I just got back from the range with my new 12'' 30/30 barrel. I brought along a box of hand loads that I had rolled for my M94 for silhouette shooting. Although they worked beautifully in the rifle and would take the rams without a problem, they would not even fire in the contender. Ive heard that the cartidge headspaces differently in the contender than the M94. A buddy showed up with some factory stuff and it worked perfectly shot for shot. What would ya'll suggest I do to fix this besides just buying factory stuff and what are ya'lls favorite loads for the 30/30 in a contender.

Thanks in advance

Toby

ammo loaded for one gun may not necessarily work in another. keep ammo for each gun seperate. load specific for the contender and adjust the dies to set the shoulder for proper headspace. the other ammo was probably either too short, or too long in that regard. either one will cause misfires.

first thing i'd try is imr4198 under 125-130gr spitzers of your choice.

I had the same problem. I didn't want to have two sets of dies for the same caliber and adjusting every time was a pain. In the case of the 30-30, I left the dies set for the rifle and when I loaded for the contender I simply put a nickel between the to of the press and the die. This is the same thing I do when doing a partial sizing. I always use US coins as there is nothing more uniform in thickness. For me that offset was a perfect match for the T/C chamber (v/s the rifle case) with just a slight hesitation on the close. Be sure to watch for over sized cases in the 30-30, they are known for growing longer then a true bottleneck.

Bill in OR

What causes the barrel to lock but the hammer not to stay cocked? I had that problem to with the M94 ammo.

quite possibly the barrel did not fully lock up. this may mean you need to push the shoulder back some on your cases, and is what caused the misfires(too little headspace). set your size die a few thousanths off the shellholder. i use automotive feeler gauges between the size die and shellholder. average overall....i'd guess most of my die sets fall with a range of .005"-.010" above the shellholder. of course it's best to fit the chamber/action of your particular gun/barrel combo. you want to fill the chamber and barrel to frame gap, minus a couple thousandths.
you can do some "misfire" reading at http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/index.php for a better description than i can type out.
don't over complicate things though. it really is simple once you truly understand die adjustments for break actions. no extra tools completely necessary unless you just want.

I had the same problem. I didn't want to have two sets of dies for the same caliber and adjusting every time was a pain. In the case of the 30-30, I left the dies set for the rifle and when I loaded for the contender I simply put a nickel between the to of the press and the die. This is the same thing I do when doing a partial sizing. I always use US coins as there is nothing more uniform in thickness. For me that offset was a perfect match for the T/C chamber (v/s the rifle case) with just a slight hesitation on the close. Be sure to watch for over sized cases in the 30-30, they are known for growing longer then a true bottleneck.

Bill in OR

If the barrel dosen't lock completely it will not stay cocked.
I set the die down a little at a time until the gun will close with a little snap and stay cocked, then you get sort of a crush fit on the case.I get longer case life and no misfires that way.
Try the speer 130 gr. Hp if you can, they shoot excelent in my 10"

Kyode was right on in his comments about going to Mike Bellm's web site. You will learn more about TC's there then any other place.

A crush fit (long case and some resistance on closing) can increase misfires in a Contender/G2/Encor. The other thing that causes misfires is the less then adequate hammer spring in the TC handguns. Recommended loading procedure is to back off your sizing die, size a case and then insert it in the chamber, palce a .0015 feeler gague (FG) between the back of the case and close the action. Try to lightly pull the FG out, if it won't come out open the action, crank down on the FL die a bit more and try again. Repeat this process until there is just a bit of resistance but the gague comes out; you now have a properly sized case for that barrel/frame configuration. I now remove my decapping pin and in the same way measure the distance from the shell holder to the base of the die and record this for future reference should I ever change this setting. You can also buy bushings from Mike Bellm to shim out the firing pin bushing which Mr. Bellm privides a lot of detail on in his web. BTW, when you go to his site sign up for his free news letter which he sends out regularly and provides a wealth of information on these firearms. The next thing you need to do is to get one of his more powerful hammer springs; the what and why of these modifications are all covered by him on his Web.

With help from him I was able to take a 24 inch TC custom shop barrel in 30-30 from shooting 8 inch vertically strung groups to one that will place 5 shots under a quarter at 100 yards and would go bang every time I pulled the trigger.

Good luch and have fun.