Hello everyone, I am new here and would like to buy a TC pistol. Can anyone tell me the diffrence between the encore, prohunter, and g2. I know that I will be getting barrels in 308 win, 22 lr, and 410/45 lc.
I am in dfw Tx area and have other guns to trade for a tc if someone is local to me.
Bill

I'm more of a revolver guy but I can tell you that if you want to shoot the 308 you'll have to have an Encore frame. The G2 is the Contender and won't handle the pressures of the 308. I'll let the TC experts go into it further for you.

The G2 is the “new style” of the Contender. It is a little stronger, but still has its limitations. The Encore is the big brother to the Contender/G2. The Pro Hunter is an Encore with a hammer that swivels. It also has a little engraving on it and a shock absorbing stock. The barrels are fluted and 28’ in the rifles.

Thank's for the info sounds like I will get the pro hunter in 308.
Bill

The Encore is a much beefier frame and that opens a lot of possibilities for more powerful cartridges. The pro-hunter is a pretty nice rig and a 308 is an excellent choice for deer and hogs. The G2 or original Contender has a great feel and if you're into reloading and wildcats you get very good performance from rounds similar to the 308 (the 309 JDJ specifically). The choice is really going to come down to which one feels better and will still meet your needs. If you're not a reloader the 308 Encore or 7x30 Waters G2 are both great choices.

Before you order one in, see if you can grab hold of each. I found the Encore to be too big, bulky and heavy for my liking. The trigger reach is further on the Encore as well, so much so that I can't shoot with a natural hold. I went with the Contender in that platform and never looked back, or forward. I have bolt pistols that can handle the HP stuff so I am fine with the limitations of the 'Tender, although there are some pretty heavy hitters that can be run through the G-2. If my 45/70 can't kill it, it ain't killable!

I think you are right on. All of the people I know that own both grab the Contender/G2 when they go out over the Encore. It is kind of funny actually.

First of all, WELCOME!! billwn.

All good advise, and yes most like the smaller framed Contender/G2 platform.

ME, I have only the Encore platform and love it. I have barrels from rimfire to 500 cal. I have custom grips that fit my hand. I do not find the extra weight to ba a bother when hunting.

The true beauty of the TC systems is that the modifications to both platforms are limitless to suit your needs.

Welcome billwn,
All good advice from the group. Only one question I have and one that gets me mad to have to talk about: "Will you be just thinking of buying a pistol only or will you want to go down the carbine route in the future? I only bring this up because of the BATF and their stupid inturpretation of federal laws.

When it comes to the TC's if you buy the frame as a rifle or carbine, it must never be switched over to a handgun platform. But if the TC starts out life as a handgun from the factory, you can switch it over to a rifle or carbine later on. I hope I am getting this right. It can get very confusing thanks to the jack booted thugs in our government. Please research this subject very carefully.



Now I chose the G2 because I wanted a pistol and not a rifle in a pistol platform. I have eight barrels and will probably get more. There are so many wildcat cat calibers out there to have fun with. But if you insist to go the .308 cal. road, then go with the Encore.

Whatever you choose, have fun doing it.

Welcome aboard Billwn, glad to see you on. I don't know anything about the TC's, I shoot revolver only so far. Just wanted to welcome you.

You can by a custom barrel for about 300 dollars. It is not that much more than a factory and they have a tendency to have more quality control. You can also barrels that are “Button Rifled.” There are some fine wildcats that perform wonderfully in the Contender.

Raf, I just keep the rifles “rifles" and the pistols “pistols.” I have Encore and Contender pistols and rifles. I know it sounds silly. But to me it is just not worth taking any chances!

Ya no kidding Big Brother is liable to change the law and all of a sudden your a criminal. That's no joke either.

welcome billwn i have both contender and encore and like both
for deer i use a 7mm-08 encore and 35 rem. contender. so it is
up to you which way to go but try both first.
good luck have fun thats what its all about.
larry

I hear ya brother, look at that poor soul that had an AR-15 malfunction with a worn part and the Feds arrested him and took him to court. He was convicted of transfering a machinegun. I think he got sentenced to 30 months, but don't quote me.

The damned thing malf. and they said it was a machine gun. The company told the feds that they had a recall on that model for that problem and they didn't care. I can't believe all the idiots that are in the gov. and on the federal bench. The guy was a vet and on duty with the Nat.Guard. Now he is a convicted felon over night!!! Makes me want to puke. I guess they thought this guy was an easy mark. They may get hurt going after the really bad guys.

Stuff like that and you may wonder why I call those idiots at ATF a bunch of jack booted thugs. Being in LE, I had worked with them on occasion. It is always black and white with these guys, no gray areas.

As to the rifle or carbine configurations on those models, I tried the Encore BP. It wasn't too bad as long as you shot their saboted bullets, cause nothing else would shoot a group. And then I tried a .30-06 barrel and spent a year trying to get it to group. Never happened, even though they sent me a new barrel. I ended up selling the whole nine yards at a loss.

I'll stick to my G2 and handgun barrels. They are all tack drivers.

I simply like the Contender as a pistol and the Encore as a rifle.

Thanks for the help and the welcome to your site. I am set on the encore unless I run across a contender used at a decent price. I am going to be laid up for a couple more months and cannot get out to the gun shows till then. For now I just need a prop to go along with Mark Hamptons book daydreaming of the hunting trip I should be able to take latter this year.
Who sells new barrels for the encore other than Thompson?
Bill

Billwn, it is our site now!!

Have you looked at Natchez for factory barrels? They also have a nice set of Pachmayr’s for the Encore.

http://www.natchezss.com

https://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?co...FTOKEN=86564698

All the big internet supply companies sell barrels. Sometimes they have a sale or a closeout and you can get barels reasonable.

~ Midway USA
~ Lock Stock & Barrel
~ Midsouth Shooters Supply
~ Natches
~ Graf & Sons
~ CDNN Sports

Wholesale Hunter has a little sale going on now.

http://www.wholesalehunter.com/asp/sales.asp

Not great prices but........

if i could only have ONE handgun....it would be a G2 contender. it isn't that way, so i have a couple encores and maybe a dozen contenders.... plus a ruger revolver, a ruger 22 auto, and and a rem xp100 that doesn't count in this thread...lol.
the contender makes a smaller/lighter/neater package for hunting imo. of course a couple favorite cartridges are only available in the encore so i NEED both.

other than TC....there are also some fine custom shops out there to have a barrel built to your liking.

OTT
Match Grade Machine
SSK
Bullberry

Any other words could not have stated my opinion any better on the Contender being the perfect break open handgun. Though I do not own a G2, I have five old style frames and close to 25 barrels.

Currently I have one Stainless-Steel Original Contender Frame and one Stainless-Steel G2 Frame. I like both and think both have there place. I also feel the Contender & G2 just plain feel better in my hands than the Encore, plus I have always been satisfied with the performance of the cartridges I have used in the Contender, with favorites being .22 LR Match, .223 Remington, 6mm T/CU, .250 Savage, 7-30 Waters & the .30-30 Ackley Improved.

While I have never owned one, I have hunted with a couple different T/C Encore Handguns, one in .243 Winchester and one in .284 Winchester that belonged to friends of mine. I harvested Whitetail Deer with both, and they did their intended job quite well. However I just don't like the extra bulk, weight and overall feel of the Encore.

Like one of the posters stated the Contender makes a better handgun and the Encore makes a better Rifle is kind of how I feel about it.

Larry

Larry where did the 250 savage barrel come from??? I used to have a 300 Savage but a friend of mine has it now. Bullberry will not chamber it any more. I would like to have a 250-3000

Mine was an SSK 14" Stainless-Steel Barrel. I mainly shot 75gr. Hornady Hollow Points loaded with W-748 at Varmints and 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips loaded with either H-322 or later on H-4895 at Whitetails. I took that barrel on a couple Prairie Dog Shoots, and took a couple of Whitetails with it also. I sold it to a buddy that if I remember right took a Whitetail with it also. He traded it to Ed's T/C's a couple years ago.

Larry

I have both, Encore and a couple of the old model Contenders. My first was the Encore in 30-06. A short time later I bought a .223 barrel for it so I could do more shooting and practicing with less recoil and ammo cost. Then I bout a Contender in .22 rimfire. Now I have several barrels for my Contenders. I love them both, but I favor my Contenders. They are a little bit lighter, but the triggers are wonderful. They have 2 adjustment screws and you can set them however you want. I have taken several Whitetails with both. You can take your Encore in and have adjustments made for trigger pull, I just haven't gotten around to it with mine yet. Go to your local dealer and hold both of them. See what is the most comfortable for you, and go from there. Just be careful, after you start shooting them you will be hooked. I only use a long gun for turkeys and that is only because Wisconsin doesn't allow you to use a handgun for turkeys... Good luck and welcome to the site!

I give up and have come to the conclusion that I will endup with both the contender/g2 and an encore. Its just a matter of which one I get first.
Does anyone have experience using 7.62x39 russian in a t/c pistol? Does it maKe a good hunting caliber out of a pistol?
Bill

I have heard of a few who shoot the 7.62x39,but in my opinion there are FAR BETTER choices for hunting applications,such as the 7-30 waters,30-30 win ,357 max,44mag 444 marlin or a 45-70 govt.the 45-70 is a real deer hammer and if you have an effective brake it can be quite pleasant to shoot.These are examples for the contender platform,you could always look at different sites such as SPECIALTY PISTOLS,FOR a great knowledge base and also some great deals in the classifieds section.
jim

First of all I want to welcome you to this site.


Next my experiences are way different than the others. First you must handle these to get the feel of what you like better. For me I go the other way in terms of What I like better. I favor the Encore A MILLION or maybe a Billion or lets make it a Trillion to one. I have big hands and I know you can have the custom made grips for it to fit you hand as I have a beautiful grip and forend made by the master OTTER, of Koa wood that is on his site. But for me the feel of the encore just fits me better. So will I ever get a G2,,,,, Nope no need to as it would be like me going backwards by limiting myself to what I can shoot compared to the encore. So for me I love my encore's. Oh and one comment on the triggers that some people say the that the G2 is way better. Well I have my 2 encore's sent out for trigger jobs and came back just AWESOME. One is at 2.4 LBS and the other is 2.2 LBS of memory serves me right. Very crisp no uptake to speak of just a perfect crisp Break. If I wanted I could of gone a bit lighter but I talked to the gun smith and we decided that these are hunting pistols and I don't want them to go off before I want it to especilly when wearing gloves during winter. If they were going to be targer pistols ONLY I could of gone lighter.


I have custome barrels from MGM and Gary Reeder. My MGM is a 445 supermag, (what else did you expect) and my Gary Reeder is his 41 GNR #2 which is the 445 supermag case necked down to 41 caliber.

Just a warning to you if you spend any time on these kind of boards we will be helping you spend your money because you will be addicted.

Well this is just MHO and I love my Encores.

Oh and don't even get us all started on scopes

Brian