Carbine conversion

[northman]

I've had a Contender pistol with various barrels for 25 years. In the the last 4-5 years I've lost some interest in it and came to a point of seriously thinking of selling it. Just recently I've become interested in predator hunting. I have a Ruger .223 and it worked out pretty well for me. Now I thought , you know..... I have a nice old model contender why not now utilize it as one of my varmint rigs? So I have decided to replace my pistol barrels with the corresponding carbine/rifle barrels. Having been out of the loop for some time I would really appreciate any info you fellas could give me on the various combinations of barrel lenghts for the following calibers: .22 hornet, .223 and the old 30-30. I have the old style early ser. # frame, in fact when a half dozen years ago I purchased a .45/.410 barrel  I sent it back to TC to have it fitted, do you think this may still be a problem? Are the  super 16 barrels are they carbine barrels (16 1/4 in.) or pistol? What about the butt stock and forearm? I'm planning to sell/trade my pistol barrels here on the classifieds and hopefully purchasing the carbine barrels here also. Looking forward to receiving some good advise here.
Thanks!!

[Ladobe]

Standard TC factory Contender barrels for the 22 Hornet, 223 and 30-30 can found in 16 1/4" and 21" - the 223 and 30-30 also in 23" G2 barrels to use as a carbine/rifle - either blued or stainless.   The Super 16 can be used as either a pistol or carbine barrel.   From TC's so called custom shop and third party custom barrel makers you can get whatever length you want.

Standard factory carbine/rifle stocks were available in wood (adult and youth) and composite.   Realize that there was also both single and double forend stand-off carbine barrels, so the forend has to match the barrel or be modified.    Some custom barrel makers also offer custom stock sets where the skies the limit.

The Contender frame was replaced by the G2... but the barrels of both are interchangeable (except for the ML BBL), but the grips/buttstocks are not.

[northman]

THANKS!
That answered a few questions and enough to get me started on getting some Contender carbine barrels and accessories.

[Iowa Fox]

Ladobe,
Would you know what TCs technical thinking was with the single barrel lug on early 16 & 21" barrels then swithcing to 2 lug? All the super14 barrels that I have ever seen and or own are 2 lug. The early super 16 and the 21" barrels were single lug and if my memory is close about 1985 or 6 they swithced to 2 lugs to attach the forearm. My quess would be they had concerns about barrel heat and accuracy only to find out most folks did not like the lose feeling forearm.

[Ladobe]

Iowa Fox,

Good guess, but the change to two forend studs was actually made in 1991 on both the Super 16 and 21" carbine barrels.   On the early barrels ... 10" octagon, bull and VR, 12" bull and VR, all Super 16 and 21" tapered carbine barrels were single stud - yet the Super 14's were 2 stud.

Can't say for sure what TC's thinking was, although I was one of their customers who complained about the single stud carbine barrels 25-30 years ago sometime after I started shooting wildcats on my Contenders.   Logically complaints like mine are what they were acting on when they switched to 2-stud forends on the longer barrels, so your guess was spot on.   Besides not offering solid support to the barrels (yes we knew all about floating TC barrels long before then), the forend mounting screw also often shot loose and on the handcannons the studs themselves shot loose.

FWIW, even on the 2 stud barrels many, many years ago I started welding the forend studs to the barrels on my handcannons, and using machine grade cap screws to mount furniture on all of my barrels/frames (factory, custom and Pachy forends; all grips and buttstocks).

[Iowa Fox]

Thanks Ladobe

Great information on the progression of the TC barrels.

[Hopalong7]

When TC changed the carbine barrel(the G-2 barrel) to the heavier contour 23" version, it instantly made collector items out of the 16.25" and 21" barrels.  Well, "collector" may be streching it just a little, but not much.  They are obviously harder to find and when you find one the price is up.  I'm one who doesn't care too much about the "new" barrel.  GOOD SHOOTIN', Walt