Are Contenders a dying pastime?

[Ricky C]

Hey, Bob Milek, Elgin Gates, and JD Jones were the the guys that got me all fired up about contenders. Gates was a big driving force behind metallic handgun silhouette shooting. I have the second edition of the Gun Digest Book of Metallic Silhouette Shooting by Gates, it's a pretty interesting read. Metallic silhouette is another thing that has died out. I did some small bore rifle silhouette while I was stationed in AZ, it was a lot of fun. Only did one small bore pistol silhouette match, shot it with my 6 inch colt diamond back. It was the only pistol I had with me at the time! I was TDY going through a school in CO. I shot a 7 out of 40. I think I came in second place in the open sight production pistol, pretty funny when I think about it. There were probably only two in that class shooting, it was back in 1991 I think. Enough rambling.
I think one or two of my contender cartridges need some reloading done
Take Care

 

[Goose71]

I've been into specialty pistols for about 1012 years now. I have an original contender a G2 an encore. 30 Herrett. 7-30 357 max. 243 6mm rem 7-08. Love them all SSK was do to make frames. I was in to rifles awhile back got into pistols the excitement went up in shooting and hunting. My last day of archery was today now looking forward to Pa gun season 15" 6mm rem will be with me on the days I can get out.

 

[westexhunt]

I know the 300 Blackout originated from the 300 Whisper which was designed for TC pistols. Anyone have a 300 Whisper barrel? I'm thinking a 6-8" 8 twist threaded 300blk barrel and a pistol brace on a contender might be fun.

 

[comfisherman]

My thoughts are, with the lack of new stock its hard to recruit users in the key marketing demographic.

I'll illustrate,

To get a vudoo or rim x you call and 15 minutes later your order is done. 4 months later your toy appears at your ffl. This goes for custom actions, snazzy scopes and other current trend shooting sports toys.

To get an encore requires either paying scalper prices on gunbroker or daily hitting classifieds and local shops to find a frame for a fair price. For someone who's in their max earning potential 30-45, they likely have kids a wife and social commitments... they don't have time to find one even if they know they want one.

If the oem frames finally hit the market, or some kind of reorganization makes tc re launch Ala marlin, I'd guess you could see a resurgence. Until then they pass along at funerals and estate sales...

 

[tred1956]

Not in Danger HERE LOL
Safe shooting
Doug

 

[41Magnum]

Been shooting and hunting with T/C pistols since 1979. Matter if fact I took my original 10" Contender in 41 Magnum hunting today. Also have a G2 with 15" MGM 45 cal. muzzleloader and a 14" EABCO 6.5 BRM, 13" 357 Magnum barrels and an Encore with a 15" MGM barrel in 308 Win. all in pistol format. They are all very accurate. I've had all manner of barrels over the years, but these are my most accurate at present. And NO I'm not done trying new/different calibers either.
I would like to have one of the "New SSK-50" frames if and when they come available

 

[nksmfamjp]

Hmmm SSK-50!

 

[Ol' Red]

My interest in Contenders will never die. They just shoot too good. One day I will make the jump to a bolt action pistol, when the time is right.

 

[TxPhred]

I'm sad to see TC discontinuing the Contender/Encore line but I guess that's what the market dictates.

I have an Encore that has a Mike Bellm trigger job done and one of his oversized hinge pins. It is chambered in 260 Remington and it fun to shoot. My longest kill to date is 155 yards on a whitetail.

I also have a Katdin (spelling) carbine barrel in 450 Marlin.

View attachment 409540

I am going to have to follow suit and get my 223 threaded for my can!

 

[Ernie]

My interest in Contenders will never die. They just shoot too good. One day I will make the jump to a bolt action pistol, when the time is right.

When the time is right, just give me a shout

 

[Ol' Red]

When the time is right, just give me a shout

I will. Thank you Ernie.

 

[selmerfan]

I've been using an Encore for most of my deer hunting since 2002 when we got married and moved to Iowa where they don't allow proper deer rifles, or didn't at the time (still don't, in my opinion). My option was to either throw slugs out of a shotgun or use a pistol during the shotgun seasons. I grew up in South Dakota and have been handloading since I was 11, starting under dad's tutelage. The purpose was to put loads together that put the bullets where we told them to go every time. Shooting deer with imprecise and expensive slugs seemed silly to me. So I got an Encore frame, ordered some custom wood from Denzel Roberts, and purchase a 12" .454 Casull barrel and started playing with jacketed and cast bullets. I killed several deer with that .454 Casull, including my biggest whitetail to date, a 7x5 shot near Dubuque, IA. I finally grew weary of the recoil and switched to a .357 Maximum and never looked back. When we moved to Minnesota, where pistols were allowed as long as they were at least .24 caliber, firing a centerfire cartridge from a barrel at least 4" long. I sold the .357 Max barrel. I already loved the .260 Remington in the rifle platform, so I ordered an 18" MGM barrel in .260 Remington and hunted with that in Minnesota for 5 seasons, plus a few hunts in West River South Dakota. Then we moved back to Iowa in 2015 and I ordered another MGM barrel, this time in .357 Max again. 18" barrel that loves 190 gr. cast bullets I make or 180 gr. Sierra JFP with a healthy dose of AA1680. I really enjoy the versatility of the Encore platform.

 

[300 PRC CUSTOM SAKO]

I just got a 35 Rem super 14 and had Mike Bellm make it a 35 Rem -R. I got 30-40 krag brass and formed and trimmed to make the 35 Rem-R. It formed very easy. I haven't shot my Gen 2 Contender in a while so I'll be danged if I can find my grip and fore end. So now I'm waiting for g2 grip from eabrown and a modified g1/g2 fore end. The fore end has to have a cut out were the barrel/reciever meet on a g2. The screw measurement was wrong on the eabrown site for that modified fore end. It is not 3 5/16 but 3 1/8. I have a g1 barrel and the screw spacing is 3 1/8 inch or 3.125 inch. So it took a couple calls to eabrown but hopefully I'll be shooting my new 35 Rem -R soon.

Update on the 35 REM Rimmed. Got grips from EABCO. As stated they had mis measured the screw spacing on the fore grip and their modified forend is indeed the proper 3 /8 inch spacing. The grips did come with screws which was nice, HOWEVER the pistol grip securing bolt was too long and gave me fits before I figured it out. First gun would not cock, tried the grip blot from my rifle setup, too short.... tried shimming with a stack of washers.....cut/trimmed bolt twice... long and short of it is Mike Bellm was very helpful and we got it sorted. All is working as it should...it had been a while since I played with my G2 Contender in pistol form. I have 7TCU, 7-30 Waters, and now the 35 Rem R. Numerous rifle barrels (like the ebcco 6.5 BRM--it was essentially the first Creedmoor) for G2 and Pro hunter/ Encore.

 

[300 PRC CUSTOM SAKO]

Update on the 35 REM Rimmed. Got grips from EABCO. As stated they had mis measured the screw spacing on the fore grip and their modified forend is indeed the proper 3 /8 inch spacing. The grips did come with screws which was nice, HOWEVER the pistol grip securing bolt was too long and gave me fits before I figured it out. First gun would not cock, tried the grip blot from my rifle setup, too short.... tried shimming with a stack of washers.....cut/trimmed bolt twice... long and short of it is Mike Bellm was very helpful and we got it sorted. All is working as it should...it had been a while since I played with my G2 Contender in pistol form. I have 7TCU, 7-30 Waters, and now the 35 Rem R. Numerous rifle barrels (like the ebcco 6.5 BRM--it was essentially the first Creedmoor) for G2 and Pro hunter/ Encore.

To me, theses are a great pistol that I haven't paid enough attention to since the 90's! Someone on here caught my eye with a 30 Herrett and now I've bought 3 barrels this week!

30 Herrett
17 HMR
7-30 Waters

I'm going nuts! I already have a 375 JDJ!

My concern is where will I find stuff. Barrels and frames will be floating around forever. Gunsmiths that work on them seem to be kind of limited. ….and then dies for all these crazy calibers!

To top it off, I read that the Specialty Pistol Forum is closing…..

I still remember ordering my first from JD Jones. It was a 375 JDJ. He was great to speak with on the phone. We talked about everything from gun to scope to scope mount to holster to shot distance on game. Between that and his book, I was in love. I still look at that book! I killed a couple deer with it out to 200 yards! My dad and I were just hunters. We didn't really comprehend how much recoil that was or how far we were shooting. We were amazed how it hit.

I got my first pistol buck with a Ruger SA 10.5" Super Blackhawk. I took that shot at 125 yards with total confidence because we shot it a lot at 100 yards. It was a perfect shot, but the deer went down like an archery shot which I wasn't used to then. I got close and finished the buck off. Still, I don't think I could make that shot today. I was about 17 at the time.

I forget all the gunwriters of the time, but I was a huge consumer of JD Jones and similar people influencing the gun world into long range handguning.

Thanks for reading!

Mike Bellm is the TC guru. His son Kurt has parts store.