Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles For those of you who Hunt with Contender Carbines..

This one has a Bullberry custom .357 Mag barrel with match chamber. I haven't had a chance to hunt with it yet, but it shoots well. These 3, 3 shot groups were shot at 100 yards. All loads used 2400 powder. The top one was with FXT 140 Hornadys, next down was XTP Hornadys and the bottom, tightest group was Speer Gold Dot 125 grains, (surprised me).

I've killed several Mississippi deer with a 7TCU carbine. One ran about 30yds, The rest were DRT...

There's a 25 TCU on eBay right now for $295 if someone's interested. A 6 or 6.5 TCU would be pretty cool too.

I run a .30-30 @ 20" and a .35 Remmy at 16.5". Ditched the patridge style sights on the .35 and put on an arperature / gold bead setup. Have a 221 FB @ 20" for small game.

Thanks for the heads up, MuskegMan..!

I just made a deal for a 21" bull barrel 6mmTCU for my Contender. I plan on shooting 80 gr. Noslers in it. Would love to draw an antelope tag and knock one over with it.

I'm running a. 35 remington, 21" tapered. Would prefer a 21" tapered 30-30 but the. 35 came cheap.

... about seven years later now, and the 7-30 waters would still be my go-to with the contender carbine. I'd probably opt for a 120 grain bullet.
I did just roll a nice gobbler last Saturday on the last day of Spring season with the 250 savage barrel mounted up.
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carbines are mo betta

Those or some hawk or other 180 spitzers can be pushed well past 2300 in a 16” contender 357 max, and make it legit to at least 250. If I was hunting open country for small/med deer and antelope and smaller, I’d probably also look to the 7-30, 25-35, or other smaller bores and longer barrels to help. However, the max is likely the most efficient and loadable/versatile in a single shot action, when long throated and considering bullets.

My son turned his very old Contender .30 Herrett pistol into a 16-in. threaded .300 Blackout a couple seasons ago and stocked it with youth size synthetics.

It's a wand in the woods and probably the wieldiest treestand/truck gun around. All subs and supersonic roads have grouped 1-in. or a bit less, and the subsonics are stupid quiet with the Harvester screwed on.

I took it out a time or two a couple seasons back but didn't see a deer to shoot. He's in a too lazy to go deer hunt mood these days but now refuses to let me kill anything first with it.

My son started out with a 18” bbl .357 max contender.
Had a youth stock and was so small I could put it in my backpack.
He has since grown up to almost my height and asked to get an adult sized stock so it ain’t as short anymore but it’s still fun to shoot.
Don’t get used much these days now that we can use regular rifles in Indiana.

6.5x30-30AI (or Bulberry) with 20inch barrel. Very handy and light.

I think the 30 Belm is the ultimate but personally the best I used was a 7MM TCU in a pistol barrel. Get the Belm in about a 18" barrel. You will find it to be like a magic wand. It won't be boring except in the way animals drop. Be Well. Rusty

Thinking about this further if you prefer factory stuff the ultimate would be the 30-30 or 35 Remington. For a wildcat the 375 JDJ. I think they still sell dies, ammo, cases, and all. Go to SSK industries. Rusty

I've shot a lot of varmints, but no game. I used Bullberry barrels. I started out with the 17/K-Hornet, then a 6x47 ( 6mm/222 Magnum) 6mm Bullberry ( 6mm/30-30 Improved) shot the .375 Win too. I used the bull barrels as I wanted a bit of heft out front, seeing as they are shot short! I had a TC Contender carbine set up with a TC 7-30 Waters for my Godson, but he preferred the 223 barrel. The 7x30 Waters kicked him a bit. A 30-30 in that light of a rifle is a pretty heavy kicker, not for the average kid and some "men". ( the ones I saw had "man buns") ugh. And I gre up with long hair! Let your "Freak Flag fly"!

I'm surprised no one mentioned the 45/70. They're a hoot in the contender carbine. Just be sure to find one with a "muzzle tamer". They stop whitetails in their tracks 😁

Yeah, but they beat the heck outta ya unless you can use your wrists and elbows as a fulcrum

Look up Bobby Tomek. He's killed many animals with the 6.5 Bullberry.

I got a friend who has a contender in 35 REM and loves it. These rifles seem to be hard to find in this caliber for some reason.

Ya gotta modify what you can find