I was swapping barrels on a new to me Contender frame last evening; the mounted barrel was easy to remove and the replacement installed without issue. However, once closed with the replacement barrel, the action will not open. This is a G1 "easy open" 4xx,xxx frame. Both barrels are ten inch, heavy contour TC barrels. I thought removing the hinge pin would allow the frame to open. It did not. Any suggestions on how to get the action to open will be greatly appreciated!

I've seen the same issue covered in some
various forums, although I can't recall what
exactly they did to resolve it

Try strong up force on barrel against down force on grip before trying to release the barrel.

I had a similar problem once with a Contender frame. Dunno if same as your issue but..

An older Contender can be shot enough that the "ears" that engage the locking pins when you pull up on the release lever have work softened and bend just enough that the ears cannot move the barrel pin back to the muzzle end of the barrel to release the barrel.

Solution was complete disassembly of the action which allows dropping the trigger frame down, releasing the barrel. I cannot put a pic here but on this part:

https://www.sskfirearms.com/trigger-guard-70-1.html

the two triangular ears that stick up in the middle had work softened over years and would bend backwards - to the left in the image - and just not quite engage the barrel latch pins enough to release. Solution was buy that part - after a few tries at straighten old part ears did not work. SSK had them available for quite a while, seems they are OOS just now.

If you need to understand how to disassemble a Contender down to the frame lots of tube of you videos. Really pretty simple, remove the grip and screw, drift out the hammer pin and remove, drift out the other 2 pins and trigger assembly falls out the bottom. Mike Bellm has some good guides out there, along with how to touch up Contender triggers - which requires that disassembly. Even if it is not bent trigger ears, that process will release the barrel almost no matter what. If the barrel lock pins remain locked after you drop the trigger group just reach up with a flat screw driver and ease them toward the muzzle. Never have seen that but possible I guess.

Good luck

RAS

PS drifting out 3 pins is a lot easier than risking breaking something by force. If you are near 70801 let me know via PM and I will demonstrate

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. i was able to get the Contender action open this afternoon following advice from a former TC employee. Apparently, I was being too gentle. He said the factory guys when they encountered this problem years ago would carefully slam the trigger guard / opening lever against a padded work bench. That worked for me. The toughest part of the process was getting the hinge pin back in while the action was locked. Never again will I do that.

You may be able to just drop the trigger group and release it with a screwdriver.
Also on the Greybeard forum there is lots of Contender information.
Good luck.

Does it have a one piece locking lug or two ?

Not sure about the locking lug. It's a very late production G1.

Just encountered this with my new ssk 50 frame, twice, 2 different barrels, a 10” 44 and a 10” 222. Sent it back both times, last time they swapped the lugs, works like a dream now.

Nice looking piece .

Swapped the one piece lug for a two piece lug ?

Had to do it on the 357 Herrett barrel . I've never had luck with one piece locking lugs on the Contender frame that I've got . Closed it up and I didn't think I was going to get it back open .

click on me for 2 piece Contender locking lug

Ya man. Easy opening nice piece now. As mentioned earlier, punch the pin, drop the trigger group out is whatcha gotta do. Never done it, but that’s what ssk recommended