I think this old Contender can still shoot. My original testing resulted in disappointing 3+ inch groups and I was seriously thinking of unloading it and the stock on ebay. The original hinge pin allowed a lot of play with the barrel after locking up. I ended up replacing it with a .376" oversized pin and finally tested again this afternoon.
I might have found a load that my old contender frame likes with it's new barrel. This is a 20" Bullberry barrel that I bought last summer, almost 100 rounds thru it now. I also bought an unfinished stock off eBay, sanded, stained and bedded it back in November and finally attached the forearm this morning. Thought I'd give one more try at the range, attached is a group that I shot yesterday at my club while testing some loads.
Maybe I found something it likes. 40 Grain V-Max, 25.5 grains of AA-2230C. Five shots @ 100 yards measure .473" extreme spread. The square is one inch.
