So who all makes Contender barrels these days?
I have several barrels, all of which save for one are older T/C Carbine tubes. Most shoot pretty well, more than sufficient for hunting use. The 22lr "match" chamber shoots as well as my other .22's, as to say, well under 1/2" at 25 yards.
I have one MGM tube, a .357 Magnum stainless bull barrel. It shoots damn well with 158 XTP hollow points, under an inch at 100 yards. I put it together for Ohio Whitetails when they passed straight wall pistol caliber rifles a few years back.
Not a Contender but in an Encore I sized brass so that the action would just barely shut, kind of had to snap it. No issues w brass stretching that I could tell.
i mostly neck-size also on the various bottleneck cartridges in my 'tenders. When forming 30herrett, 357herrett, 30reece, 25classic, and the other oddball stuff i shoot i also set dies so as to require a good snap to close the action on a fresh case during
the initial fire-forming.
On some calibers i hunt with a bit (25/35ackley, 6.5x30/30ackley, & 30/30 ackley) a .375win FL sizer die works nicely to size case bodies down as needed without setting back the shoulder.
What Fyrepower said. I have a 7x30 Waters, and after the initial fireforming, I neck size only, and have pretty good brass life with the Federal 30-30 brass I'm using. My 357 Magnum tube doesn't stretch the brass anymore than running them in a revolver.
That's a good looking Contender. Is that the 18" 32 barrel? I think you pushed me over the edge, I may order one right after Christmas. Not to sound petty, but how did you do the camo patter on the stock? I love that. Looks great!
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/m1onb62.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/FMUlZKn.jpg)
