[highplainsman]

Hey Partner! Sounds like good advice! I know where there is a 30 Herrat barrel that I might be able to swap into but I really hate to saddle anyone with my problem! Anyone here have any experiance with the 30 Herrat!

[willyC]

OK. Here's wut ya do. Send the 10" .44 to Bellm with a butt-load of money. Have him evaluate the usual sloppy way T/C chambered these things with a forcing cone instead of a tru throat. Maybe he can square it away with his reamer so it'll shoot. (only kidding about the $$, it won't cost too much. maybe $40-$50) I understand not wanting to screw someone else. I DO know enuff to stay away from the Herritts. There are better cals. to be had. The brass is a giant pain in the @ss to make. They're both made from 30-30 brass and my cousin's 30Herritt ate brass up regularly. At the risk of repeating myself, you just gotta sit down at the computer and read the whole dang Bellm site. You'll end up bein' so smart your head will hurt. And you WILL know what cal. you'll want next. (all of 'em !! haha) You got that, bud?? Key word was READ. Let me know what you think. I'll be interested to know.

[roverboy]

My wifes cousin has one with about 4 barrels. .30 Herret, .357 Herret, .357 magnum, and 7mm TCU.

[willyC]

Anyone have any good info for highplainsman about the .30 Herrett or .35 Herrett ? He has his eye on one and I feel they are really old school calibers, very hard to make the brass and that there are better choices out there in .30 or .35 to be had. Help with info if ya can. Thanks willyC

[skb2706]

I missed your question earlier in the thread. We shoot pds at my sisters place out on the prairie. Several thousand acres to work with and plenty of neighbors willing to let us on to shoot.

One of many 'tender prairie dog set ups, this one is a .204 Ruger SS MGM 23" bull barrel on an original easy open Contender. It is effective well past 400 yds.

[crookedshooter]

I recently received a TC. I looked up the manufactuer date and it is a 1979 model with a 14" 30-30 barrel. It did not close right when I got it so I sent it in to TC. They said it will receive the new barrels now. Can I purchase rifle barrels and the stock set up and make it a small rifle?

[tcwildcat7mm]

Yes you can. I just started the process myself. lookin to see if I am gonna go with laminated camo pattern or save a ton o money and go regular wooden plain jane and get some engraving done to make it personal. anywhere from 55 bucks to 285 from what i can see for the stocks and 40 to 175 for the forend. Wondering myself if I can make it a muzzleloader too?

[skb2706]

All of my Contenders/G2s started out as pistols. I bought stock sets for a few of them to make up small carbines for my son when he was growing up. Now that I have them I really like shooting them as rifles. I can go out to the prairie and take a few barrels with me and shoot most of the day without getting the barrel too hot.

[willyC]

you fellas wanting to change your pistols to carbines and vica-versa SHOULD go to BellmT/C's.com (custom contender guru), cilck on-line store, go down near the bottom of the left hand list to he title "converting pistols to rifles". You will want to read that whole chapter so you will KNOW what sort of violations you are commiting when you make these swaps. We all know it has always been possible to do this BUT few people know that this could be rewarded with heavy fines, possible jail, possible confiscation of your firearm,etc. It basically boils down to how T/C sold the weopon in the first place. A pistol sold originally as a pistol should remain a pistol and so on. A word to the wise....BATF people patrol WAY more than you might expect, especially during hunting seasons. Thought you might want to know.....

[Texan4life]

Good point Willy. That is one of the many reasons why I buy the older contenders. They were all sold as pistols and you could buy a carbine kit for them. This issue only comes up when you have a G2 or an Encore. BTW the issue is converting a long gun into a pistol and not vice versa. Since I own both rifle barrels and pistol barrels, I have 2 frames that never leave thier rifle or pistol configuration. I will probably never own a G2, but if I went encore, I would have to get 2 frames for the same type of setup and I would make sure they left the factory as one rifle and one pistol and would mark them as such. I don't think that anyone has been prosecuted for this as of yet, but I like to make sure that I am not the first.

T4L

[mosquitofish]

I have a .41 mag in a 10" barrel. & a 7x30 waters in a 22" barrel . love them & shoot well.

[willyC]

Yeh T4L, in reality probably nobody cares...but where you can get your @ss in hot water is when folks bolt on their butt-stock and then wanna use their 14" or 15" pistol barrel. Then you have just made an illegal weapon. A rifle with a barrel shorter than the lawful 16" minimum. That would be a true violation of the BATF weapons codes. Don't know even how that would work since many of those would be wearing LER pistol scopes and ya just wouldn't be able to see. Oh well...would really love to have another flatside set up for a long range .22 for groudhogs. I have a 14" .223 with a 2 1/2x7 power Burris on it but thru all the years of playing with loads, it has never been outstanding. It will shoot 50gr bullets but only fair accuracy out to about 100yds. I'm considering having it rechambered to something else. Bellm is bragging up his .222 RemMagImp. He claims 22-250 speeds and performance with lower pressure than .226JDJ. I may just go with .222RemMag...or just a re-reaming of .223 to insure a true throat unlike the lame job that T/C does with factory chambering.

[DWFan]

No point in making .30 or .357 Herrett brass unless you just want to; Midway sells it. www.reedsammo.com sells .30 and .357 Herrett ammo loaded to your specs.

[skb2706]

Actually if you read the law regarding the pistol/rifle issue you would find that if you bought the gun as a pistol in can be switched back and forth from rifle to pistol with no trouble as long as while it is a rifle it has a barrel of at least 16 inches and an oal length of 26". If you bought the gun as a rifle it must always remain a rifle...by law.

Lots of good info on the Bellm website regarding that and tons of tips of shooting Contenders.

The new rage in .22 cal centerfire rounds in a 'tender is the 22-204. More capacity then Bellms .222 Rem imp, available brass and simple resize.

[willyC]

wut is 22-204 and where is info ??

[skb2706]

.204 Ruger case necked up to .22 cal. I can get some loading data for you if you'd like. I have a good friend who shoots with a group of long range Contender shooters. The 22-2o4 fast twist is their current best performer. More case capacity than the .222 Rem mag imp. or the .223 AI..


a little bit of info

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/p...97376&trail=16

[willyC]

is it's performance based on a certain twist rate as the .223's in T/C barrels are mostly all 1-12 and that, as opposed to a better twist rate (1-10 or 1-9, etc.) is their major handicap. These are usually limited to 50gr bullets or lighter. You didn't say what brass the 204 is derived from. ?? Is it blonw up .222Mag as I've heard ?

[Texan4life]

Yes the .204 ruger gets its parent case from a .222 rem mag. It is also available from the T/C custom shop for contenders. I personally don't see enough improvement in the 22-204 vs the .222 rem mag to justify the cost, unless you just want something that no one else has. But in the same respect, that is why I got my .375 JDJ so to each their own.

[Hawg Hunter]

Just joined the forum and also recently purchased an old style contender in mint condition with the 30-30 ten inch barrel with the muzzle brake and also the sixteen inch barrel. I have a Leupold 4x pistol scope on it and shooting hand loads (35grs. BLC-2 with Barnes 130gr tsx with the derlin tip) I plan on doing some deer hunting and looking forward to the challenge as I have never attempted to do this before. I am also excited to have access to a forum such as this to broaden my knowledge on the contender handgun. Hawg Hunter

[skb2706]

Quote:       Originally Posted by Texan4life

Yes the .204 ruger gets its parent case from a .222 rem mag. It is also available from the T/C custom shop for contenders. I personally don't see enough improvement in the 22-204 vs the .222 rem mag to justify the cost, unless you just want something that no one else has. But in the same respect, that is why I got my .375 JDJ so to each their own.

No special dies required. The guys shooting these are looking at the absolute maximum you can safely launch from a Contender platform in .22 cal.
These days locating .204 brass is easier and cheaper than finding decent .222 Rem mag brass.