My own perspective FWIW: The first CF gun I owned other than a shotgun was a 3 screw RSB. Good gun that I used a lot and it shot very well all things considered. It came with a waist holster which I used only a very few times due to bulk and weight. A shoulder rig worked much better and was my go to contrivance for carry in the field. In short, it was in my view, a special use tool amenable for a small spectrum of application if for no other reason that it was BIG. It wore a scope briefly which only served to make it more awkward.
The growth of sales/interest in like style handguns in following years was noteworthy, but at the end of the day, big revolvers have limited applications. Not that there is anything wrong with that so long as that is understood on the front end.
The Contender pistols are, in my view, more of the same. Useful for hunting and still burdened with the same middle of the road obstacles such as size, weight etc, which for me makes them play second fiddle to handy carbines; a natural evolution of the Contender frame. Little bit more barrel gives quite a bit more velocity. Add the butt stock and you wind up with a bit more weight that rides on one's shoulder by a sling quite well. They are consummate woods stalking rifles, remarkably versatile in configuration and in my experience prone to fine accuracy.
Outside of the close cover environment I wouldn't use one, but it is my world down here in the swamps so it gets a lot of use.
Which is pretty much why I got out of the contender game. It was a great novelty a the range, but I never found myself using it in the field. If I wanted a handgun I packed and iron sighted revolver. If I wanted something with more range I packed a scoped rifle.
From field positions I wasn't willing to make the concessions required for a hand rifle, I couldn't shoot them off hand worth a darn and they just don't pack worth a darn in the field.
