I am compelled to weigh in on this issue since it is such a pervasive problem. Since I have used/tried almost every possible method of using T/C forends on Contenders and Encores I think I can offer some advice that was painfully gained and often at considerable personal grief, pain, stress and expense. My experience and results come from the school of hard knocks and lost dollars - I now have a graduate degree in T/C forends and am qualified to pass on this knowledge to those who would like to save some time, effort and last but not least, some money.
The prize for the best overall idea in forend bedding (drum roll please) is. . .to isolate any type of forend from the barrel. Get that forend material far enough away from the barrel so it won't touch, ever! The cheapest, easiest and sometimes the best method of doing this is with stainless steel washers of the appropriate size on each screw. Materials other than stainless steel can crush, deform and work loose sometimes - stainless steel is worth a few extra cents where washers and forend screws are concerned - you can get many of these in the form of stainless steel washers and cap screws at Ace Hardware stores - I know other hardware stores have them, but many of you live near an Ace Hardware - make it easy on yourself, their washer and screws don't cost much and they're close. Use one or two washers on each screw, enough to allow a dollar bill (no, dont fold it, use only one thickness) to be freely run all the way from the muzzle end of the forend back toward the action until it runs into the first forend screw), make absolutely sure you tighten your screws firmly (an inch-pound torque wrench is a good idea for consistency) so there is no positional shifting, particularly if you are using an installed sling swivel stud to mount a bipod. After installing the washers, make sure you have enough threads on your forend screws to maintain a firm hold on the dovetail inserts - too few threads and you're singing the "I Lost My Forend 'Cause The Recoil Ripped It Out Of My Dovetails" blues. Use longer replacement screws if needed. 'Nuff said.
Second place goes to the hangar bar system - from anyone who knows how to make one and can cut/form a proper channel in the forend. This system does a very good job by itself with no other effort on your part. You can buy the hangar bars from Bullberry, Virgin Valley or make your own. If you have sufficient shop skills (it really isn't that hard), you can cut your own channels with machinery or hand form them with careful attention to detail. My personal preference is for custom house (Bullberry, Virgin Valley, etc.) laminated forends with precut hangar bar channels, they fit great, and are very, very strong and easy to finish/refinish any way you like. Whether you choose wood or laminate, they are a great choice for a large segment of the T/C shooting population. Buy the hangar bar and unfinished forends, get the Minwax stain of your choice (I know a lot of you already have the stain), pick up a spray can of Tru-Oil and some 0000 steel wool and you are an artist who has saved a lot of money for more important things - like more T/C forends, barrels, frames, scopes, grips, cases, bullets, primers. . .ad infinitum.
My third place choice goes to pillar-bedding, Virgin Valley does an excellent and fairly inexpensive job, other custom houses do it too. Again, my choice, due primarily to my requirements for a strong forend are the laminates, I use bipods on some fairly heavy recoiling guns, laminates stand up to the punishment for me. Buy the unfinished, pillar-bedded forend and finish as in the previous paragraph. Again, you become an artist that has a great forend which adds to your guns accuracy instead of detracting from it, and you save your hard-earned dollars for more cool T/C stuff see above for suggestions if you need any for your hard-earned money. Generally, pillar-bedding from a custom house in my opinion seems to work better on Encore forends, for Contenders I prefer the fourth place method below because of the incredibly strong forend that results.
Fourth place goes to a hybrid bedding method that I prefer for most Contenders, it can also be used for the newer Virgin Valley Encore hangar bar). Get an unfinished laminate hangar bar forend (with a standard hangar bar of course a side note, I get the forends themselves long enough to go all the way out to within .25-.50 from the muzzle, that way my sling swivel stud gives me a better stabilizing radius for my bipod), glass in the hangar bar itself (please contact me for the exact procedure if you're interested - it was taught to me by a person who is a REAL artist in fabrication) with Marine-Tex, finish as in the above paragraphs and you're off to the woods, range, countryside, outback, mountains or wherever it is you do your T/C thing.
Just a bit of extra drivel here: I use only stainless T/Cs because Im an old, lazy, shiftless crank and anything I can do to cut down the effort I expend fighting rust is time and/or money well-spent in my book (OK, you busted me, anything I can do to cut down any effort expended on ANYTHING is time and/or money well-spent). Consequently, I use only stainless steel washers, cap screws and sling swivel studs (OK, they sort of match the rest of the gun too). Since Im so lazy, I generally only use Ebony Minwax to finish my forends since it makes it easier to match the various types of black grips I have spray Tru-Oil works great over the Minwax finish.
I dont know if this is useless diatribe, or whether it may actually be useful to some of you, but as I said before, I have had most of the problems you all have and have been able to solve them quite satisfactorily in my own bumbling way if this saves you some time and money COOL! My work here is done and we have more happy T/C shooters afield representing our common interests instead of cowering in the corner wondering how they will be able to fix a forend problem on one of these T/C contraptions. Always remember to ask your questions. You may be assured that you are not the only person who ever had that problem, and you can be assured that out of all the experienced and knowledgeable Contender and Encore shooters and smiths, one of them will be nice enough to help you because they remember when they didnt know doodley-squat about T/Cs either.
I want to issue a personal challenge to you highly-experienced T/C guys out there: Try to help at least ten new T/C shooters this year with their problems and questions, then ask them to do the same when they have new and improved skills that they can pass on to others in the future. Its worth your time and all of us will benefit from an increased T/C presence in the shooting world. Your knowledge is power exercise it!
Please feel free to contact me with any comments and/or questions. If you disagree with me, please have a reasonable alternative suggestion for me before telling me Im full of it. Im old, feeble and deserve a certain modicum of respect at my ripe old age cut me a break. :-)
Good and safe shooting to all of you!
Javelina
