Contender forearms?????

[revbc]

Can someone enlighten a greenhorn on the style of contender (rifle) forearms.  I have what I think to be a 2 screw carbine forearm that will not fit a bull 7-30 waters barrel (will not set in the channel, holes line up).

Can I just enlarge it with a 1" dowel and sandpaper?

thanks

[Hopalong7]

     Yes Sir...you most certainly can with the dowel and sand paper...and that is the reccomended method.  In the old days us Contendereons had but two choices in factory carbine barrels.... a 16.25" and a 21" barrel and both had the exact same diameter and taper...and same screw spacing.  So we needed only one forearm.  Of course there were all sorts of custom, after market options in barrels and forearms, but that's a whole 'nother story.  But you know people just can't stand success....so, what does TC do???  Well, they start by burning down the factory(I ain't kidding ...but I don't think that was part of the original plan), coming out with a new and "better" gun and a big 'ol heavy 23" bull barrel for it.   Yuck!!!!...I really wouldn't have minded tooo much, but they also disscontinued the 16 and 21 and this 'ol man was sick .  So now, according to some, it takes two forearms to do the trick with all available factory barrels, but, actually you can modify your forend as you said, to fit the bigger barrel and simply utilize some magic spacers(Keith can tell you about them)and still do quite nicely with just one foerarm .
Walt

[Ladobe]

Walt left out the earliest carbine forends that were a single screw mount for single screw barrels.
 
All joking aside, the plant fire had nothing to do with the demise of the Contenders, or the carbine barrels for them.
 
Do agree the 23" barrels take a lot away from the Contender and G2 platforms though.   For what my uses were due to length more so than contour.  Hard to beat a 16"-21" sporter carbine for ease of use and carry in any situation, and they gave up very little in performance.   To me anything more than a 20" bull barrel on a Contender is just excess baggage.

[Hopalong7]

        After reading my above post I remember that I had been in the sour mash sippin'stuff just a wee bit more than I should have.  Somtimes it's best to just keep one's mouth shut .  I certainly meant not to offend TC or anyone else.
       Thanks Larry,....  I have several of the single screw models myself and let that whizz right on by....however, the same forend will work with them as well...just use one screw(and if you're like me....try not to lose the other one until you need it again).
       Again, I apologise to all for running my mouth in such condition .  Thanks!
Walt
       

[Ladobe]

I don't think anybody took offense by your post at all Walt.   Nor should they have, even if it did come from what was currently left of your mind at the time.   
 
You know me, just keeping the record straight.     
 
Many folks here were not into Contenders early enough to know about the earliest carbine barrel configs.   And far too many people misrepresent what the actual ramifications of the plant fire were.    Most blaming the demise of a certain model on the fire that was dropped for totally different reasons, and either well before or sometime long after the fire.   The Contender was not officially discontinued until 2000, also well after the fire, and not because of it.   The G2 was already an inkling in TC's mind before the fire to follow the Encore's debut, so between developing it until acceptable to them and probably selling off their remaining Contender frames it just took awhile for the G2 to finally come out.   Even at the 2000 SHOT Show when Tim and Ken handed me the recently accepted G2 prototype they were going to go with under the table for inspection/input they didn't know exactly when it was going to be released for sale yet.   They were hoping for very soon was the best they could tell me as of that January show.
 
 

[Flynmoose]

revbc, don't forget to seal the inside of the forearm after fitting so it won't swell, congrats on the new toy!
FM