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Old January 18, 2013, 12:24 PM   #1
memtb
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Need help with info on older T/C Contender

A neighbor of mine recently inherited an older contender. I contacted T/C and didn't get quite the info needed, so here I am. It has a four diget # 3---7, and is (according to T/C) from around early to mid '70's. However, the young man left me with this unanswered question. Were any contenders ever produced without the selector switch on the hammer, if so in what years???? Thanks in advance for any and all help!! memtb
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Old January 18, 2013, 12:38 PM   #2
Doyle
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I got this from another forum: "The early Contenders had the slide bar on the hammer, later versions went to the rotating type switch on the hammer. "

Hope it helps.
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Old January 18, 2013, 12:56 PM   #3
Pahoo
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I say. NO

Quote:
Were any contenders ever produced without the selector switch on the hammer, if so in what years????
Not to my knowledge but there might have been some proto types that few of us would be aware of. ....

Prior to the selector switch, on the hammer, there were two previous issues. As mentioned, the first, was a small slide bar on the hammer and then a slotted selector. When all these changes came to about, I really do not know.
Perhaps check a Blue Book and see they can shed some light.
The last time I communicated with TC, they claimed that some of this info, was lost in the "Big-Fire". ....

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Old January 20, 2013, 11:03 PM   #4
SVO
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I think we're mixing up terms and funtions here some. The selector toggle on the hammer allows you to select either the centerfire firing pin or the rimfire firing pin. When the toggle is in the center, it acts as a safety by not allowing the hammer to hit either of the two firing pins.

On early Contender frames, you were required to cock the hammer and use a screw driver to turn a selector on the face of the hammer 180 degrees to select either the centerfire firing pin or the rimfire firing pin. Sometimes in the mid '70's, T/C added the slide bar to the hammer, which acted as a safety. Firing pin selection was still as before, using a screwdriver. If the slide bar was pushed to the left, it would push a small pin out from the hammer, which would prevent the hammer from hitting which ever of the firing pins that was selected. Problem was, if you dropped the hammer with the safety engaged a few times, it would tend to jam the slide bar. Sometime in the later part of the '80's, T/C did away with the rotating firing pin selector/slide bar hammer and went to the toggle firing pin selector switch.
In 1988, T/C & IHMSA did a 10th Anniversary edition Contender in 7mm TCU. I have one of those and it has the slide bar safety hammer. A years or so later, T/C & IHMSA offered a matching serial number 10th Anniversary Contender in the 7mm SuperMag. The one I have of it has the toggle switch hammer. So the toggle came into use somewhere around 1988 to 1990 time frame.
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