TC Contenders

[Michael]

I have to admit that the one thing that caused me to catch the contender bug years ago was the wide variety of chamberings offered just from the factory. Granted time change, pistol silhouette is all but dead, and to many, a single shot anything ranks right up there with a black and white TV.

My first barrel was a used 14" 30 Herrett with a 1:14 twist, long throat and dies. Many a good lessons were learned came from that guy, case forming, resizing, headspace, bullet selection- both cast and jacketed- would stabilize 150gr Sierra SPs but not Hornadys. Same thing with 87gr bullets in a .256 Win. When I stopped shooting pistol silhouette my Herrett cases were going on 20 firings (24grs H335, 311291). Get the FL sizer set right and case loss was more from split necks than anything else.

When it came to tinkering with wildcats and other interesting rounds or experiments, I don't think there was any comparison. All but a few of my barrels are long gone, but the memories and lessons will never be forgotten.

 

[L Ross]

I have to admit that the one thing that caused me to catch the contender bug years ago was the wide variety of chamberings offered just from the factory. Granted time change, pistol silhouette is all but dead, and to many, a single shot anything ranks right up there with a black and white TV.

My first barrel was a used 14" 30 Herrett with a 1:14 twist, long throat and a dies. Many a good lessons were learned came from that guy, case forming, resizing, headspace, bullet selection- both cast and jacketed- would stabilize 150gr Sierra SPs but not Hornadys. Same thing with 87gr bullets in a .256 Win. When I stopped shooting pistol silhouette my Herrett cases were going on 20 firings (24grs H335, 311291). Get the FL sizer set right and case loss was more from split necks than anything else.

When it came to tinkering with wildcats and other interesting rounds or experiments, I don't think there was any comparison. All but a few of my barrels are long gone, but the memories and lessons will never be forgotten.

Glad to hear you have experience with the .30 Herrett. I am looking for a 14" .30-30 barrel at a reasonable price because of the plethora of .30 caliber moulds I have. Now that I have my own range with a ridiculous number or targets and rails I just want one as a cast bullet range toy. I'll scope it and shoot it from a rest to knock down steel.

Michael, would you suggest grabbing a .30 Herrett for that intended use if one showed up before a .30-30 barrel?

 

[Michael]

Hi Duke,

I would. I had a 10" bull in 30-30 for short while. I think the Herrett is a better option, more efficient, accurate. Sure one has to form cases but that is a pretty easy task with a form-trim die, and a wise man would treat sizing the 30-30 the same way as the Herrett, so no difference is that aspect.

There is quite a bit of data in manuals from the 70s-80s for the Herrett, you likely already have them. Lyman and IMR listed more of the "slower" powders i.e. 335, 3031, 4895, etc., than others. I am to happy copy and send your way is you need it. A 14" twist is a bit fussy when it comes to bullet length. It is a fun little round and besides, what a classic combination.

Maybe a 357 Herrett to match, it will give you something else to run those 221gr .358 slugs through. Push them with a healthy dose of of 1680 and you will have a smile on your face.

 

[todd]

You do know that the H&R Handi Rifles were discontinued too, right?

Kidding aside, it's sad and it's what I HATE (yes, I said the "H-word") about all the new crap being pushed by "marketing geniuses." It pushes out of production a lot of viable, useful and really great stuff. I think a lot of the new shooters, who end up sticking with it will also mourn these losses eventually as they start to demand more of their guns (and themselves) than making noise and kicking up dirt on the back stop.

There.

I did my grouchy old fart thing for the day and now I'll shut up for a while.

No, there's one more thing - getting mad about dumb stuff being done to you is considered poor form and bad behavior. Well, I'm mad and I'm not buying into the new etiquette that one must endure suffering imposed by others for their own gain at your expense.

NOW, I'll shut up for a while.

the last thing i bought new has to 7 or 8 years ago and it was a S&W TC Encore frame.

i despise the junk that they call new now. plastic stocks, plasitic magazines, plastic parts and pieces.......there is no pride in the work. the only manufacturer that i like is CZ.

i'll spend my money on old sporterized military rifles . wood, laminates and blued steel!!! and yes, germany did laminates in WW2.

NOW, i'll continue to gripe about plastic guns!!!!!!

 

[L Ross]

Hi Duke,

I would. I had a 10" bull in 30-30 for short while. I think the Herrett is a better option, more efficient, accurate. Sure one has to form cases but that is a pretty easy task with a form-trim die, and a wise man would treat sizing the 30-30 the same way as the Herrett, so no difference is that aspect.

There is quite a bit of data in manuals from the 70s-80s for the Herrett, you likely already have them. Lyman and IMR listed more of the "slower" powders i.e. 335, 3031, 4895, etc., than others. I am to happy copy and send your way is you need it. A 14" twist is a bit fussy when it comes to bullet length. It is a fun little round and besides, what a classic combination.

Maybe a 357 Herrett to match, it will give you something else to run those 221gr .358 slugs through. Push them with a healthy dose of of 1680 and you will have a smile on your face.

Those manuals are right in my wheel house as I really started loading for handguns in 1975. I should have all of them from back in the day.

The Contender I am getting has the oh so homely rubber on it but I just found a Schiemeier grip for 30 bucks dating from around 1979. My gunsmith friend made his grip and forearm and the Schiemeier certainly resembles his custom grip. Funny Schiemierer and Herrett were both in Twin Falls, Idaho.

 

[dale2242]

I shot a 30 Herret for a lot of years.
I got rid of it and went to a 30-30.
I am much happier with it.
No brass to make.

 

[Jeff H]

.......there is no pride in the work. the only manufacturer that i like is CZ.....

I hate to just keep being Debbie-Downer, Todd, but both the CZ 550, and now the CZ 527 are EXTINCT as well.

They replaced the 550 with the 557 (push-feed) a few years ago, and are NOW replacing both the 557 AND the 527 with a new model I know little about, but didn't like anything about what little I saw, as it looks just like everything else.

Get your Contenders, G2s, Encores, 550s and 527s now if you can.

I'm "hunkering down" with my small personal battery and am glad I finally decided to go the Contender route. I'm only casting for FOUR calibers now, 22, 30, 35 and 44. I have two moulds per caliber, except that I cheated a little and have four for the 35s, but that's revolver AND carbine. I have four Contender barrels and three actions, but I'd snag another action in a heartbeat if I came by one "right." I don't do the "swap-barrel" thing so much as benefit from the fact that if something in one action breaks, I can have that barrel back in play simply by swapping a whole action until I find/make parts for the deficient one.

There is s ton of versatility in the Contender platform AND they are just neat guns to mess with. I believe that we can call them "classic" now, after 50+ years. They also have this odd, hybrid aesthetic which is at once very racy and modern-looking, but (at least in a carbine) also very "vintage"- looking, hinting at an 1880s single-shot vibe. Compact, lightweight, reliable, simple to operate and maintain, chambered in the easier-going cartridges that I prefer, expandable and amenable to experimentation with super-light loads, loads with extreme overall lengths, different nose profiles, etc. Easy to adapt to another cartridge, yet be able to switch back if you change your mind.

I'm happy to see another "one of us" find one right now. Good news is that we don't have to compete for them with the vast majority of people throwing money at their next favorite "blaster" today. Bad news is we'll likely end up competing with a bunch of well-seasoned old farts who know a thing or two.

 

[david s]

Still have four frames and an assortment of barrels. I believe the 30 Herrett was a situation something like the 221 Fireball round. The 30 Herrett case was developed to make the most use of a 10-inch barrel with the powders that Herrett and Milek had back then. It and the 35 Herrett somewhat fell out of favor when T/C began offering the Super 14 barrels. The 14-inch length made the two factory offerings (30-30 Win and 35 Remington) a bit more realistic. I've played with the 30 and 35 Herretts but have the 30-30 and 35 Remington barrels both 14-inch versions. Smith and Wesson have T/C up for sale, but I haven't heard of any serious buyers. The aftermarket support has always been good for the T/C but very much a niche market. I doubt the aftermarket support will disappear any time soon. Always a very versatile platform.

 

[todd]

I hate to just keep being Debbie-Downer, Todd, but both the CZ 550, and now the CZ 527 are EXTINCT as well.

They replaced the 550 with the 557 (push-feed) a few years ago, and are NOW replacing both the 557 AND the 527 with a new model I know little about, but didn't like anything about what little I saw, as it looks just like everything else.

Get your Contenders, G2s, Encores, 550s and 527s now if you can.

I'm "hunkering down" with my small personal battery and am glad I finally decided to go the Contender route. I'm only casting for FOUR calibers now, 22, 30, 35 and 44. I have two moulds per caliber, except that I cheated a little and have four for the 35s, but that's revolver AND carbine. I have four Contender barrels and three actions, but I'd snag another action in a heartbeat if I came by one "right." I don't do the "swap-barrel" thing so much as benefit from the fact that if something in one action breaks, I can have that barrel back in play simply by swapping a whole action until I find/make parts for the deficient one.

There is s ton of versatility in the Contender platform AND they are just neat guns to mess with. I believe that we can call them "classic" now, after 50+ years. They also have this odd, hybrid aesthetic which is at once very racy and modern-looking, but (at least in a carbine) also very "vintage"- looking, hinting at an 1880s single-shot vibe. Compact, lightweight, reliable, simple to operate and maintain, chambered in the easier-going cartridges that I prefer, expandable and amenable to experimentation with super-light loads, loads with extreme overall lengths, different nose profiles, etc. Easy to adapt to another cartridge, yet be able to switch back if you change your mind.

I'm happy to see another "one of us" find one right now. Good news is that we don't have to compete for them with the vast majority of people throwing money at their next favorite "blaster" today. Bad news is we'll likely end up competing with a bunch of well-seasoned old farts who know a thing or two.

jiminy crickets!!!!!!! welp there is no one now!!!

i have 3 encores: 20 vartarg, 444 marlin and 500 linebaugh. all are 23" MGM heavy factory barrels with Sapphire and Royal Jacaranda Laminates. i used to have a 15", 16 1/4" and 23" MGM barrel in 6.5 creedmoor and a 27" MGM 22-250ai, but they were accurate as all get out. yet i got tired of them and all the very careful handloads, so i sold them. the only thing that i jacketed bullets for is the 20 vartarg and ruger #1(1973) in 270 win. from .284 thru .510", its cast boolits.

the "newest" blaster i have bought is a 7x57 in a sporterized 1908 Brazilian mauser. or a 7.65x53 in 91 argie.....or 1898 spr armory in 30-40 krag .....or a remington m14 in 30 rem....yep, speed demons they are not, but they sure do put deer in the freezer.

 

[L Ross]

Didn't Lehigh Industries buy the rights to the Contender from Smith? I've been reading a bit since my interest in the Contender topic has been rekindled. I saw something about SSK, Lehigh Industries coming out with a new Contender.

 

[Missionary]

That would be a fine solution. Even if it is limited production I would like to see what would be offered.

 

[Bret4207]

My father bought a Contender sometime in the early to mid 70's. I think the first barrel was a 22 Mag and the 2nd was a 44 "Hot Shot". Grips were these squared off things that were not at all comfortable to me, both barrels being 10 inchers. Open sights, no scope back then. The 22 wasn't bad but you had to pay attention to what you were doing as far as sighting. The 44 was brutal with those grips. I split the web of my hand one cold, cold day with it. Factory loads of course, we weren't even reloading for the 44 then. The Hot Shot was fun and grouse were taken with it. I foolishly sold that gun when my eyes were on other "better" guns. Now I'd like to get one. I'll have to work on my old partner some more and see if I can wrangle his away from him.

Bob Milek and Steve Herret. Man, if I had a dollar for every one of Mileks articles I read and re-read multiple times I could buy that Contender!

 

[Intel6]

Didn't Lehigh Industries buy the rights to the Contender from Smith? I've been reading a bit since my interest in the Contender topic has been rekindled. I saw something about SSK, Lehigh Industries coming out with a new Contender.

They are just making their own smooth sided frame, they did not buy the T/C name/IP from S&W. They are also making their own SSK barrels now.

 

[todd]

i already have one, a win m94 in 35/30-30, but i think that a 23" MGM barrel will go nice with the Contender.

 

[Jeff H]

Didn't Lehigh Industries buy the rights to the Contender from Smith? I've been reading a bit since my interest in the Contender topic has been rekindled. I saw something about SSK, Lehigh Industries coming out with a new Contender.

Yeah, well, the guy who says he learned a long time ago not to make commitments before he had product n-hand, made a lot of commitments for two years and then pretty much just hasn't said boo about it. Several "it'll be out by (fill in a new date here) several times.

Died on the vine. Not gonna happen, is my interpretation.

 

[L Ross]

I had big plans today to try the Contender. As usual things went awry. I was Round Upping a bunch of thistles along the fence between my place and the neighbors when the neighbor's wife pulled up next to me on a riding lawn mower. She apologized for not getting the thistles cut in their Yak pasture but explained her husband fell through a barn floor he was razing. 9 ft. down onto a pile of field stone foundation rubble. Three broken vertebrae, cracked his hip, broke 3 ribs and is generally hors d'combat for a few weeks.

The thistles are 3 ft. and more high and in flower. They need to be cut before they form seed as they are upwind of our prairie. I mounted the the bush hog and mowed a few thousand thistles and ended up bug bitten and sweat soaked. The Yaks are in the pasture and a million green Yak pies left the tractor and me dirtier than if we'd spent the day compacting dirty diapers in a New York City landfill. A thorough washing of the tractor and mower left me even filthier. A shower followed and then Supper.

I had recovered nicely by 7:30 so I stuck a cheap red dot on the new to me Contender. I found about 20 rounds of a plinker load I use in our Rossi carbines. A 130 gr. Magma RNFP and 4.5 grains of Trail Boss. I got on paper at 12 yards immediately. I was very happy because I pulled the Primary Arms red dot off of a Nylon 66 and simply clamped it on the Contender's Picatinny rail. Next I zeroed at 25 yards, then shot at 80 at a 12" gong and hit that. Small adjustment put it dead center at 80 and I murdered the ten 5" diamonds before I ran out of ammo.

The red dot has a bad flare and it is hard to see exactly where you are holding. I tried turning down the intensity but the "dot" is still and elongated diagonal comet in the scope. Never the less, big fun. Excellent trigger, deadly accurate.

 

[RicinYakima]

Yak poop is always a hard thing to clean up; give me sheep s**t any day.

 

[Michael]

Those thistle flowers need to be cut off and be completely disposed of / distroyed. Just cutting the plant down will not do much to prevent seeds from setting. Thistles are a member of the composetacea family, think giant dandelion. The plant will put all remaining energy left into setting seed once they have flowered.

 

[L Ross]

Yak poop is always a hard thing to clean up; give me sheep s**t any day.

Here in SW Wisconsin we have a lot of Amish on our roads and I get to play horse turd slalom with the motorcycle all the time. A bigger annoyance is the manure handling practices of the giant dairy farms that have taken over from all the small operators. Huge operations generating an entire sub-industry of storing, pumping, hauling, spreading, or tilling in manure. Millions of gallons of the fermented slurry.

As you can imagine, as the big trucks and spreaders get covered in the stuff a certain amount ends up on the roads. So it ends up on vehicles, which end up in garages, which end up smelling of manure. Of course there are laws and ordinances regulating how our roads are to be used but, the last two cops in America that enforced traffic laws with any vigor were ME and Bret!

As I told a convention of police chiefs once regarding the reduction of traffic crashes in my City, there's not a local traffic problem I could not solve with a thousand citations and using the media.

 

[L Ross]

Those thistle flowers need to be cut off and be completely disposed of / distroyed. Just cutting the plant down will not do much to prevent seeds from setting. Thistles are a member of the composetacea family, think giant dandelion. The plant will put all remaining energy left into setting seed once they have flowered.

Perhaps, however I have seen a dramatic reduction in total plants by cutting them off shortly after they flower. It is about all I can do beside spot spraying with glyphosate. Doing nothing was not an option and now that the neighbor has joined the effort to keep the seed from blowing into our prairie it is much better. Each year the prairie gets denser and better able to protect itself. It is beautiful right now with hundreds of thousands of Rudbeckia in bloom. A sea of yellow flowers.