If you were going to start a new Contender rifle, what caliber would you consider for whitetail deer and hogs?

The easy button would be .30-30, .35 Rem, .375 Win., or .44 Mag.

The cool button would be 6, 6.5 T/CU or 7 T/CU, or 357 Herrett.

The .35 Remington would be a good choice. Recommended by Jack O'Conner, Don Zutz, and (ahem) me.

The 30-30 would be my recommendation. The 30-30 was my first Contender barrel. Easy to shoot. Factory ammunition is virtually everywhere. If you reload, 125 to 150 grain 308 diameter pointy bullets are much easier to find.

+1 What Muskegman said,
Well maybe 12-3" 357 Herrett first.

You forgot one of the TCU series. The best one,the 25TCu

The first choice for me would be 7-30 Waters followed by .30-30W or .30-30 AI. I have the 7-30 and .30-30 AI and am looking for a 7mm TCU in carbine length. A 6x45 would be nice also.

Never hunted hogs but for deer definitely the 7x30 Waters.

I have the 6.8 REM SPC barrel on mine. Seems a little light for whitetails. The 30-30 is probably better.

If I was building a rifle, probably 7x30 Waters or a JDJ cartridge.

Handguns I would do both of the Herretts in a 10" barrel.

.35 rem.
Straight bbl 18.5"

Had a Super 16 and it was taper and a little stubby/ too light.

Added weight to forend and got it not twitchy, but still looked goofy. Shot great.
If it was 18.5" straigjt Id have kept it.

Now that i have a Rem 760 in .35 rem, my TC will be a 14" non ported .35 rem ( handgun not SBR ). But if a 357 in 12" shows up first will go that route

7mm TCU. I have a 10 inch barrel for my Contender pistol and it untracks deer right there with a 120 gr Nosler BT.

.30-30 covers the bases.

They do OK with pointy bullets.



Or even flat nose bullets.

It depends on if the frame is the original (7 x 30) or G2 ( probably 6 ARC.)

30-30 7-30 35 Rem and whatever ammo and supplies you can find right now !!!!

If your shots are 100 yards or less, take a look at the 357 Maximum. If longer, I’d do 7-30 waters.

300 Blackout is not a bad cartridge for deer, you can do lots with it: Zippity do da with light bullets or whispering death with 210grn cast lead.........

5 shots at 50 yds, the white squares mic at .40"

.30-30 for simplicity.
7 TCU if you want to get wild(cat)

30-30 with threaded muzzle for a quality suppressor. Second barrel might be a 375 Winchester, then a 22 LR. Be Well, Packy.

If you are looking for lots of factory ammo offerings then something in the 6mm, 6.5mm or 7mm area will work very well. I'm a big fan of the 7mm-08 and it will work on everything you might want to shoot.

If you're loading your own ammo then you can go all sorts of directions. You've been given some good advice on caliber selection.

The 308 based cartridges are not an option for the Contender but are great in the Encore. There are good 6.5 and 7mm options for the Contender, as mentioned in preceding posts.

I find the Encore too big and not as nice in the hand.
MGM makes 6.5 Grendel bbls for the G2 Contender.
The G2 feels different than the original Contender, but isn't bad like an Encore.
Just my 02.

You're right, I completely whiffed on the Contender frame and 308 based cartridges. Good catch.

7-30 with 120 grain Nosler Bil. Tips really hammers Deer !!!

I have a hankering to try a 6.5 BRM in a pistol. I imagine it would do very well in a rifle

How fast are those cast bullets going with the Blue Dot load? Nice shooting too. A the bullets wearing gas checks?

After fooling with many different rounds in my Contenders I sort of settled on the 30-30AI. A bit more zip than the regular 30-30 and it does seem to reduce backthrust. Big plus is virtually no trimming.

The 6.5 JDJ is highly recommended for deer size game

I've killed a pile of deer with the 14'' 30-30 and 125 grain Ballistic Tips. Would group in a quarter at 100 yds. Deer would make a little semi circle about 15-20 yds and stop and be looking back till they fell over. Shoot em the same place with the 300RUM and they run flat out till they pile up. Seemed so sweet to shoot em with the 30-30.

God Bless, Louis

Just a thought, rimmed cartridges ala. 30-30 are always a better choice in a Contender. .35 Remington barrels have a tendency to have misfires for some reason. 6.5 JDJ based on the .225 Winchester is a marvel in a contender package if you reload. The 7-30 Waters is your Huckleberry if you are stuck with factory ammunition.

The reason 35 Remington misfires occur is because of oversizing the brass and creating a headspace issue. Lots of Contender shooters have a hard time adjusting dies for minimum headspace. My favorite deer cartridge in a Contender is the 7-30 with 120 grain pointed bullets.

Ran factory in a couple 35 rem bbls. Was fine.
Did have misfires on one old frame but that was weak spring issue.

Be careful, it's a disease:

BTW, I could use 'Stockings' for the third one!!!

7/30 at 20" with rynite stocks and a 2-7 balances just right, is easy to shoot well, and dynamite on deer with the 120gr ballistic tip.

I have a 375 win carbine barrel. Handy to carry and deer don’t like it. Also have 357 and 30 herret barrels. Haven’t shot the 357 but the 30 is crazy accurate.

300 Whisper…SBR'd...fantastic platform for this !

Amen on these choices. They both will hammer deer !!!

The 30 Herrett is my favorite deer pistol. With a 4x scope I have taken deer out to 250 yards.

I would probably build a 6.5 grendel. I have a stainless in a 16 inch 7-30

I would look at brass and bullet availability first. I prefer rimmed cartridges. My first choices would be .30-30 and .44 magnum, then .357 maxi and .38-55. .25-35 would be a consideration as well. If you had one twisted fairly fast, a .223 carbine barrel would not be bad for deer. I'm not going to comment on hogs, we don't have them here and I don't have any experience.

The original Contender is not rated for Grendel pressure. It is a G2 only proposition.

Single Shot, CBs and a Red Dot Sight................


sleeping pig!!

7-30

If you watch what your doing it will be fine there is people shooting the 6.5 grendel in the original contender

medicDave hit it on the head. 7-30 Waters with 120 grain Ballistic Tips!

I have shot contenders for years in many calibers. All have been extremely accurate shooting. I have settled on the 6.5 JDJ and the .375 JDJ. Both are supper accurate. Have killed several elk and bear with the .375, all one shot kills and never got a bullet back. The 6.5 absolutely electrocutes deer, dropping them in their tracks. Killed a cow elk at 300 yrds with the 6.5 JDJ with one shot but hit it in the head trying to get it to stand up from its bed for shot with 125 gr. Nosler partition. Both require handloading unless you find some factory .375 JDJ ammo somewhere. I vote for the 7-30 Waters in a factory chambering contender for deer sized game.

The Contender carbines are cool. Always wanted to try one with a 7-30 barrel and a 35Rem barrel.

I will say that the little CVA Scout single shots at $300-400 with their good 3-3.5lb triggers and Bergara barrels have pulled me away from the concept in recent years. I really dig my chopped Scout Compact in 7mm-08. It weights about 6lbs before optics and suppressor. No muss, no fuss, just buy it and start shooting. A guy could always download to a lower pressure if he wanted to.

I had a 7-30 Waters carbine barrel. Was great for packing and super handy but the rilfe never fit me great in the standard synthetic stock when I scope it. Fit me fine with irons.



Fit was also good with a laminate thumbhole but I didn't want a rifle that bulky. I recently sold the barrel so I could dedicate the frame to my .20 Vartag and .17HMR Varmint setups.

I made a Kydex cheek pc for mine to solve that stock problem.
Cheap and worked great.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...carbine-barrel-35-remington#Post11088129

That’s a real pretty color on that black bear MedRiver. 👍😎

Thanks. Been at the taxidermist for close to 1.5 years now. Maybe someday I will get the rug back, lol

300 Blackout almost ideal with the contender..but 30-30 and 35 REM both worth a look..especially here in CT..shots typically under 100yds..

309 JDJ if you handload.150 grainer at 2500 plus out of a 18 inch barrel.I have killed a pile of critters with mine.

I have a long history with the Contender. This .410 pistol was my wabbit gun in the late '50's as a teen. Killed a bunch of swampers in Louisiana hardwood bottoms ahead of a pack of beagles. The old Lawrence holster shows honest wear. I didn't like the square edges of the OEM grip and made my own out of a piece of walnut. It was more comfortable. A .410 kicks a good bit and the sharp edges of that factory grip hurt my hand. I also have a "push/pull" Fajen laminated walnut/maple grip that's quite unique.

I have a .22 K-Hornet barrel with scope and a SS Contender with .410 barrel. Check out the way I used a short forearm and made a front swivel stud out of the front barrel hanger. Those barrels have two forearm screws, I used just one for the forearm.

The Contender is not a kids gun, in fact it can be dangerous. If you cock it and let the hammer down, you're resting the firing pen on a live round. You MUST cycle the action to bring the hammer block back up into safe position. With that caveat, it's a great gun with a great trigger and excellent accuracy.

Many fond memories here. Just be careful with those things and use something else to start a youngster. It's just too easy to forget to recycle the action for safe mode.

DF