weasel wrote: "Not too sure how smart of me it is to get in the middle of this debate, but Ladobe has walked the walk, still does apparently. He is on a first name basis with "Ol' Sarge", Don Bower, considered by some to be the father of long-range pistol accuracy. I've heard enough about Ladobe thru Don to dispel any doubts of his experience. Wildcats? Ladobe had more of Don's chamberings at one time than anyone else, only wonder what else he had. Long story short, this dude has sent lots of pills down the pipe"
Not to be overly-critical, but your post has no direction other than a little kissing up. Others have just as much or more experience with every facet of the TC game -- and yet that fact, too, bears NO significance here.
As to the Bower cartridges, they aren't the final word on hunting, long range target or silhouette cartridges, either.
Yes, I've worked with them and had decent results (there's still a 6.5 SB version in the back of my safe). But those results did not overshadow cartridges I was already shooting. But some phenomenal velocity claims have been made for them, and the designer himself admitted stretching a few frames.
Ladobe has enough experience to know not to red-line things in the Contender. Unfortunately, others out there do not. A couple of years ago, I bought a Contender collection from a self-professed long range aficianado that included 2 Bower barrels (rechambers, as are most of the Bowers out there) and 2 frames. BOTH frames were significantly stretched. That stretching did not come from a single round but instead from a steady diet of overzealous loads.
And you know what he told me? "Well, I judged the pressures like you are supposed to: I checked the primer pockets. If they aren't loose after one load, then it's OK."
That told me all I needed to know about his Contender "expertise..."
Yep, he owned and shot wildcats, but he didn't understand a single thing about the guns he fired them in, either.
