I'm considering a new barrel for my Contender. I'm looking at the 35 Rem,30-30 and the 7-30 waters. I owned a 7-30 Waters in a 21" carbine years ago. I liked it a lot and actually took my first deer with it. It's going to be a 14" barrel. Wich one do you think would work best out of the 14" tube? Also, the place i was looking is called Ed's Contenders. It's an on-line shop. Has any one delt with them?

add the 30-30AI (Ackley Improved) to that list n you have 4 GREAT contender calibers! all will work just fine from 14" barrels.
i love the 35rem for deer hunting myself. i reload and use a rimmed version from the 303 british case. ed supposedly has a rimmed model by the way.
Ed is good to deal with. just don't go by the website list as it's not frequently updated. CALL by phone and keep trying till you get hold of him.

What are you going to be doing with this barrel? Deer hunting, PD shooting, just punching paper? All three will be great in a 14" barrel.

35 Rem~ 150 yards, heavy bullets

30-30 Win~ 200 yards, good selection of bullets, light to heavy

7-30 Waters~ 300 yards, excellent selection of bullets

The info I posted above is a general cross section just to get the mind working. There are guys here that fine tuned all cartridges and can give you exact specifics as to what they have done with them. For the best all around barrel I thnik you will find most of the guys around here are going to tell you the 7-30 Waters is hard to beat.

Mostly deer and hogs. I have a 223 barrel for Ground hogs and other varmints. I also have a 45/70 barrel for the big stuff. Like i said, i had a 21" 7-30 Waters years ago and loved it. I just wasn't sure it would work well out of the shorter tube. I used a 130gr boattail Speer over IMR4895. It got me two fall Turkey and a couple deer. Then it got racked when i enlisted. I gave it to my favorite niece for her tenth and she took her first deer with it. It has since passed on to her cousin for his first. I intend to give it to my son this year for his tenth birthday. That thing has been around for 20 years. Still using the same load.

I would agree with the 7x30, it is great. Since you do reload take a look at the 30-30 AI that is a true performer also. You can not loose with any of the calibers you listed.

The Waters would fit nicely between those two. Since you are already set up for it you can't go wrong. You may want to experiment with some other powders for the 14" barrel length but it is up to task. Second choice would be the 30-30 AI as Kyle noted.

I'll check out the 30-30AI. I've never had a 30cal. in the contender.

I just bought a barrel from Eds 2 weeks ago and he sent it right away priority mail. I was very pleased with his service.
Larry

Speaking of ordering barrels. Can i have that sent to me, or does it have to go to an FFL holder?

Barrels can be shipped direct.

Only the frame has to be an FFL deal.

It is the frame that requires a FFL.

All I can do is tell you what I did as far as my Conteners go:

15 1/2" 7X30 Wat
12" .375 Win
10" .357 Herret

Excellent Big Game Singleshots.

Dave

How does that 12" .375 Winny perform for you. I've been pondering one to fill the gap between my 10" .357 Max and 14" 45/70, but unsure if 12" would be 'nuff to giterdun, but like for easy packin'.

i cant say about the 12" but i have a 14" that will giterdun.
i would say that it would fill the gap.
larry