contender rifle

[pastorp]

A few years ago I sold off all my contender stuff, but now I want another contender rifle. I found a frame and it's on the way to me but I'm thinking about what barrel & stocks I should buy for this outfit.
I love the balance of the TC bull barrels in 23 or 24" length. And was thinking about a Highplaines custom stock. But which cartridge for deer & hogs and small pests? Remember this is in a contender so the cartridges I can use are limited.

Opinions?

[Sourdough]

45-70 or 30-30.  I'd go with the 45-70 first myself.

[Bugflipper]

The 7-30 waters is an all around good cartridge. 30-30 or 35 rem if you want to give up a hair on range. When I used to be into contenders I played around with a 45-70 quite a bit. You have to be careful though. Enough power there to stretch a frame if you try to push the cartridge very much. One of my favorites was a 445 super mag.

[sweetwyominghome]

There are a number of superb choices, but one of the best -- and easiest to form and load for -- has to be the 30-30 AI. With a 24" barrel, you'll be in the 2550 to 2600 fps neighborhood with 150 grain bullets.

Both Varget and W748 -- among several others -- will get you there, and either the 150 grain BT or the CT-BST will afford superb terminal performance on everything from deer to hogs.

Life of the improved case is long if you don't overwork them in the sizing process, and the design helps keep trimming to an absolute minimum compared to the parent cartridge. But the 30-30 AI is far from the final word in workable cartridges.

The 7mm Bullberry, 7-30 Waters or 6.5 Bullberry IMP (aka 6.5x30-30 AI) will do the job just as well. From a 24" barrel, the 7BB will approach 2700 fps with 120s, the waters will reach 2600 fps with 140s (book loads, by the way!) while the 6.5 BB IMP will do 2550 fps with 129/130s or 2400 fps with 140s.

As long as you match the bullet to the job at hand (not to mention to the respective velocity window!), all have ample energy to do the job easily out to 300 yards. Near or far, big or small, these cartridges have served me exceptionally well. In fact, if there's a deer or hog inside 300 yards that can't be killed cleanly with one of these calibers in a Contender, then I would not be able to kill it with anything larger, either.

[Flynmoose]

Just like potato chips, I couldn't limit myself to just one barrel. With pests, hogs and deer in the mix, I would start with a 357 Max barrel giving you alot of flexability in ammo choices. 38, 357 amd Max all loaded with one set of dies. Then there are a multitude of choices, 17 rimfires to 45-70 with many stops in between. First and foremost...ENJOY!!
FM

[Ladobe]

Remember this is in a contender so the cartridges I can use are limited.

Actually you are far from limited in choices if custom and/or wildcat barrels are also considered and not just factory barrels shooting commercial cartridges.    Don't forget the Contender has been chambered for upwards of 250 cartridges, for from mouse to anything that walks the earth cartridges.    Percentage of each use (deer, hogs, small pests) and ranges most likely to be fired (50, 100, 200, 300, 400, etc yards) are also considerations IMO. 

For a factory barrel with over the counter ammo available the 7-30 Waters as mentioned is a pretty good choice, although maybe a bit much for "small" pests.

For all round use I'd probably opt for one of the 24, 25 or 26 wildcat calibers though if I had to get by with just one.   Many are very easy wildcats to form and reload.   The Bullberry proprietary cartridges SWH has are good examples in 24, 25, & 26 (whether improved or not).   They are all enough for your three uses and flatter shooting than bigger/heavier bullets from similar cases.   

In my case instead of the Bullberry's on the 30-30 case I had the 6 Super Bower, 25-35AI and 6.5 Super Bower (Bowers on 307 or 356 Win cases) that would fill the bill of your three needs in spades (and a bunch of others that would as well), and all as handguns and not carbines/rifles.

FWIW - YMMV

[pastorp]

Thanks for all your opinions. Ed had a new 7/30 waters, stainless bull barrel so I bought it this morning. Also ordered a high plains thumbhole, nutmeg laminated stock set for it this morning. Now wait until it all arrives and I can put it together. 

Thanks for all the help,

[stoutstuff]

Sweet Wyoming Home,
Do you have a favorite out of all those stocks you have pictured? I'm admirering the versatility.
Stoutstuff

[sweetwyominghome]

I really can't say I have a favorite but will state that the factory Contender stocks do not fit me as they are too short and also don't align the eye with the scope well at all.

High Plains  Gunstocks and Dr. Tony Gettel (aka Tony G) are my current go-to places and have served me very well. I can recommend either without reservation.

Also, the green laminate forend which appears in several photos was made by Dave Dolin (goes by Dave D here on GBO). It is not the only item I have from him and certainly will not be the last, either. His work is fantastic, too.

[OK hunter]

I'll second the vote for High Plains.  I have a LH thumbhole Encore stock and a standard LH laminate Contender stock.  Both fit extremely well.

[pastorp]

My SS factory bull barrel in 7/30waters arrived yesterday. Still waiting on the stock. 

Regards,

[Drugstore Cowboy]

Look at a 30/40 Krag barrel. I had MGM make one and it shoots