Contender 45-70

I have no experience with the 45-70 in a handgun. Rifle yes.
I was tossing the idea around of getting a barrel for my Contender in this caliber. Why...Well kids are all grown so now I can afford my toys. Can anyone offer up what it is like to shoot this in a Contender ?

I have a 12 in. with factory brake.It carries a Bushnell pro hunter red dot sight. Works very well on deer with a 300 gr Hor. or Sierra
bullet with Trap Door loads.Recoil is stout when benched but not as bad off sticks or offhand. It is not a fun gun for me to shoot long strings of fire with. I shoot a few then lay it aside and shoot something else for a while.

I have a 14" SSK barrel for a regular contender and a 45-70 barrel for an encore pro hunter I would part with if your interested? If you want more info please PM me.

Never shot in a contender. Lots of fun in an encore with trapdoor loads (Remington 300gn) with factory 15" barrel and no break. Leverlootion 325 gn loads were not fun. Got it breaked and then lots of fun again with everything.

I have a 12" SSK Mag-Na-Ported barrel. Very pleasant with full power 300 gr. Hornady HPs, upper edge of pleasant with 350 gr. Hornady SPs, attention getting with 400 gr. Speer FPs, Beyond comfort with 500 gr. Hornady SPs, most brutal gun I ever fired with 600 gr. leads.
A break would make it more comfortable.

12" Hunter ported barrel. wood finger grips. Probably more comfortable with rubber, but too purtty to change. Also have a 16" ported carbine barrel with folding stock. I'd much rather shoot it in the handgun than the rifle.

I've fired one once (belonged to another shooter at the range who was kind enough to offer me a shot). I don't know what load was involved and I'm a fairly light build. I approached it with some trepidation expecting it to kick like a mule. I was totally surprised with how comfortable it was. Recoil was more of an authoritative push than a kick. Much more pleasant than my SRH .454 Casull. Definitely a calibre I'd buy if I was into single shots.

I had a 12" Hunter ported barrel until shooting it. The recoil was unbearable. My wrists ached for days and the barrel was traded for an 1863 Zuave replica.

I would think that a lot of it has to do with ammo, too. I have very little experience with Contenders, but there is a huge difference in shooting my BFR with Remington 405's and shooting it with Buffalo Bore +P's. I think the maybe the difference in recoil is magnified in these hand cannons, compared to the same rifle rounds shot through a rifle. When I went from 1550 fps to 1900 fps in an 1895G, there was a difference, but not that great. When I do that with the BFR, I gotta duct tape my socks to my ankles to keep 'em on. I would expect a Contender that recoils even more to the rear instead of an upwards roll to be even worse. My rather fuzzy point being that wouldn't choice of ammo play a bigger roll in shootability with a large-bore TC than with other firearms we are all familiar with?

I would tend to agree with you Briarhopper. The 300gn Remington loads were pleasant to shoot in my 15" factory encore. If it weren't for the cost, I could have shot a couple boxes a day. Recoil was more of a push and role, not as sharp as a 44 mag. I stuck in some of the Hornady 325gn leverlotion loads and they started ripping calluses off my fingers with rough edges around the trigger after 3 shots (still not as sharp of a recoil imho then 44 mag, but a lot of motion).
I installed a muzzle break and now I can sit down and shoot as much as I want again. After the break the difference between the light loads (now the hornady 325's ~1700fps) and heavy loads (300 grain Barnes BB +P loads at 2050 is barely noticeable).



Charlie, Another point I forgot about earlier is that apparently TC is well known for having NO throat in their 45-70 chambers. This works for fine the typical 300 gn loads, but according to JD at SSK you can not physically load one of the Hornady 500 grain bullets. If you seat it deep enough to stay out of the lands, the rear of the bullet gets into the area of increased case thickness and it will jam in the chamber. He offered to re-chamber the factory barrel with their custom reamer which cuts a 0.060" throat. I was going to do it, but things got mixed up and it wasn't done. It works fine for me the way it is with the 300 gn Barnes TAC-TX bullets which group ~ 1-2 inches at 100 yards for me with minimal load development. I never got the Hornday 300 gn hp (#4500) to group smaller then ~4" at 100 yards.

I don't know how the bullet weights between 300 and 500 work in factory chambers, perhaps others can add their experiences.

Thanks Karl.
I am still on the fence about purchasing a 45-70 barrel so all the comments here are helping me make my decision.

I hand load so I can keep them in my comfort level if I decide to go ahead and get one.

Like anything else you want to do your research so no regrets down the road.

Keep yer powder dry and keep a shootin'

There is no such thing as regret with a 45-70.

Only when you touch one off without a firm grip

That goes for just about any moderate to heavy kicker.

I have owned a contender barrel in 45-70 for years. It is just a fun barrel to shoot. I don't push it at all. I stick with a Remington 300 grain loaded to factory velocity and have fun. On a plus side if I stay less than 50 yards its no trouble seeing light through black bulls eyes. That is if I do my part.

I like my Contender in 45-70. SSK 14" w/ arrestor break. I shoot 300 grn JHp's Trapdoor handloads. Fun and accurate. I tried some of my Sharps 405 Cast loads and they are pretty stout.
I have been shooting this barrel for a lot of years. I did have one of the 12" Hunter barrels with factory break but ran on to this one so I sold the 12" TC barrel.
Mike