Contender setup for hunting

I already own a T/C Contender in 30-30. What other barrels would make the Contender an all around pistol for hunting? I have been reading forum topics for a while and joined today. My handgun hunting has been on and off until this year. Had shoulder surgery last month and cant shoot a rifle for a while. Dropped my first pistol buck this morning with my Super 14 30-30.

Kyodee257,

Welcome to HHM. A 22 LR barrel for sure. Perhaps an .44 mag, I like to 10" in both the 22 LR and .44 mag.. Congrats on the handgun buck. I hate to inform you; however, you've taken the first steps to a "life long" addiction!

Doc

Thank you and I have been thinking about a 22LR barrel. I have seen some 10" octagon and bull barrels online. The 357, 41, and 44mag have been put on my list to compare loads and hunting results from others. Most shots where I hunt are 50yds or less. I can stretch them out to 250yds, but prefer to get close.

Congrats on your buck!
the 22lr and the 223 Remington come to my mind.
Are you hunting primarily deer sized game?
Small game? If so, what?

Feel for you, as I am having shoulder surgery on Nov 3rd.

Hi! Welcome to the support group. It is indeed an addiction

What do you want to hunt with your contender?

As Doc says, a cheaper rimfire is a great idea for practice. I found 22lr to lacking in consistency, accuracy and range and prefer 17hmr which has the consistency and range to challenge my shooting ability and reflect improvements in technique. It can be tough on meat if you are hunting squirrel or rabbit to eat though. 22 mag might be a nice compromise.

If you reload, 30-30 can be quite versatile in the contender with a wide variety of bullet weights. 110gn bullets can leave the 14" barrel at 2500fps vs the ~2100 fps of flatnosed 150gn. It should be enough for deer, bear and reasonably sized hogs with factory ammo.

The nice thing about contender barrels is that there are tons of options and lots of used barrels floating around. It's pretty easy to find and sell barrels so you can try a lot of them and hang on to what you want. There are limits on how big of a cartridge you can shoot with it before you damage the receiver.

I will mostly be hunting deer and have two reloaders set up. One is for rifle, and the other is for pistol. I have never tried small game or coyote with a pistol. Sounds like a good challenge though. I'm open to opinions and advice on new/used barrels. How do the octagon barrels perform in accuracy?

Any of these three will work at the distances you prefer to hunt at.
Get the one you want (or all of them) and have fun!

I've never heard anyone say that the outer contour of the barrel matters a lot. I like bull barrels because they reduce the muzzle flip.

You can reach 250 yards with 30-30 handloads and careful bullet selection.

Kyodee257 ,Welcome to the "TC Contender/Encore Addict Support Group". Here's my 1.5 cents, look seriously at ANY of the already talked about calibers for sure. But having had many lengths of TC's from 8"to18" in many diameters, I have settled on 12" as an ideal compromise. Even better(for me)in the traditional handgun rounds like .357mag/max,41,44&45. The barrel diameter & forearm screw spacing is the same as the S14's. Balance is still quite good for offhand or field rest shots. Velocity of these rounds are great. I have taken PA woodchucks & crows w/ my newest 12" .22LR to Lazered 130yrds, shooting HE segmenting , Win new powerpoints or CCI Velocitor ammo. I think that 30-30 ,35Rems& 7-30's do best in S14 length. If you are or become like the most of us(and your wallet allows) you will try all that you might come across as you bump along this trail.

Thank you all for the advice and it's nice to meet you guys. I will post a pic of my deer as soon as I figure out how to do it. Haha

Hey Kyodee257 - I'm still a newbee at this handgun hunting with only a handfull of big game harvests and a bunch of small game. Stick around and you will get some very good advise and help from the guys here. My setup includes a .22lr, a 30-30AI and a 375Winchester. Those are my choices for everything I will hunt. Welcome to the tribe.

The octagon barrels in anything but .22 are snappy,and you will be better served with the heavier barrels. The 10's and 12's balance better for off hand work than the 14 in. The 10 in. barrel packs and handles well and is my choice for straight wall cases. For bottleneck cases go 14 or above to get the most out of the case.For the 10 and 12 in. I use holsters either crossdraw I make, or chest rigs [several companies make them]. For the 14 I use a sling. Uncle Mike makes a barrel band for shotguns that I use, just mike the barrel and get the appropriate one. Welcome to the addiction

A "must have" is the .223 Remington barrel. I've shot many hogs, crows and various predators with mine. The round is very versatile, light in recoil and easy to find (at least for now).

And the others are right, you've entered onto a very slippery slope. Good luck and enjoy.

I have two frames and several barrels;

10" .22lr
10" .22 Hornet
14" .223
14" .44mag
14" 7-30 Waters.

I think I have everything covered!!! LOL!

Steve
"You have made a good start but. You don't have a single JDJ cartrige like a 358 or 375 Jdj or a 45-70 gotta think ahead.

My 2 Cents

You need a 10 - 14 Inch 22 Barrel. Great for trigger time.

Next would be a 223 super 14 barrel, with a scope that goes up to 7 or 8 power on the top end.

Your 30-30 barrel is a very good choice for deer hunting. Another good choice is a 357 Maximum. The wife has an MGM 13" Bull, that will have a 30mm MatchDot II on it shortly. Now that Starline is making 357 Maximum brass this chambering will start getting more popular.

Then you can branch out to a Muzzleloader. The CVA Optima V2 Pistol with 14" barrel will fix you right up.

After that you could always add a Super RedHawk in 44 or 480 to the stable.

It is an addiction.

Bob

Kyodee257, all this good advice from members. While here at the house recuperating ,reading & re-reading these posts, I've been mulling over the same thing. If I was just "afflicted" with the TC "bug" and started like you w/ a 30-30(for in line comparison). What would I get next ? A 10" 22RF for sure w/ a Weaver base. This would allow me to shoot indoors w/ red dot of choice , then have a good variable power scope to tackle lots of small game & plinking short & long. Even bulk ammo shoots great in these barrels. Next,, a .357 factory 12". Same principle applies, Weaver type base for dot sight to play w .38 specials & another good scope sighted for .357mag of choice. In my cross country travels , I've always found plenty of .38 loads available. This line up takes into account ammo availability & options w/o putting reloading in play. For both centerfires , factory options like FTX & Buffalo Bore , Corbon etc. tackle a lot of tasks. Yes ,, they maybe expensive, but so is setting up to reload. You can save brass for that later or work something out w/ TRUSTED friends. On the subject of sights ,dots & scopes. I have found previously mentioned methods acceptable for sight switch out w/little if any re-sighting needed. If in doubt Warne or EABCO quick change systems are excellent. I think this trio of barrels could multi task nicely for most shooting needs, one could throw in a .45/410 also. Oh,, start to seek help. Remember ,admitting you have a problem is the first step to treatment, So I've heard. cont35bb

Congratulations! There is nothing like the first ;-)

As far as barrels, you have a 30-30 barrel which is a darn good option in the Contender especially if you don't handload. If you do handload a 30-30 AI or 7-30 Waters would get you another 50 yards or so.

A 22LR barrel is a must have, for cheap practice as well as small game. I would also add a 22 centerfire barrel of some type. I prefer the 218 Bee, but it is pretty much a handload option anymore. The 223 would also do nicely, or the 22 Hornet. The 223 would be cheaper to shoot if you don't roll your own.

The 357 Magnum really comes to life in the Contender as it doesn't suffer from the velocity stealing cylinder gap of a revolver. A 10" 357 Mag would make a nice handling midrange deer/bear/hog barrel. If you handload I would suggest the 357 Maximum for even more of a good thing.

No Contender arsenal is complete without a 410 barrel. They come as a 45/410, but the 45 Colt doesn't fare well due to the long chamber. These make a nice little shotgun capable to 25 yards.

As for the 45 Colt, it deserves it's own barrel. If factory ammo is the only option the 44 Magnum might be a better choice and game won't be able to tell the difference. The 45 Colt is a wee bit easier on the shooter as it operates at a lower pressure, and allows for a slightly heavier bullet weight range, than the 44.

If you want a serious thumper for real big game, the 45-70 is hard to beat. I would also put the 375 Winchester in this category as well but brass is hard to come by and the bullet selection not as vast as is with the 45-70.

These would cover nearly any situation you might encounter but there are many tweeners that could be added to the list, including the many JDJ creations. Handloading opens up a lot of options unavailable to the factory shooter.

I also recommend round or bull barrels over the octagon barrels.

I wish you continued success with your handgun hunting and yes, it is a slippery slope.......

Welcome to HHM!

As Ernie first mentioned, the .223 barrel is a must, IMO.

As Rod touched on, if you want to supercharge your Contender, consider the JDJ line of cartridges. It has oft been said that if you own the 6.5 JDJ and .375 JDJ barrels, you can hunt anything up to and including elephant.

And then just for the heck of it, throw in a .309 JDJ which gives the .308 a run for the money.

And I agree with karl, the .17 HMR is incredibly accurate and a real rocket for small varmints!

Gregg and others, could you expound on your recommendations for 223 in a contender platform? I shoot a lot of it in rifle, but haven't got pistol barrel for it.

I just picked up a 7-30 waters barrel from a forum member and am going to play with that for a while. A bit close to my 30-30 barrel in performance, but we'll see how it shakes out.

I second the separate 45 colt recommendation.

Karl , Hello, I will chime in on the .223 question. I've had a couple in the past. All these w/1 in 12" twist. They're are gone now as .22 Hornet & K-Hornet do that work now. Only a Savage rifle here in .223(1 in 9). But I would look hard at a barrel w/ 1 in 8 twist to take advantage of the great new heavy/longer bullets. This twist still handles 50-55 gr. fine though. Just a thought. Don't remember "xactly" how much TC setups I had ,but it was 6(8?) frames & 18(?)barrels. And this was before Encores!!Oh .223 is really best in 14 ,15 or 16" efficiency wise.

Good point bringing up the factory T/C twist rate. It is too slow for a pistol length barrel, IMO. If a 223 is on the menu it should be ordered custom with a faster twist, even a 7 wouldn't be too much.

Yea, I figured custom would be the way to go. Given the choice, what TC platform for a fast twist barrel?

I think I will get a 22LR barrel first. It should be a good way to practice without spending a fortune. As of right now, I am set up to load 218 Bee, 223, 38/357, 41mag, 45Colt, and 30-30. I have owned and shot Ruger Blackhawk and Super Blackhawks. For some reason, I'm not that good with them. I'm talking 7-8" groups at 25yds. However, I do have a 41mag Bisley and Smith 19 357 that give me about 1.5-2" groups at 25yds. My Contender in 30-30 is my go to hunting pistol this year. Thank you all for the good advice. Sounds like I need to start barrel collecting. Haha

Contenders do accumulate barrels. A 10" .357 would be great for your existing line up, and can be loaded really nice for deer in a 10" barrel with slower burning powders.
It seems like when I reach for a 22lr, its rarely my contender barrel. So if youre like me, don't know if I could recommend that one. So hard to call that.
I do have to recommend a 45/410. I love my 410 barrel. Plus you can lob your 45colts out of it.
You already have the 30-30 which is one of my favorites in the contender.
Good luck in an area with no bad choices!
(I never could shoot Blackhawks worth a crap either)

Thank you. I read the "how to" section and got a pic posted of my buck from last week. Got to my mom's at 730am, and shot my deer at 740am on the way to my ground blind.

karl, The .223 has the extra horsepower for the larger varmints such as coyotes, bobcats, marmots/groundhogs, badgers, and even foxes. Not to say that the rimfires don't work but speaking from experience I have used all of them on most of the above from .22 LR, .22 Mag, .17 HMR and even the newer .17 Winchester Super Magnum and have regrettably lost some that I felt were well hit. Of course bullet placement is everything but the .223 does more damage therefore giving a larger margin for error.

Some .223 kills:









PS: Neither of these coyotes are the "wise old coyote" per my signature line. I have killed close to 500 coyotes and maybe only a dozen of them qualified. And I have tried for a lot more of them than that.

Thanks for the insight Gregg! That makes a lot of sense.
I've been contemplating a 223 barrel, but at this point in my life, I don't find myself hunting many things in that size range and haven't justified it to myself yet. I do like the 223 cartridge (nice combination of performance and low factory cost imho) and shoot a lot of it at prairie dogs.

The 223 shoots very flat, and is cheap to shoot with factory loads, or to reload for. They are just plain fun to shoot. They also give you a really good starting point to start Extending your comfort zone with Longer Range Shooting.
Then we have varmint hunting. The 223 is a great choice with fast expanding bullets.
Then we have very low recoil. Good for Women and Kids, heck it's even good for hairy chested men. No harm getting in trigger time with something that does not recoil hard.
Ammo is very plentiful, and cheap.
Reloading components are available every where. I have a couple 5 gallon bucket of brass just from picking up a little at the range now and again.
I am sure I missed a few other good points.

EDITED: It would be nice to read a well detailed post on a Custom 223 Barrel with a faster twist, and the results with heavier bullets.

Whats Not To Love!!

Bob