T.C. Contender

[hemiguy55]

I'm in a huge dilemma here. I have the choice of one of my grandfathers guns and the one that I'd like the most is one of his Contenders. I remember him always talkn about it and how much he liked to shoot it. My dilemma is what caliber? He has 3 guns and 6 barrels. There's 223 Rem, 204 Ruger, 308 Bellm, 7mm Bellm, 45-70 Govt, and 7mm TCU. Any of these calibers rare to come by?

[Army]

The Bellm rounds are handload only with custom or handmade brass, but are designed for maximum performance from a Contender. Good stuff. The other four are all commercially loaded and available most anywhere.

As a 35 year fan of Contenders, I say,

"DUH!" What are you waiting for


Nothing shoots better, looks better, gets more attention on the range

[hemiguy55]

I also got a *****LOAD of reloading stuff that was his too. I mean there's so much stuff its unbelievable. The Contenders ARE cool lookin guns. I'm really curious as to how they shoot and sound! Are these guns or calibers rare?

[Canucky]

Hemiguy double up on the hearing (plugs&muffs) you can thank me later.

[wtkaiser]

I had a Contender in .222, not .223. With a 10" barrel, it was a waste of powder but it felt good. It had a high-pitched, pretty good crack when it went off. Your .223 barrel will be the same if it's 10". You get into the 14-16" category, it's a different subject! I imagine the .45/70 barrel will hurt, so you are welcome to it. .204 Ruger should be ideal, even higher pitch crack. 7mm TCU should be the perfect round. None of the standard chamberings is hard to come by, particularly, I believe. 7mm TCU is possible exception.

[Capt.Dunsel]

Take it from somebody that has fired a Contender in 45/70 , it is a BLAST , it will hurt your wrist after half a box of ammo the first year you own it , then you get numb to it and get surgery.

It would be number one of the choices you have.

7mm TCU would be number 2 , great long range hand gun. Reload if you get her.

And why not get them all ? I have everything from 22lr up to 45/70 for my contenders , both rifle and pistol , except 45lc/410 which I would absolutely love to have ( but not in CA short barrel shotgun )

And Army got it right nothing better than shooting a handgun at 100 to 200 yards as good as or better than those long guns.

[toby]

7mm tcu the others are easy to come by and the Belm aint all that great as far as coolness or resale. the 223 in a short barrel is worthless and super LOUD! the 45-70 looses to much performance but is still a cool round just for shooting but expensive for pinking with been shooting T/C's for 35 or so years.

[Munk]

The easiest to reload for and handle will probably be your .308 bellm. But you may want to get something with commercially available brass.

None of those strike me as exactly rare (and you can have almost all of them manufactured for a few hundred anyway).

Getting your own barrels used will cost you less than 200$ a piece if you want to add to your caliber selection. (250 factory new, or 300-400 for a custom made barrel.)

I have an encore (the heavy action alternative to the contender) and it's a blast to shoot. I'm contemplating getting a small caliber for it, just for plinking purposes... but I would probably come back and plink with my .460 anyway.

[HighLander51]

You will find the 7mmTCU the best of the barrels. .223 Rem and .204 Ruger and 45-70 are available, don't even know what the Bellm's are. I have been running a .35 Remington forever with the original Thompson 3x long eye relief glass.



The 'Original Single Shot Exemption' .45cal

[thomashoward]

https://www.bellmtcs.com

[Twiggz]

Take it from somebody that has fired a Contender in 45/70 , it is a BLAST , it will hurt your wrist after half a box of ammo the first year you own it , then you get numb to it and get surgery.

[dfletcher]

I'm in a huge dilemma here. I have the choice of one of my grandfathers guns and the one that I'd like the most is one of his Contenders. I remember him always talkn about it and how much he liked to shoot it. My dilemma is what caliber? He has 3 guns and 6 barrels. There's 223 Rem, 204 Ruger, 308 Bellm, 7mm Bellm, 45-70 Govt, and 7mm TCU. Any of these calibers rare to come by?

The 223, 204 Ruger and 45/70 are standard stuff and easy to get. The Bellm stuff is custom, the TCU is somewhere in between. It sounds like he had a good cross section of calibers. They're all pleasant to shoot, even the 45/70 - unless you handload a 300 grain JHP to about 2,100 fps. Brisk.

I've been fiddling with the TCs for about 40 years and have handguns and rifles. I'm up to 4 frames and about 40 barrels, rifle and handgun.

Is the Contender an "old style" with a catamount (mountain lion) engraved on the side, or is it the newer plain "G2" style? Do you get to keep one frame and one barrel? One frame and all barrels?

The Bellm calibers are named after this fellow, he runs a "nuts for T/Cs" shop up in OR. Lots of info on his site, if you shoot him a question on his calibers he'll answer:http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/

[hemiguy55]

I know 2 of them are the "old style". I clearly remember seeing the lion on the sides. I thought it was pretty cool looking! I want to say I remember the 3rd being the same but cant remember for sure. Are 7mm tcu rounds hard to order or come by? How about 308 bellm brass?

[Capt.Dunsel]

7mm TCU is a necked up commercial .223 Rem case , military cases aren't recommended.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=7mm%20tcu&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reloadbench.com%2Fcartridges%2Fw7mmtcu.html&ei=nmH_UNqtCqzpiQLsjIHgBw&usg=AFQjCNEPpePbTyw7Uph1uYQ849v_7lZARA&bvm=bv.41248874,d.cGE

Chances are if he shot that calibre he had/has the dies around. But pretty much the same for any of the non-standard rounds.

[dfletcher]

7mm TCU is a necked up commercial .223 Rem case , military cases aren't recommended.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=7mm%20tcu&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reloadbench.com%2Fcartridges%2Fw7mmtcu.html&ei=nmH_UNqtCqzpiQLsjIHgBw&usg=AFQjCNEPpePbTyw7Uph1uYQ849v_7lZARA&bvm=bv.41248874,d.cGE

Chances are if he shot that calibre he had/has the dies around. But pretty much the same for any of the non-standard rounds.

That's a good point. With the TCU and the other unusual stuff you have to figure there's dies, brass and such laying about.