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The men that first broke the early G1 Contender

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wingnut
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The men that first broke the early G1 Contender

Post by wingnut » Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:27 pm

The original G1 Contender frame had a major flaw when pushed very hard. Its barrel to frame lockup only semi-functioned after such abuse. At the shot, the barrel released and tipped forward as if to beg to be reloaded and shot again. It was a bit un-nerving. T/C Arms replaced the early G1’s frames upon request, free of charge, with later models that had been upgraded until the time they ran out of G1’s. Then they sent a new G2, again free of charge. The first 2 men that applied the “abuse” where Bob Milek and Steve Herrett.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/ga ... lek/249616

https://www.bevfitchett.us/accurate-smo ... rrett.html

https://press.hornady.com/assets/site/h ... errett.pdf

https://press.hornady.com/assets/site/h ... errett.pdf

http://www.ammo-one.com/wc357Herrett.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTF86OWmps0
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North Country Gal
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Re: The men that first broke the early G1 Contender

Post by North Country Gal » Sat Mar 09, 2019 6:26 pm

Yes, you can actually stretch a Contender frame with going too hot on a load. This was especially true when folks started re-chambering factory barrels to larger cartridges or going with custom barrels right on the edge of what the Contender could handle. One of the most popular re-chamber jobs was turning a 44 mag into a 444 Marlin. These stretched a lot of frames. Another custom barrel right on the edge of what the Contender could handle was the 300 Savage. You had to load the 300 Savage very light. Both of these cartridges are much better suited for the larger Encore and when the Encore hit the scene in 1996, pushing the Contender to its limit declined in popularity.

Loved Bob Milek. He was a big influence on me getting into handgun hunting.
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wingnut
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Re: The men that first broke the early G1 Contender

Post by wingnut » Sat Mar 09, 2019 7:22 pm

I bought a full-up 357 mag G1 (10" barrel with a mounted 4x L'pold) in the late '70's. Then added a 10" 45LC with a 2x L'pold to the rotation. After many years of max 180g cast 357 mag loads & Ruger pressured 45LC 300g cast loads (ok, maybe some ++), the barrel started releasing. T/C sent a new G2 to me. I'm still abusing it with those and even more barrels including a 14" 17 HMR with 2-8x L'pold. It produces 1" groups at 100 yards.

I too liked Milek.
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You're born & you die. In between you get to shoot a bunch guns. Kind of sums up life to me. - Colorado Bob

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North Country Gal
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Re: The men that first broke the early G1 Contender

Post by North Country Gal » Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:23 pm

No doubt about it, the G2s are stronger than the original Contenders, though TC has never published any data on just how much stronger. MGM, though, is now producing custom barrels that they label as G2, only, and not for Contenders. Since we have both G2s and Contenders, I now shoot the heavy stuff just with the G2s and save the Contenders for the mild stuff.
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