Weird Contender Barrel

[Doc Lisenby]

Picked up a Contender, old style which takes a cow milker's grip to open and it had two barrels, of a style which blew my feeble mind.
They are marked 357 Mag and 44 Mag and octagon contoured, high luster finish, about 8 inches long with a ported sleeve and an extension which has a rifled 5 grooves bore smaller than the normal bore for a 357 or 44 with no twist.
I'm snowed. I shot the 357 against my better judgement and it threw the projectiles sideways at about 25 yards. I was using a 190 gr. Speer bullet.
I took the extension off and it put two rounds in one hole.
Can someone tell me if this was a custom shop job by some yahoo and what was the purpose of the small bore in the extension? This design with the straight, no twist, smaller bore has me scratching my head. Do you think it was for shot cartridges?
Doc Lisenby

[les hemby]

i may be wrong but i believe what you have are hot-shot barrels for shotshells the extension is a choke and i wouldnt shoot regular bullets with choke attached

[doc-and]

REMOVE THE CHOKE!!! It is for Hot Shot Loads (small shotshell made up in 357 or 44 cases)!

doc-and

[Lucky Joe]

Hot Shot barrels for sure, not intended for bullets ESPECIALLY with the choke attached. Also kinda rare I me thinks.

[Doc Lisenby]

Thanks a million Guys.  Should have something stamped on it to the effect that bullets shouldn't be fired in it with the "choke" installed. I have some 357 rounds which I loaded with No. 12 shot which I will try.  Wish I had a device with just an opening to allow the muzzle brake to work when the choke is removed.  It shoots pretty well w/o the choke but no recoil reduction to mention.
I think I'll get the Custom Shot to do their thing on the trigger guard to make it easier to open.
If these barrels were designed to shoot shot then why the riflings? Theory is that deformed shot (by riflings or too much choke) travel too erratically for good patterns. "Hard" shot and more open chokes as well as backboring shotgun barrels are used in trap shooting to cut down on this deformity. I guess pattern isn't a concern in these short barrels using dust shot. Rats and rattlers look out now!
Thanks again,
Doc

[les hemby]

i may be wrong but without the rifling it would be a shotgun under 18''that would make it very illegal. the rifling is the only thing that makes 45/410 legal. the straight shot cup is supposed to stop shot from spinning

[pinduck]

Can you say BATF boys and girls. If the barrel wasn't rifled it would be a short barreled shotgun and a lot of agencies with alphabets in their name would be interested. They were for hotshot capsules only and the T/C manual that origanally came with the pistol cautioned to be sure and remove the choke before shooting progectile ammo. The choke was supposed to halt the rotation of the capsule and slit the plastic containing the shot. These were quite common when the T/C first came out you could also buy boxes of the preloaded capsule that came 50 to a box for reloading your own.

[doc-and]

Years ago T/C sold "Hot Shot" capsules for reloading in the 357 & 44 cases.  The shot which was 5/8oz for the 44 was incapsulated in plastic and would rotate as it was shot down the barrel until it reached the choke which would stop the rotation and shread the plastic capsule allowing the shot to dispurse.  If you can find early T/C catalogs (mine is #13) they show the 44 hot shot loaded.  Don't know who sells the capsules any more, never got into it.  If you can't find a early catalog, email me and I scan mine and forward the pic to you.

doc-and@pacbell.net

[Doc Lisenby]

Thanks doc, I would appreciate the pictures. This is really interesting.  I doubt that I could find an old catalog that would show them.  
Doc Lisenby

[doc-and]

send me you email address.  Haven't learned how to post pics to greybeard's sight.

Darryl
doc-and@pacbell.net

[Lucky Joe]

Doc,

I think I might have some hot shot stuff laying around. If you're interested let me know.  

[Gregory]

Doc
My first Contender came with a bull barrel with an internal choke for 44 Mag "Hotshots".  I'd rather not have manufacturers stamp anything more on a barrel than the caliber, it's always a good idea to contact the manufacturer, give them the serial number of your gun and get an owners manual.
I kinda got a kick out of handing my early Contender (made sure it was empty) to some someone and watch them struggle to open the action.  It took me a while to figure it out, but there was a knack to getting it to open easily.  Try holding it by the grip with only one hand and with two fingers on the trigger guard spur.  Pull quickly back on the spur, let the weight of the barrel help it to open.  Yes you can send it to the factory to convert to the easy open style.

I saved one of my old 44 Hotshot cartridges, let me know if you'd like to see a picture of it.  I see Hotshots for sale at gunshows from time to time.

[doc-and]

Yea! I remember those first contenders.  My first one was purchased in 1973, a 44mag octagon hotshot barrel.  It was a beast to open with my small hands and short fingers.  Bought it and some Speer plastic target ammo which was propelled by a large primer to teach my boys how to shoot and the first very basics of reloading.  Had a long hallway in our home and would set up a bullet trap at one end, usually an old blanket and cardboard box with a target frame of some old scrap wood that we could clip a target to. Worked pretty good.  Needed a big fan to keep the air from being filled with the odor of fired primers.  Never shot any loaded round through that first one other than the plastic speer loads, and after about 6months the thing went auto-open on me, sent it back to T/C and they sent me a new frame.  Over the next five years had a love/hate relationship with the Contender, would buy shoot sell.  But I finally came to my senses and bought 3 frames and 18 barrels about "79" and refuse to sell them.  I will most likely add a G2 Frame and a couple of barrels to my collections, but as of now they're not for sale.

[Doc Lisenby]

Les and Pinduck hit the nail on the head about the short barrel shotgun thing. I shoulda thunk of that! Thanks guys!
Doc

[CWG]

Les and Pinduck hit the nail on the head about the short barrel shotgun thing. I shoulda thunk of that! Thanks guys!
Doc

I believe you're wrong on that. Its a smooth bore pistol barrel, NOT a shotgun :lol: TC wouldnt produce anything that would threaten paying customers freedom.
I've seen this one hashed time and time again on the net.

[Doc Lisenby]

:oops:  You are pedantically correct my Yankee friend!  Now how about finishing up "working on" your site?  Wish my customers could afford one of your stocks.  Do you give a 'smith a professional discount?
Doc