will all the old barrels fit all of the new frames and viceversa?
I have a blued contender with a muzzleloader barrel on it and would like to convert it to a pistol, can I do it with just a barrel , grip and fore end

will all contender/encore barrels interchange on the frames or are they era specific? can I take my .50 ML rifle barrel off of my frame and put on a grip, short barrel and fore end and have a handgun?

sorry, double tap

yes you can but there is some confusion over the legal consequences, last I heard T/C said it's ok but the ATF says it's not. The only contender barrels that won't interchange are the Armor Alloy series and of course contender and encore won't interchange .

Generally speaking yes. There is the occasion that the barrel and frame just don't mate up properly even though they are supposed to. In that case the hammer will only put a slight dent in the firing pin and cause misfires. This can easily be corrected by a competent gunsmith or T/C.

The only real exception would be if you had one of the Armor alloy frames/barrels. They didn't work with the blued & stainless guns without modification.

Yes and no. Physically yes, the parts will marry. Legally no, it is agianst the law to convert a rifle into a pistol. Will you ever get into trouble if you do, not likely. But......

I thought that the reciever was the registered part of the gun and that it was due to the interchanging barrel system it didnt matter.
just goes to show what a fiasco this can be.

The ATF says how the frame was first sold or shipped from the manufacturer.If it was first sold with a rifle stock it is illegal to convert to a pistol.If you bought it used or in pieces, it is hard to say how it was first shipped from TC.

According to new ATF guidelines (as per my dealer) all contender/encore frames are now sold as 'pistols', so that may change the rifle-pistol interchangability.

That would be nice, I wonder when that took effect?It would make sense,since we just want more barrels with more versatile capability to shoot more.

Even if this is true, which I seriously doubt (there is nothing in the online FFL newsletters from 2007 or 2008), it won't change the legal status of guns already out there...........

But will they grandfather in all the older frames, since all barrels interchange how could you discriminate. It was senseless legislation to begin with, now clear as mud ;-)