My experience with custom Contender barrels is limited to Bullberry and SSK, none of which were chambered to .223 or .44 - they included - among others - .25-20, .32-20, .300 Savage and .35 Remington (my first custom barrel was purchased over 30 years ago when I hunted Kodiak Island every year.) I have owned several dozen factory barrels, and none of them gave group aggregates like my custom barrels do. Most factory barrels were okay, some were very good, but sub-0.7 moa group aggregates were only achievable with the custom barrels.

IME, older Contender barrels were considerably better in quality than barrels made the past 20 years, in both bore finish and chamber dimansions.


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