My Contender project for the day was to test two recently acquired barrels for this:
This is an early vintage Contender Carbine (mid 80s). Carbine barrels were 21" in length and, yes, you can legally switch a Contender back and forth between a Carbine and a handgun as long as you do not assemble an illegal combination, meaning a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16". TC was taken to Court by the BATF in the early 90s for offering a Carbine kit to turn you Contender handgun into a Carbine, but TC won. The Court decided that having the parts to make an illegal configuration does not constitute intent. Note, too, that despite endless internets rants about legality, the BATF does not consider Contenders or Encores to be either a rifle or a handgun. It's classified as a specialty firearm. If you buy one in rifle form, you fill out the paperwork for a rifle. If you buy one in handgun form, you fill out the paperwork that way and get those restrictions.
Okay, back to the Carbine in question. On the gun is a 21" 22 LR barrel with a Nikon 4-12x Rimfire. Below it is a 21" 22 Hornet with an excellent B&L 4-12x AO. Found both of these along with the Carbine rig just last month at a gun show. I had very high hopes for the 22 Hornet barrel, because Contender Hornet barrels have a well-deserved rep for accuracy. As for the 22 LR barrel, I've never had a bad TC 22 LR barrel, but some have been better than others, especially the 22 LR Match barrels (meaning Match chamber), which came along later in the 90s.
So how did they shoot? The Hornet was actually a bust. 5 different types of factory ammo plus a friend's reloads and I could not get the consistency I wanted even at 50 yards. Okay, not a disaster, because with a Contender or Encore, you just try a different barrel. This Hornet barrel will get traded off at some point. Disappointing, but that's part of the game with Contender barrels. Yup, Contenders can surprise you. Works both ways.
Since I was out there, I decided to do a quick test with the 22 LR barrel. Took me a couple of minutes to swap barrels and then time to grab some CCI SV and get the scope sighted in. First thing I noticed was the Nikon 4-12x Rimfire would not let me get a sharp image up close at 25 yards. Love Nikon Rimfires, but this version does not have the fast focus eyepiece like the others. No big deal. I just went right to 50 yards and finally got sighted in.
What was a big deal, though, is that we forgot our spotting scope, so I couldn't really track what groups were doing inside the orange dots. There was a bit of glare, so the 12x in the rifle scope allowed me to see only so much. I could see hits outside or at the edge of the 1" orange dot, but hits inside the dot just disappeared.
As for the shooting, I could see that I pulled one of the first shots out at the edge of the orange dot, but kept on firing, total of 10 shots. I could see that I pulled the last shot, too, out at the edge. Since I couldn't see any other shots at the edge or outside the orange, I figured good enough, the rest of the shots must be somewhere in the orange. That's excellent accuracy for a Carbine. Keep in mind that a Contender Carbine is no bench gun. It weighs just a touch over 5 pounds without a scope.
So, one out of two on the Carbine. Good enough. Bill and I spent the rest of the session shooting a couple of Contender pistol rigs I also brought along. Nothing nasty, mind you, just one in 22 LR and one in 38 Special. As always, total fun with the Contenders. Superb triggers, never a malfunction or misfire. Totally dependable.
We called it a day. Bill started to pack up and I walked out to retrieve targets. Walked up to the lone 22 LR Carbine target and and could not believe my eyes. Just not possible. No way. Just stood there shaking my head. One of those targets.
The two sloppy pulled shots I expected to see, but not the rest. That center group for eight shots measures right at .30, c-c. With regular CCI SV, not match ammo? In a featherlight Carbine? Impossible.
Yup, Contenders can surprise you. Works both ways.
