This November I plan to hunt southern New Hampshire during the firearm season. The area I will hunt in does not allow centerfire rifles but allows muzzleloaders, shotguns and handguns in 357 magnum,41 magnum, 44 magnum, 45 Colt, 480 Ruger and 50 caliber magnum.

So I have a choice. I can use a 10" TC Contender with a Burris 2x scope mounted to it or a Super 16" barrel with a 4x Burris scope.My hunting load will be a Speer Gold Dot Soft Point 270 grain bullet with 22.5 grains of Lil Gun. Most of my hunting is done from a treestand. I will admit that I am a lousy ground hunter.

So. What would you use?

I would go with the 10 inch gun but I might switch the scopes.

Bigbore,

Simple - with caliber and bullet being equivalent, go with the one you shoot the best, given your hunting conditions. If your treestand has a rest, shoot from a rest, compare groups, and head to the woods!

10"

10 will be more handy in a tree stand.

I'd use the 10" with the 4x also

I,d go 10". I too am going to southern New Hampshire for firearm season, I'm taking my 9.5 and my 7.5 both in 44mag.Good luck in NH.

I would make a guess that both barrels are in 44 Magnum.
From a Tree Stand, if you are shooting in the woods I would go with the 2X scope, an Ultradot 30mm would be even better. If your only shot would be into an open field, I might go with a 4X.
Barrel length? I have 5 each Super 14 barrels. I would have no problem using the 10" or Super 16 myself.

Put some time in your stand, and get confortable taking aim. Try some different things like a bag to rest on, or an adjustable shooting stick, single or cross sticks see what you can get steady with. Figure out how to get SOLID. I have a Double Wide tree stand (2 person). With it you have enough room to move around and take a rest on the padded side rail, for side shots. I also have a custom built stand with a swivel seat, and a gun rest out infront of you that moves with the seat. With it you can swivel around facing your shooting direction. I will probably hang it Sunday in the draw behind my house.
If you have a 22 barrel for your contender, hang the stand, and do some squirrel hunting from it. That would help you get confortable taking aim. Another option hang the stand and take both barrels with you and take turns with them taking aim on whatever you see. Be it a bright leaf, bird, etc. It is like stump shooting with a recurve bow. Very good practice if you can make yourself take the time to do it.

I'd use the 10" in an area where shot distance is limited and the 16" where shots may be out a ways. If you use the avg of 50 fps loss or gained per inch of barrel length then your giving up 300ps in velocity with the 10", of course this is an avg and things differ from gun to gun and caliber to caliber but 300fps is a lot if your shooting out at longer distances.