Super 14, T/C Contender 30-30 Winchester

[Ben]

I've wanted one of these for 20 years.
For one reason or another I had to wait until today to be able to say that I now own one.
Having a wide variety of .30 cal. cast bullet moulds ( about 30 - 35 ) from an 85 gr. g/c all the way up to a 240 gr. plain base , I've got a lot of shooting and experimenting ahead of me this spring.

I've always believed that the 30-30 in a T/C was the ideal platform with the 30-30's long neck and moderate case capacity to use with .30 cal. cast bullets. It would take a reloader many years to exhaust all the possibilities with different powders and all the different .30 cal. cast bullet weights and styles in the 30-30.

If you find yourself in a town in America that does not sell 30-30 Win., you're way off the beaten path. I can't envision, anytime in the near future, that 30-30 brass would be hard to obtain.

My barrel is 99% on the outside. The bore is near 100%.
I allowed the bore to soak with old time Yellow Hoppes, ........After 4 hours , there were no signs of copper in the barrel. This barrel was either a safe queen or it belonged to a cast bullet shooter, as there isn't a trace of copper in the barrel ? ?

I pulled the target model rear sight off, and installed my Pro-Class , 2 X , tapered cross hair , dot scope.

Now I need some good weather to try this puppy out.


Thanks,
Ben

 

[Rick]

Sweet. Mine really liked the RCBS 180 SP and SAECO #311. Several powders worked well but I think it was happiest with 4759.

 

[JWFilips]

Nice Find Ben. Can't wait to hear how it shoots

 

[Ben]

it was happiest with 4759.

Isn't it a shame that 4759 has gone down the tube.
A GREAT powder for cast bullets in rifle cartridges !

Ben

 

[Ben]

Nice Find Ben. Can't wait to hear how it shoots

Thanks Jim, when I get some decent weather you can bet this puppy will be headed to the range.

Ben

 

[Rick]

Huge shame and I'm down to 20 pounds. Dunno what I'll do.

 

[Ben]

Rick,

So I'll know whether it is the " Pistol or me ", what should I expect from this one with optimum cast loads in the way of accuracy at 50 yards and 100 yards ? ?

Ben

 

[Dale53]

I'm not Rick, but my personal experience was that the accuracy in my Super Fourteen in 30-30 at fifty and 100 yards was limited by my perception with the two powered scope. I could average about 2" at 100 yards with a full weight gas checked bullet. I had the distinct impression (not proved) that the pistol was better than I could hold and see. Since I shot it from field positions, I preferred a low powered scope.

I shot a number of VERY nice five shot groups at 50 yards, however.

Since we were not permitted to hunt deer in Ohio with a bottle necked cartridge and I preferred Hunter Pistol (which was better served by a cartridge with less recoil), I sold the barrel to a good friend, who won a number of Pistol Silhouette matches with it. It got a good home...

I suspect you'll be very happy with your new barrel!

Dale53

 

[Ben]

" I suspect you'll be very happy with your new barrel! "

I hope so Dale.

Now the wait for some decent shooting weather..................I'm not good at waiting.

Ben

 

[Rick]

And 200 yards. I don't have my load notes (or the barrel) from back then and I didn't group on paper. Being a silhouette shooter my grouping was normally from Creedmoor on the silhouettes with open sights. Get a decent load with consistent neck tension from good brass, a good throat fit and if using a bore rider make sure the nose fits properly and I think Ben will be a happy camper.

You might want to check out Mike Bellm's web site and look over the pics of common T/C throat problems & then do a chamber cast of yours & compare. If all is well it should be a really good shooter.

 

[Ben]

Many thanks Rick !

Ben

 

[KHornet]

Will be anxious to see your results with your new toy Ben. So So many possibilities with so many molds.

 

[Ben]

I don't think I'll even come close to living long enough to exhaust all the possibilities with this one.
30 + moulds, 15 propellants, 6 different brands of primers...........WOW, this is going to take some time.

 

[35 shooter]

This one will keep you occupied for quite a while i suspect. Since it's a TC and a 30/30 on top of that, i would bet it shoots just about everything you try in it very well!

 

[Ben]

We'll know soon ..........

Ben

 

[Glen]

Ben, I just finished a similar project with a 10" Contender .30-30 and 5 different cast bullets. I wrote it up for HHI and sent it in to JD a couple of weeks ago. Get me your email address and I will send you a copy of that write up, if you'd like it.

 

[Ben]

YES Glen,

I'd love to have it, check your In Box, I've sent you my Email address.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Glen]

Got it. Will send later today.

Glen

 

[Ben]

Houston, We have a problem !



I've been reading about the throats in " some " of the T/C Contender 30-30 barrels.
Some are horrible for cast bullets .
My throat in my Super 14 for all practical purposes is non-existent.
The rifling runs right up to the end of the case mouth.
I made several " dummies " yesterday with no propellant or primer.
Not a single .310" or ".311 dia cast bullet with a nose of .300" , .301 , or .3015 " would even begin to chamber in my barrel.

I made a phone call to my gunsmith Harold Tyus in Golden, CO.
Harold has a lot of experience building single shot match rifles in many calibers including .30 cal, so he has all the reamers, throaters, etc. that would be needed to fix this situation for me. The beauty of Harold is that he is also a cast bullet shooter and an excellent machinist and KNOWS what it will take to improve my current situation. I told Harold my situation , he said that he fully understood my situation and for me to make dummies of all the different cast bullet styles that I wanted to shoot in my barrel. He asked me to seat them to the appropriate depth and include them with the barrel when it was shipped.

For my interest in cast bullet shooting with all the moulds that I have , this barrel right now is basically useless unless you want to shoot full wadcutters all the time with a 1/32 of an inch of bullet extending from the case mouth. By the way, I loaded that very thing yesterday and it chambered fine.

I have shipped the barrel and about a dozen " dummies ".
He said this would be quick.

Now the wait, I'm not very good at waiting...........

Ben

 

[Glen]

I am a HUGE fan of the Contender, and it has been my primary hunting tool since the late 1980s, but you have hit the nail on the head -- factory T/C barrels are generally pretty good, but chambers, and in particular throats, can be anywhere from excellent to worthless. I've got factory barrels that are great, and I've had some that just left me shaking my head -- a 7-30 Waters that had the shoulder a full 1/8" farther forward than it should have been; a .44 Magnum with an oversized (diameter) chamber and a 1+" conical throat that looked like it had been cut with a Dremel tool; a .223 Remington that had head-space so bad that it wouldn't go bang over half the time with factory ammo; etc. But I've also had a number of factory barrels over the years that had good chambers/throats (.221 Fireball, .223, 7 TCU, .35 Remington, etc.). The problem is there is no real consistency from one production run to the next, and T/C has long been paranoid about people stretching frames from high pressure loads, so they tend to cut throats long/oversized as a means of keeping pressures down. Little wonder that there are so many companies making after-market barrels for the Contender (with properly cut chambers and throats).