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February 26, 2020, 06:58 PM | #26 |
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1. Just say “no” to .357 Maximum. The recoil and blast are oppressive. Hot .357 Magnum is more than enough. If you want to make your Contender a nice Carbine, .35 Remington would do the same job with less stress.
2. Just say “no” to .454 Casull. You need all the weight you can get to help tame recoil. 45 Colt “Ruger and Contender only” loads will get all you need with less stress and no need for an Encore. 3. If you want a big boomer, 45-70 just because. I think I would really like a .327 Fed Mag barrel... from plinking to white tail, at realistic ranges .. yeah. .32-20 “Contender only” would be a question of how much cooler do you want to be than your pals. Realistically, a .357 magnum barrel is awesomely flexible and common. |
February 27, 2020, 12:39 AM | #27 |
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I am a long time Contender shooter in a variety of calibers. There are lots of great choices, but if you want to use the gun for "fun shooting", calibers with less recoil have a big advantage.
The 357 max in a 10" sounds great. I got one of these after shooting the Max in a revolver for many years. In my Dan Wesson I can shoot the Max all day long. With the TC, my wrist is hurting after a hand full of full power loads. I am more recoil tolerant than most shooters, but this one in a 10" Contender is over the top for me. Also, do not get a Max barrel and thinking you will just use Mags & Specials. Most TC Max barrels do not do near as well with anything other than Max brass. The 30 Herrett performs great (I have a 10" and 14"), but 30-30 brass is no where as easy to source as some other choices. My 14" 30-30 is ok, but not as good as the 14" Herrett. I really do not recommend a 30-30 in a 10". At full power, the 30 Herrett and 30-30 are both a bit much for fun or target shooting. I have shot a bunch a reduced loads in the 30 Herrett, but other choices are better for volume shooting. A straight 357 mag is real good for "fun shooting" with adequate power for typical handgun hunting needs. If you are set up to reload 357, plan on getting a 357 mag barrel even if you also want something with a longer effective range. I have probably used a 357 mag barrel more than any other for fun/target shooting. My new favorite is a 10" 7 TCU that is working well with a 132 gr bullet that I cast. The 10" 7 TCU is about as good as you can get for performance while retaining the ability to shoot a full power rounds more or less comfortably. I found the lack of a rim to be less of an issue than I expected, and making brass from the most plentiful range pickup caliber out there (223) is a piece of cake. In addition to my 1800 fps full power load, I found that 8.8 gr of Titegroup gives ~1450 fps and make a dandy medium heavy target load. I have already started loading this one in large batches and incorporated it into my regular practice shooting rotation. |
February 27, 2020, 12:46 AM | #28 | |
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2. I hear you on .454, I've long believed hot .45 Colt was good enough in a Ruger, I just mentioned it because it's safer to load a .45 Colt hot in a .454 chamber. I would get .327, but I don't believe T/C makes a barrel in .327 and aftermarket barrels seem to only want to chamber .327 in a barrel with .308 groove diameters, which is stupid IMO. Same issue with 7.62x39.
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February 27, 2020, 01:11 AM | #29 | |
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February 27, 2020, 02:29 AM | #30 | ||
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Considering the distance the bullet has to "jump" before it hits the rifling of a revolver I don't think 0.1" is significant and doesn't have a noticeable affect on accuracy. Of course every gun is an individual and no doubt there are some which do shoot better with a case full length for the chamber, but I've never seen a revolver that seemed to care, so I don't worry about it. Quote:
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February 27, 2020, 03:01 AM | #31 | ||
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However, the OP specifically stated that he was interested in single shots for the improvement in accuracy over revolvers. Quote:
I don't think it's going to be a huge effect, but it just seems inconsistent with the stated goal.
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February 28, 2020, 01:14 AM | #32 | |
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So, yeah, I don't see any reason to bother with the .454 then. I have no other guns in .454, don't intend to buy any other .454's (unless Henry or Rossi want to come out with new lever actions in the chambering) so no sense to get one over .45 Colt, which I have many guns in and lots of brass.
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February 28, 2020, 01:17 AM | #33 |
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I'll see who else makes barrels for the Thomson Center pistols, currently I only know of Match Grade Machine and Bulberry.
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February 28, 2020, 03:53 AM | #34 | |
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March 12, 2020, 10:20 AM | #35 |
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I have several barrels for my contenders.
22lr 22 Magnum 222 223 256 Winchester Magnum 32 H&R Magnum 30-30 My favorites are 22lr, 223, and 32 H&R All three are incredibly accurate and with the exception of the 32 H&R are easy to find cheap ammo for. 32 H&R mag ammo is limited but if you reload, thats not a huge problem. At 75 yards, this is my most accurate barrel. It would probably be a tack driver at 100 yards if not for my old eyes. |
March 12, 2020, 01:19 PM | #36 |
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The way I look at a 357 maximum chambered barrel is one you can shoot:
38 special target loads 38 special standard 38 special +P 357 magnum 357 maximum All out of the same barrel ! That covers a lot of different rounds and there is no greater variety than 38/357 ammo and components . Anything from paper target loads to hog and deer hunting loads can be easily covered . I will admit , I could probably do everything I wanted with 38/357 magnum barrel ...it would be nice to have the 357 maximum option there if I wanted it . Gary |
March 13, 2020, 03:10 PM | #37 | |
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Only other barrels I have are two 10" 22lr match barrels and a Super 14 in .223. |
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March 13, 2020, 06:27 PM | #38 |
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I wish T/C made a 10 to 12" .357 Encore barrel with iron sights. That would be a dandy short-range deer pistol.
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March 13, 2020, 06:34 PM | #39 | |
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March 13, 2020, 06:47 PM | #40 |
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I had a contender with several barrels for quite some time, and now have two encores with a half a dozen barrels.
They do have a learning curve compared to most other handguns, and they are a bit ungainly when carrying, but they are excellent hunting handguns. My 15" .308 win barrel is obnoxious, my brother's 15" 270 win barrel is even worse. If I could have just one 15" barrel for hunting in an encore it would be either 260 rem, 6.5 creedmore, or 7mm-08 rem. they have the best balance of downrange performance, usable case capacity, and tolerable recoil.
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March 14, 2020, 06:52 PM | #41 |
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44 Amp, no - It seems T/C short changed us on pistol length offerings with the Encore. In fact, the only "short" Encore barrel I know of is the 12" .44 mag. Lots of 15" offerings though. I've got one in 7mm-08 and i sold a .223 recently.
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March 15, 2020, 09:24 AM | #42 |
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I suppose that I bought at the right time...I have a 12” .223 Rem barrel for my Encore. It, and the 14” Contender in .30 Herrett are my favorites.
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March 15, 2020, 09:39 AM | #43 |
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Truthtellers: Other barrel manufacturers for you to investigate are SSK Industries and Bellm T/Cs, EABCO.net.
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March 15, 2020, 08:14 PM | #44 |
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Contender hunter 14'' in 45-70
Encore 15'' Bullberry barell in 45-100 aka 45X2.6. 577 grain hard cast gas checks pushed to 1425+fps is a hoot. |
March 17, 2020, 05:48 AM | #45 |
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Thank you, I'll keep them in mind if I ever pull the trigger on a TC.
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March 17, 2020, 05:55 AM | #46 | |
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March 17, 2020, 12:10 PM | #47 |
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1 shot, one kill
T/C in a pistol caliber is a .357 Maximum and in a rifle 7x30 Waters.
Both are deadly accurate and proven game getters.
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