Thompson Center Contender question

[Jerry H]

Mine was made in 1998

[Coach W]

Hmmm I thought it would have been older than that.... Interesting.

What do you know about yours? Ever done any digging on it?

[Jerry H]

Hmmm I thought it would have been older than that.... Interesting.

What do you know about yours? Ever done any digging on it?

I know it's fun to shoot

I really don't know anything about mine, I bought it used with 3 barrels .22LR 44 MAG 30-30.
I have added 204 Ruger, 22 Hornet and 357 Herrett
I hand load everything except the 22LR (obviously) I should trade off or sell this barrel and get another center fire

[Coach W]

What 22lr barrel is it and what do you want for it?

Mine is the old school octagon barrel... 10" i think, not a scratch on it... Anyways i want to thread one for suppressor... But don't want to mess up my octagon barrel.

[Texas Grown]

That is one of the later model frames just before the induction of the newer G2. Easiest way to tell is the lever on top of the hammer for selecting rim fire or center fire, and the cat head. The earliest models you had to use a screwdriver to change to either CF or RF. Later models were produced with a push button. After that, models came with the lever on the top, like in the pic to your link, that is rotated side to side. The newer "Old" models have 3 positions, an added center position that is a neutral position where striker neither of the pin(s). During the process of evolution, the henge bar was also moved forward to be fully covered by the fore end, there by "cleaning up" the visuals of the frame. I have one of the earliest models that require the screw driver.

Here is some very accurate info from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_Center_Arms

"The initial baseline design of the Contender had no central safe position on the hammer, having only centerfire and rimfire firing pin positions, each being selectable through using a screwdriver. Three variants of the original Contender design were later developed, distinguished easily by the hammer design. The first variant has a push button selector on the hammer for choosing rimfire vs. centerfire, the second variant has a left-center-right toggle switch for selecting center fire-safe-rimfire firing pins, and the third variant has a horizontal bolt selection for choosing center fire-safe-rimfire firing pin positions. All three of these Contender variants have a cougar etched on the sides of the receiver, thereby easily distinguishing them from the later G2 Contender which has a smooth-sided receiver without an etched cougar. Some of the very earliest Contenders, those requiring a screwdriver to switch the firing pin between rimfire and centerfire, had smooth sides, without the cougar etched on the sides.

The original Contender designs also have an adjustable trigger, allowing the shooter to change both take-up and overtravel, permitting user selection of a range of trigger pulls ranging from a fairly heavy trigger pull suitable for carrying the pistol while hunting to a "hair trigger" suitable for long range target shooting (see accurize). Unlike the later G2 Contender, the original Contender may be safely dry-fired (provided the hammer is not drawn back from the second notch) to allow a shooter to become familiar with the trigger pull. The break-action only has to be cycled, while leaving the hammer in the second notch position, to practice dry-firing. G2's with switchable firing pins (centerfire or rimfire) can be safely dry-fired with the hammer only in the safety (center) position."

I had one with the push button once. It was a pain . But wish I had kept it now. I'll find another "deal" sometime .

Here's a little more info for ya:
"Barrels have been made in lengths of 6, 8 3/4, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 21 inches (530 mm). Heavier recoiling cartridge barrels have also been made with integral muzzle brakes. Barrels for the original Contender may be used on the later-released G2 Contender; G2 barrels may be used on original Contender frames with a serial number greater than 195000. (Encore barrels are too large.)"

Injection from this poster: They now have a 23" bull barrel in some calibers. I have one in 7x30 Waters.

Continued: "The earliest barrels, from early 1967 to late 1967, were all octagonal with a flat bottom lug, and were available in only 10 and 8 3/4 inch lengths. The next group of barrels, from late 1967 to 1972, were available in only 6, 8 3/4, and 10 inch lengths. Later, round barrels were added in a wider variety of lengths, including 10", 12", and 14". Likewise, round barrels in heavier (bull) barrel configurations, known as Super 14 pistol and Super 16 pistol barrels, respectively, were also added. Carbine barrels in 16 and 21 inches were also added for the Contenders.

Sights on all the pistol barrels have varied, ranging from low sights, only, in the earlier years to a choice of either low or high sights, as well as no sights, for those pistol barrels intended for scope use, only. Various barrels have sometimes included ejectors as well as extractors, or extractors, only, as well as containing either a flat bottom lug, a stepped bottom lug, or split bottom lugs. Barrels have also been made available in either blued or stainless configurations, to match the finish available on Contender receivers.

Pistol grips and fore-ends have been made available in stained walnut, or in recoil reducing composite materials. Different pistol fore-ends are required for the octagonal versus the round versus the bull barrels. The fore-ends have had an assortment of either one or two screw attachment points, used for attaching the fore-ends to the barrel with its matching one or two attachment points. Universally, the fore-ends, in addition to attaching to the barrel, have also served to cover the single hinge pin that connects the barrel to the receiver.

A major factor in the Contender's success is that, unlike most other firearm actions, the break-action design does not require the barrels to be specially fitted to an individual action. Any barrel, with the exception of a Herrett barrel, that is made for a Contender will fit onto any frame, allowing the shooter to purchase additional barrels in different calibers for a fraction of the cost of a complete firearm. Since the sights are mounted on the barrel, they also stay sighted-in and remain zeroed from barrel-change to barrel-change.

Calibers available for the Contender were initially limited, stopping just short of the .308 Winchester-class rifle cartridges. However, almost any cartridge from .22 Long Rifle up to the .30-30 Winchester is acceptable, as long as a peak pressure of 48,000 CUP is not exceeded. This flexibility prompted a boom in the development of wildcat cartridges suitable for the Contender, such as the 7-30 Waters and .357 Herrett and the various TCU cartridges, most of which were commonly based on either the widely-available .30-30 Winchester or .223 Remington cases. The largest factory caliber offered for the Contender was the .45-70, which, although a much larger case than the .308, is still feasible because of the relatively low cartridge pressures of the original black-powder round relative to the limits of the bolt face of the Contender receiver. Custom gunmakers also have added to the selection, such as the J. D. Jones line of JDJ cartridges based on the .225 Winchester and .444 Marlin. Other barrel makers pushed beyond the limits the factory set, and chambered Contender barrels in lighter .308-class cartridges like the .243 Winchester. The Contender can also fire .410 bore shotgun shells, either through the .45 Colt/.410 barrel or through a special 21-inch (530 mm) smoothbore shotgun barrel. A ported, rifled, .44 Magnum barrel was also made available for use with shotshell cartridges in a removable-choke .44 Magnum barrel, with the choke being used to unspin the shot from the barrel rifling, or, by removing the choke, for use with standard .44 Magnum cartridges. The degree of flexibility provided by the Contender design is unique for experimenting with new cartridges, handloads, barrel lengths, and shotshells.

[Texas Grown]

Coach, they changed the side emblem when they changed the selector to the top of hammer.

And why would you want to go ruin a good octagonal .22LR by thread-n it ? Get ya a bull .22 and build the can out. And sell me the octagonal for $10 . j/k

[Jerry H]

Coach W pm sent

[Coach W]

Coach, they changed the side emblem when they changed the selector to the top of hammer.

And why would you want to go ruin a good octagonal .22LR by thread-n it ? Get ya a bull .22 and build the can out. And sell me the octagonal for $10 . j/k

I've never seen the "angry cat" on a blued frame... It's usually only on the stainless frame. I know they made some original "cat on rock" frames in stainless with the hammer selector... I've seen a few but never pounced on em.. I see more of the less intricate "angry cat" on stainless frames... But the "cat on rock" is out there in stainless. They have made a few less intricate ones to save money... But this one is rare to me atleast.

I also had one of the original screw type selectors that was in decent shape but somebody welded a permanent extended hammer on it.. And quite poorl I might add... I found it in the back of the safe the other day and sold it... Just wasn't using it.

As for the 10" octagon barrel in 22lr it's in pristine condition super nice scratch free gloss with original adjustable sights.... It's not going anywhere and I refuse to thread it.

Coach W pm sent

Thanks for the offer Jerry. I'm looking for stainless barrels fo my contender and blued barrels for my encore... To keep it easy on my aging mind


Side note: anybody know what the proper terms are for those engravings? Try googling "angry cat" or "angry cat contender" and you are gonna get flagged at work

[Jerry H]

I did a search for angry cat contender and found two threads by you

This one and another thread on another fourm ------ you 2 timer

[Coach W]

I did a search for angry cat contender and found two threads by you

This one and another thread on another fourm ------ you 2 timer

Lol. Yup. I thought 24hour might have some answers in the single shot section... I've learned a bit about ruger no 1's over there, but this thread has had 100x more posts and helpful info.

I mainly go on 24 hour to search the classifieds. But they do have a decent set up over there for gun related things... If you can see past Larry root, and those hell bent on labeling people Larry root. whatever that's about... They do have a very useful sticky about shipping firearms:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthr...fi#Post6282195

But just read the OP... The following rantings post, and mouth diarrhea are useless...

Anyways, I'm off track... We were discussing Contenders.

[TMoe]

I have one. I don't know the manufacture date, I bought it off a friend. It has the center fire rim fire selector switch on the hammer.

[Coach W]

Well I now own that one... Looked in the safe and found an extra contender blued frame... In my head it was an encore frame... But it's not so this one will probably be for sell in the classifieds soon. Oops. Some times a large safe is a chance to buy 2 of things.