Hi everyone. I ran a search, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I'll ask.
Is it major surgery to have a contender barrel rechambered? Specifically, I have a 7-30 waters 14" that came with the gun that I don't want, and I would like a 44 rem mag for use in southern michigan which doesn't allow shouldered cartridges in handguns.
I sent an email off to a local gunsmith, but I haven't heard back yet.

I don't have experience with this. I think it could be costly seeing how there is a lot of work being done. One thing you can do is list your barrel here in the classifieds for sale or trade. The 7/30 is a great cartridge and if i had a 44 I would be interested in trading.

Also welcome to the site.

Thanks Chris.
That is another option. I've just started to think about this, and was hoping that reboring would be the cheaper option.

A straight swap would be cheap if all your paying is shipping. There are guys on here with much more knowledge then me and they will pipe in I'm sure. A contender barrel in good shape can be worth keeping the way it is. Especially if it shoots well. You happen to have one of the good calibers that many people enjoy.

swap it or buy another barrel, it would be cost prohibitive and I'm not sure if the 7-30 chamber isn't already to large to rifle the front half of. It would have to be re bored to .429 which is the hard and costly part and then the chamber re cut with a 44 reamer.

I agree with Rod. 44 barrels are very popular and there are plenty out there priced right. With the exception of some lever guns your pretty much better off to go with a new barrel. Even on the levers it tough to say which way to go.

Last I checked a rebore was running about $300. You could buy a new barrel, and keep the Waters for the same money.

There is no such thing as having too many barrels for your Contender, keep the ones you have and buy more..hurry before the "rates change"..!

Ditto what 358429 said.

Was thinking what everyone else has said...

I would think that with careful shopping you could lkely buy a 44 barrel plus another barrel for the cost involved in reboring a gun, especially since TC barrels are easy to come by without paperwork on the various auction sites and forums. Another aspect to consider is the timeframe necessary to do the work, it might take a while. A friend of mine is having a rifle barrel bored out from .223 to .308, I think it's been going on two years.

Another option (if you want something more than factory or don't want to buy used) would be to order an MGM or Bullberry barrel. You could get exactly what you're looking for.

Hmmm...I've never really needed an excuse to buy more toys....

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I had no idea of the costs involved, so I thought it might have actually been cheaper to do that.

I may have to take another look at bullberry...

And MGM. They do great work, are affordable, and faster than the others.