After borrowing a friends Contender with a 7-30 Waters barrel for an afternoon. I decided to have one made for me. This would be a scoped barrel. Does length of barrel make that much difference say to 150 yards? The 14" is good but would rather have a 10" with muzzle brake. Was thinking of maybe MGM doing the work. Anyway, if you were going to have a custom 7-30 Waters barrel made for your contender what would you do. Shooting range 150 yards, 200 max. Newbie to the new stuff, so help is appreciated.

cessna,

The 12-14 inch range works well for me, not too unwieldy, yet maintains decent velocity. I have a T/C Hunter, 12" w/ brake.

Doc

14" for me. Less blast at shooter is noticeable and velocity helps with 14"

What are your plans for the barrel? If huntting and targets from a rest,and you should use a rest when hunting if possiable 14 in.
10 to 12 work best for off hand use. The 14 in will give the most velocity.
If I haven't said so before I apologize. WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION!!!!!!!!!!!They are like potato chips ,no one can have just one.

All I hunt with in the contender is 14 inch Super or Bull barrels. The 14 inch barrels will wring out the extra fps on the 7-30 waters due to the fact it is basically a blown out 30-30. Waters was on the right track with his idea and the 7-30 W has always and still is today a popular chambering. The 14 inch is your best bet if you are wanting to reach out to the 150~200 range which I feel for deer is the maximum range in this caliber. MGM is for sure a good choice for a custom barrel maker. They are top notch people to deal with and build barrels that shoot great I have a couple of barrels by them. They use Green Mountain barrels are top notch barrels. You might visit Ed's T/C site he has a lot of MGM barrels from time to time in stock and I have bought them from him cheaper than directly from MGM. Not sure how he does that? Also great to deal with. As far as the brake the 7-30 it is not a huge boomer and I try to stay away from them on anything I shoot if possible. Do not like the muzzle blast and they are not cheap. I had a 14 inch T/C Super barrel with a custom brake on it did not like it and could never get the darn thing to shoot as good as I would like. Traded for same without a brake; with Ed's T/C, and like it a lot better and it shoots a lot better than the other barrel.

I have had 7-30 Waters barrels from 10" to 16", and clocked a few of them. A load that would run 2,550+ from a Super 16 ran a bit over 2,400 from a 14" tube and couldn't make 2,100 from a 10. If you were to get a 10"er with a brake the working length would only be about 8" and the speed will yet again suffer. Most 7mm bullets require at least 1,800 fps to "work" so that doesn't leave much headroom. My current Waters barrel is 13" long, from MGM, and I am happy with the compromise. If a shorter barrel is preferred, a larger bore would be far more efficient.

Sounds like 14" is a good length. What you fellows are saying makes sense to me. I'm not prone to be recoil shy. None of my large caliber rifles have brakes. I've hunted with some guides who don't want them in camp. I've been reading Mark Hamptons book and also one by Gary Reeder. Interesting. I've not hunted with a handgun for many years and trying to get up to speed a little. I'll check Ed's T/C site as recommended. Would like to hunt antelope and deer (mule deer) with the handgun so maybe a different caliber would be better. I will keep reading and learning. You are right about addiction. Cars, planes, wives etc. I never seem to learn.

Hey Cessna if you ever fly through Trenton MO..airport numbers are trx I will pump you some fuel. we got them both. Will have a fuelmaster installed in 30~60 days so I am not going to see many faces. Good luck on the Waters you won't be unhappy with the caliber or the performance. If you need any more help let us know. You are going to find out that Federal is the only company that loads for the Waters 120 grain flat nose. Its a good load but It pays to be a reloader on the waters for sure.

Good luck with the 7-30 Waters. Mine is and older stock version 14in. and shoots great. I think a 120 AMAX would be perfect for deer and antelope. I too have the planes addiction. If it wasn't for wives I could afford more planes and guns. The latter is less expensive to maintain and a lot less hassle! This is not the right thread to discuss these things on but I would be glad to hear more. . . Maybe I will see you at TRX with dvan.

Hornady makes a 120 grain SSPB bullet #22811 that has a long ogee and tipped and is a very good performer. Was developed for the single shots.

Cessna,

About Contenders and brakes. About the only use I had for brakes on Contenders was the ability to see my shot. And the only combination that I could pull that off was with a .223 14 inch barrel, using 35-40 grain bullets. Much higher weight bullets and the brake was useless. I am not a big fan of recoil, and in the Contender even my 375 JDJ was very doable sans brake. Yes it torqued, but was easy compared to something like my current FA 454. Perhaps in the Encore line or other specialty single shots where pressures are in the true rifle pressure they may be useful. IMHO, for the Contender no.

I started out with 7-30, and it is a dandy caliber. I was trying to split the difference between big and small. Then while checking out antelope possibilities, I found prairie dog shooting. Ended up with a 223, and eventually a 6.5 JDJ that would better serve antelope and dogs. Same on the high end. Decided the 7-30 would be OK for mule deer, but Colorado had elk. Ended up with a 375 JDJ.

As the heart of the Contender is easily switching calibers, I figured out rather than trying to fuzz my decision to splitting the middle of what I thought I wanted to hunt, it made more sense to lean towards the extremes of critter size, and add a second caliber. And dovetailing S4's advice, in approaching it in this manner, I had fewer issues with bullet choices (having a selection that would work at reduced velocity for design).

In the end I had a lot of barrels and calibers, but in looking back I really went about it all wrong with the 7-30 as my first. Well sort of, as there was some factory ammo, and reloading was easy.

Craig

I love my 14" 7-30 Waters barrel!! Great cartridge, amazing accuracy!!

When I was looking into getting a Waters barrel, I was contemplating one with a muzzle break, but the general consensus was that they are not needed and the increased muzzle blast was a big negative. Glad I went with the plain 14" barrel.

What scope power range do you all recommend for the Waters?

I have a 2x6 power Bushnell on my Waters with a 14 inch super barrel. I use the low power in the timber and 4to6x in the open areas.

I have a 3-9x Bushnell rifle scope attached to mine via a Ken Light UAS mount.

4X Simmons

I went with burrius 2X7-32.

2-6x Bushnell Trophy on my Waters. I use the same scopes on my Super Redhawk and .22 Hornet T/C Contender. My .223 T/C Contender has the 2-6x Elite.

I had a 7-30 12" with factory brake. It shot great, but the brake has a unreal blast. I have shot 300 win mag with brakes, that had less blast. I guess being so close to the shooter. 14" no brake, for me.

Mark

I could not find this bullet on Hornady site. I will contact them and see if it was replaced with something else