Contender pistol shooters ?

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R. Dupraz posted this 04 September 2015

Any Contender pistol shooters out there that have real experience with the accuracy of MGM barrels ? Cast or jacketed. Another project in the works, maybe.

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rwjshooter posted this 05 September 2015

HII have a 44mag mgm on a contender,like it very much,, most accurate barrel I have hadfor a contender ,the Lyman 429421 is the best so far it's mostly the trigger nut where accuracy comes undone Ramon

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R. Dupraz posted this 05 September 2015

Thanks for the reply rwjshooter.      For sometime now I have had the urge for a .221 fireball bull barrel with a fast twist, and throated for longer heavier cast bullets. Just basically for my own curiosity I guess and to see if I could get those iddy bitty .22's to shoot little bitty groups in my Contender pistol. For some odd reason, the urge in not going away.      Something new to me as all I have  ever seriously cast for are various thirty's.

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shootcast posted this 18 September 2015

I have one MGM barrel. It's a wildcat in 25-222 Ack. Mine is a rifle configure for the Contender. 25 inch 1 in 10 tapered . I mostly shoot cast bullets. It probably is my favorite. Mostly because it's a one of a kind. Built from my reamer. The quiality is good in my opinion . I did have a problem that needed corrected and the barrel was sent back. It was corrected in a timely manner. I couldn't tell you if it is any better than any other maker. At times I have shot sub minute 5 shot groups @ 100 yds. At times I have shot so poorly and don't know why! Contenders are finicky . Sometimes things work well sometimes they don't. I can tell you on a recent outing I was able to hit targets with jacket loads past 350 yards from the bench. Not every shot but right regular.

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R. Dupraz posted this 18 September 2015

Thanks for the reply shootcast,

      "At times I have shot so poorly and don't know why! Contenders are finicky . Sometimes things work well sometimes they don't. I can tell you on a recent outing I was able to hit targets with jacket loads past 350 yards from the bench"   My experience this summer as well. I have a TC 14” 30 Herret bull barrel that I got at a gun show last Jan. and have been trying to make it shoot cast all summer. I know what you mean for sure. Still haven't figured out whether it's my hold or the barrel. My hope was 2” ten shotters  at 100 or thereabouts but haven't gotten past 50yds. I have put ten in 1" at 50 fairly often then next time not so much   Good enough for hunting I think but that's about it. buying used barrels is pretty much a crap shoot but thought that I would take a chance anyway. So thought I might try a custom tube chambered in something else and throated to my specs.          

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Bud Hyett posted this 18 September 2015

One item in shooting the Contender is closing the action the same each time. Forcefully close the action with a concerted effort, but do not slam the action closed. Ed Doonan and I experimented many years ago with the Contender plus he had converted several single shot shotguns to rifles that are the same style breech.

Grab the grip in one hand and the barrel in the other hand, then shut the breech quickly and forcefully without slamming it. Too quickly as in slamming it and the breech will rebound slightly open as it locks.

This is more of an art than a science and takes a learning period.

Great accuracy can be obtained with the Contender and a good barrel.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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shootcast posted this 20 September 2015

Well, you are not doing so bad. In my opinion these are not tack drivers. Please try a postal. You can't do any worse than I have done. Yes we may get our butts kicked but somebody has to come in last. If we want to keep the class open we need shooters. Who knows as my buddy says. Maybe all the planets and stars in the universe will line and your horoscope and lucky rabbits foot will all come together. It could be your day!!!

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Wayne S posted this 21 September 2015

As to your 30 Herrett, check the twist, The older  30 Cal. barrels came with a 1-14 twist.  But that should stabilize a 150 FB J-bullet or a cast bullet up to the 165 ECBS Sil. The early Bbl/s has the one piece front sight. ALL T/C Herrett Bbl's have a very long throat so you need to size your cast bullets to be a push fit < a little resistance  when closing the action> .  If possible, load some J bullets from 110 gn th 150 FB bullets and use these as your standard for your accuracy. Then try your cast loads

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Wayne S posted this 21 September 2015

R. Dupraz wrote: Thanks for the reply shootcast,

      "At times I have shot so poorly and don't know why! Contenders are finicky . Sometimes things work well sometimes they don't. I can tell you on a recent outing I was able to hit targets with jacket loads past 350 yards from the bench"   My experience this summer as well. I have a TC 14” 30 Herret bull barrel that I got at a gun show last Jan. and have been trying to make it shoot cast all summer. I know what you mean for sure. Still haven't figured out whether it's my hold or the barrel. My hope was 2” ten shotters  at 100 or thereabouts but haven't gotten past 50yds. I have put ten in 1" at 50 fairly often then next time not so much   Good enough for hunting I think but that's about it. buying used barrels is pretty much a crap shoot but thought that I would take a chance anyway. So thought I might try a custom tube chambered in something else and throated to my specs.           SD would suggest you want to shoot farther that 100 yds. ??  Since you say “custom and throated to your Specs.  Be sure to send a few dummy rounds with the bullet of your choice seated to your Specs.. From my experiences fast twists are not the friend of cast bullets. http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi>Twist rates, This and a couple that ask what your bullet is made of gave me an insight as to twists and cast bullets.

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Wayne S posted this 23 September 2015

The American Rifleman did an article in 1965 66, on a Contender shooter named Don Bower. He and a few other Contender shooters were shooting re chambered stock Contender barrels out to 700 + yds. So if you want to know about long range Contender shooting “google” Don Bower.

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Artful posted this 17 January 2016

The only MGM I have is a rifle barrel in .222 rem and I don't do cast for it - but it does real well with jacketed.

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JSH posted this 17 January 2016

The Don Bower article is June 1995 I believe.

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gemihur posted this 19 March 2019

He was an inspiration to contender shooters and a big influence on Bellm and many others.

 

The man was a legend. 

His theories and principles of contender use cannot be rivaled.

We are lucky to have had him among our ranks.

Thanks,

Jimmy

I shoot, therefore I am

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