Well after thirty some years of owning Contenders, I finally bought a 223 Remington Barrel.
If I were giving advice to someone getting into Contenders "when TC was still in business" on what "Factory" Barrels to get. My advice would be a 22 LR, 223 Remington, and a 7x30 to hunt with. I had never taken my own advice on the 223 Barrel.

Last month while at my Semi-Local (50 miles away) Reloading shop the owner told me that he had a smoking deal on a Contender Barrel. The owned knows I am a serious handgun hunter. What he produced was a Like New Blued Super 14 Contender Barrel, with a Weaver Base, a High Quality set of Blued Steel Rings and an older Burris 5X with Target Knobs. This was about as nice a set up "on a 223 Barrel" as could be assembled around 1990.

On my agenda today is cleaning the barrel. Checking the base screws, and swapping the scope for a NEW Burris 2-7. I may swap scope bases if I have a spare EGW Base on the shelf. I have been changing all of my scope bases over to EGW the last few years. Much easier to move scopes around when everything has a compatible scope base.

I will next need to assemble some ammunition for the 1 in 14 twist barrel. I have a quantity of FC once fired Brass from a Class at the Range. I have lots of 50 Grain Hornady V-Max Bullets left over from a 221 FireBall Rifle I had several years ago. I have several powders that will work fine. I will need to decide between WW748, AA2015BR, TAC, SW Tactical, and IMR4895. I have some First Run AA2200 that I need to start using up also.

We have the Hand Gunners Get Together coming up the 25 of September 2022 at the Big Piney Sportsman's Club. I need to get the 223 Barrel up and running before then.

I sure hope this barrel is a shooter.

Bob R