t/c contenders are habit forming.........seems like you are always looking to add a different barrel/caliber whether you need it or not and soon enough you have two suit cases of barrels. :lol:
there were several generations of contenders with some minor design changes to them.
My first contender frame had the firing pin selector located on a machined screw on the hammer face. It was a golden oldie.
My next contender had the firing pin selector moved to the top of the hammer in the form of a lever to select the firing pin for center fire or rim fire,
These were i guess old style contenders and considered the "hard to open" variety though i never had trouble with them. These older contender frames would also lend themselves to excellent gunsmithing on the trigger and let-offs at under 16 oz could be obtained.
The "stinker" in the older model contenders were the "armor alloy" which were silver in color and what they had before stainless appeared in the contender line. Most armor alloy stuff will not innerchange with the blue or real stainless stuff unless some gun smithing is applied. i just always ignored armor alloy so i would not have to put up with any hassle.
In the older stuff the octogon barrels are becoming collectors items and they do require a different forend for them as does the older forends for the 10" are different for the super 14" contenders. Biggest problems with contenders as far as design i have seen dealt with the wood stock carbine versions. for what ever reason the wood stocks seem to develop stress cracks.
Can't tell you much about the new G2 contender versions except that they are suspose to be easier opening..........never owned one. The barrels are all suspose to be innerchangable with the older contenders (except armor alloy)
The contenders are scary accurate and from memory all are drilled and tapped except for the old vent rib 410/45C version. I use to own barrels in a lot of chamberings but my absolute favorites were without a doubt
22 magnum
7mm tcu
With contenders you have several choices for sighting. I had some with williams peep sights and others with the millet 1" red dot set-up on weaver bases and rings. There are other options for bases and rings. The millet held up really well as it was on a 44 barrel i had for silhouette. The 357 and 44 contenders did just fine with cast bullets. Some folks with the rimfire barrels actually used rifle scopes and did the "taco hold" putting the gun right in front of their face to get the eye relief.......not a problem with rimfires----forget it with about anything else. Not many shooters used actual pistol scopes with the extended eye relief as tremors drove them crazy..........red dots were much easier on the hunting guns.
Lots of barrels can usually be found used on the market and there are some fine off the wall custom barrels that can be had at a decent price if you look around. ed's tc's come to mind as well as bullberry for new and used barrels along with forends, grips, etc.
As i said, i am totally ignorrant about the new G2 series contenders.
