-made. I have no intention of swapping barrels around to any great extent, and prefer an action and stocks for each barrel. The switch-barrel concept assures that if something were to go wrong with one of them, I could take a less-used barrel out of commission in deference to keeping a more-used one going, at least until I found parts or fixed the one that was down. Mine are all original Contenders, "easy-open," one blued, one stainless and one pre-Armor Alloy satin hard-chromed which was supposedly done by J.D. Jones some time before TC started doing Armor Alloy.
1) My main user, most-used, most useful, most versatile, most fun and most likely to be the last one to go (someday) is a 8" 357 Mag, MGM barrel, no taper and recently threaded for a suppressor. It has a Weaver V3 Classic 1-3x20 on it and Rynite stock set. Short, light, handy, accurate and very economical and easy to load for, for anything from bugs to deer.
2) There is ONE "spare barrel" in my battery, which is a 20" MGM, 357 MAX barrel, same profile, scope, etc. as the Mag barrel. This, I only intend to use if I ever go deer hunting again. I can use the 357 Mag, but having the extra range from the Max is nice. Haven't even fired this one yet and I think it's three years old already.
3) My obligatory 223 (everyone should have a 223), which is the only thing I shoot jacketed in these days, and very, very little of that. Its sole purpose is not having all my eggs in one basket, component/ammo-wise, and mostly hanging out waiting for the occasional overly brave coyote, which wanders outside my preferred effective range of my cast-only guns (which is all of them except this one). This one is a factory tapered TC barrel, 21" and sporting a Leupold Vari-X II, 3-9x38(?) I've had for several decades on another rifle.
4) The ubiquitous 30/30, with a 24" stainless MGM barrel, which is again for the sake of not having all my eggs in one basket, and if I ever had a chance to hunt deer out of state, I wouldn't have to borrow a rifle. This one just make me feel good when I shoot it because it is so easy to shoot well. If I wanted to shoot jacketed in it, I'd look for some Sierra 110 grain HPs, which make it a formidable varmint gun to 200 yards. It gets cast only and is very affordable to shoot. If I could only pick one of them, it would be a really tough call between this and the 357, but the 357 edges it by being "deer-legal" in my state, shares components and tooling with my revolver and just too easy to load for.
Like I said, nothing exotic, but the platform fits my needs perfectly. I played with a lot of other stuff over the years and just don't get excited about more speed, more noise, etc. and came back to a handful of pretty common cartridges, all of which are well-suited to the Contender.
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Post by Ken O'Neill on Jan 1, 2022 20:07:43 GMT -5
For all medium game, the 14" .257 JDJ. For small game like squirrels, the 10" .22 LR. For truly big game like the various buffalo and large bears, as well as African game where a variety of species might be encountered, the 14" or 12.5" .375 JDJ
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KRal
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Post by KRal on Jan 1, 2022 21:25:08 GMT -5
I have a 14” 30/30 win that’s killed it’s fair share of whitetails, a 14” 22lr that is my squirrel sniper pistol that I’m scared to say how May it’s killed, and a 14” 45/510 that’s taken it’s share of gobblers.
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Post by cas on Jan 1, 2022 23:10:36 GMT -5
When I started with Contenders, handguns had to be .35 caliber or better to hunt deer with. I started out with a .35 Rem which almost immediately got turned into a .358 JDJ. It easily shot 3/4 MOA (or better) groups and was a hammer. So it got the most use and took the most deer.
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Post by zeus on Jan 1, 2022 23:44:50 GMT -5
When I started with Contenders, handguns had to be .35 caliber or better to hunt deer with. I started out with a .35 Rem which almost immediately got turned into a .358 JDJ. It easily shot 3/4 MOA (or better) groups and was a hammer. So it got the most use and took the most deer. I had a 358 JDJ. What a hammer!
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drdougrx
.240 Incinerator
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Post by drdougrx on Jan 2, 2022 8:51:05 GMT -5
I have 4 barrels. A 378GNR for an encore, I sold the frame so it’s an orphan. I have a 30 Herrett super 14 barrel, a 357 Max barrel, also 14” and a 30GNR barrel that is my primary contender/ hunting barrel. It’s a stainless, fluted 12” rechambered MGM barrel. It’s on a G2 frame and it fits me best. I don’t use any of them very much, no reason really, I own lots of other more interesting hunting rigs.
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Post by 45MAN on Jan 2, 2022 10:06:45 GMT -5
For all medium game, the 14" .257 JDJ. For small game like squirrels, the 10" .22 LR. For truly big game like the various buffalo and large bears, as well as African game where a variety of species might be encountered, the 14" or 12.5" .375 JDJ KEN: OLD SCHOOL BUT STILL A TOP TIER BATTERY, AS RELEVANT AND USEFUL TODAY AS THEY WERE 40 YEARS AGO.
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