I got an email from a guy the other day regarding his statement about the hinge pin in a T/C Contender:

"If your hinge pin slides out without a punch, an oversized hinge pin is in order. T/C mass produces so the tolerences are kept within a range allowing assemblers to complete a firearm by grabbing parts from a bin. Despite the convenience, a hinge pin that simply slides out is not doing much for your accuracy."

This may make sense but I do not know. So what is your opinin or is this just an old myth???? If it was true I would imagine every Contender would need to have a custom hinge pin made.

Thsnk

I can remove my Contender and Encore hindge pins with my fingers and I don't have any accuracy problems.

I'm believe Mike Bellm is correct and I like an interference fit hinge pin. Mike explains his reasoning at http://bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=445 . I machined a tighter hinge pin and liked the results, your mileage may vary. Best of luck with the Tender!

I have O.S. hinge pins in both my Encore and contenders and I do notice a difference though neither got really sloppy like some I've seen Just a little rattly.

Mine slide in and out with ease and they shoot fine. It can't hurt, just don't know how much it may help, if at all. If it makes you feel better, by all means.

It only matters I believe if you have the goal to shoot through the same hole. My pin is loose compared to others I have played with. But with it I can use what is a ok round and shoot 1/2 inch five shot groups at 100 yards. This is done with my 30/30, now I cant do that every single round but I have never gone over 1 and 1/8 inches for a five shot group ( with handloads only ) and feel that is great. I have been told that taking a barrel and shooting it on one frame then a different frame with the same loads can show signs of difference in grouping. This is due to machining tolerences. I have not proven that theory but I could see where it goes with this same question. Is it true? Maybe in some instances and maybe not in others. I think if your gun shoots bad it is something to think about but when I have thought about stuff like this on this forum I have had as many people tell me that it may be my shooting skill as have told me it may be the gun.

Logically thinking, it makes sense, but only as a matter of degree. I mean, how loose is loose, ya' know? "Loose pin = bad accuracy" makes a good marketing pitch, but it's awfully subjective, and given the testimonials here, might best be taken with a grain of salt.

I also wonder out loud if rimmed vs. rimless cases might also make a difference. Seems a rimmed case would naturally stay more lined up in the chamber than a rimless as long as the head space is reasonable. Throw in a person's chosen method of resizing reloaded cartridges and there are just so many variables to consider to make a blanket statement.

As others, if my Encore starts throwing lead in all the wrong places, I might consider it if I could feel some play by hand. Hey, a $10 "fix" is worth the try sometimes.

My contender I can move the pin in and out with my fingers,my encore I can't. I have a .22 match barrel for the contender that if I do my part often will shoot through the same hole at 25 yards,thats with my son and I both shooting,the same with my .22 hornet barrel.My 7mm TCU shoots 1/2 groups at 50 yards(probably could do much better if I didn't have old man shakes-L.O.L.)I would consider the oversized hinge pin only if I where having problems with accuracy,if your gun/barrels are shooting good I wouldn't worry about the hinge pin.

Mine moves by hand and I get under an inch group with factory
30-30 bullets. I dont think I can shoot much better. No matter what else I do to it, maybe Ill try a bigger scope on it.