New plinking barrel choices?

[k9jri]

I have a spare Leupold FX-II, 2X20 EER Handgun scope that needs a home.  Not sure where my wife picked up this idea but she thinks it is illegal to have a scope that doesn't have a barrel to be mounted on

Both my G2 Rifle and G2 pistol currently have only rimfire barrels (17 & 22) but I would like to have a centerfire barrel for the G2 pistol.  I am not a hunter nor do I have any desire to hunt but I do shoot weekly on a very nice 25, 50 & 100 yard outdoor range. Silhouette shooting is not currently in the picture but could be as we do have Silhouette shooting in the area.

Of the choices readily available, both in barrels and ammunition, I think that a 12", .357 Magnum barrel might be a good choice for me.  (I initially considered 9mm Parabellum, 30 carbine, 30/30 Winchester, 204 Ruger and .357 Mag.)

Would the .357 Magnum be a good choice, in you opinions, for the type of shooting that I have outlined?

- Mike

[Gavinator]

 YES!
 Especially if you handload & cast your own.

[teamnelson]

.357 Max is also a good choice, as is .32 H&R Magnum, and both are easy to cast and handload for. With a 12" barrel, I think .44 is good too.

30/30 was not enjoyable for me, although I hear in a 14" with a scope it smooths out. .30 Carbine was not much different than a .32 Long, which is why I kept the .32 H&R.

[k9jri]

.357 Max is also a good choice

I had eliminated the 357 Max as I thought that the accuracy of 38 Special ammo would be pretty poor with the longer 357 Max chamber and Silhouette shooting is only a future possibility.  Other than silhouette shooting I can not think of any reason to use the Max cartridge.

Thanks for the comments though, I appreciate them.

- Mike

[Grumulkin]

First of all about your wife; you're lucky.  I have several handgun scopes without barrels and mine isn't asking me to buy more barrels.

If I'm hearing you correctly, you're use will be mostly target at ranges up to 100 yards.  In my experience, you have to work a bit to get cartridges like the 357 Magnum and 44 Magnum to turn in 1 to 1.5 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards.  If you don't like recoil, you're not going to like a 44 Magnum in a Contender handgun.  I have a Contender 223 AI barrel that shoots soft as a pussycat and puts out about 0.5 inch 100 yards 3 shot groups and that was without a whole lot of effort in load workup.

[k9jri]

First of all about your wife; you're lucky.  I have several handgun scopes without barrels and mine isn't asking me to buy more barrels.

If I'm hearing you correctly, you're use will be mostly target at ranges up to 100 yards.  In my experience, you have to work a bit to get cartridges like the 357 Magnum and 44 Magnum to turn in 1 to 1.5 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards.  If you don't like recoil, you're not going to like a 44 Magnum in a Contender handgun.  I have a Contender 223 AI barrel that shoots soft as a pussycat and puts out about 0.5 inch 100 yards 3 shot groups and that was without a whole lot of effort in load workup.

Tell me more about the .223 in the 1:12 twist Contender pistol barrels.  I thought that 1:12 was a little bit slow for the readily available 55 grain .223 ammo.  My friend's .223 Encore rifle barrel did poorly until he found some 40 grain bullets.  I do not wish to get into reloading again and need to be able to use commercial ammo.

What weight bullets were you using to achieve good accuracy in your pistol barrel?

- Mike

[MnMike]

My 14" .223 loves the cheap Winchester white box 55 gr. It will shoot about 1/2" groups at 100 yards. I can do better with handloads, but you would prefer to avoid handloading.

mike

[securitysix]

First of all about your wife; you're lucky.  I have several handgun scopes without barrels and mine isn't asking me to buy more barrels.

If I'm hearing you correctly, you're use will be mostly target at ranges up to 100 yards.  In my experience, you have to work a bit to get cartridges like the 357 Magnum and 44 Magnum to turn in 1 to 1.5 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards.  If you don't like recoil, you're not going to like a 44 Magnum in a Contender handgun.  I have a Contender 223 AI barrel that shoots soft as a pussycat and puts out about 0.5 inch 100 yards 3 shot groups and that was without a whole lot of effort in load workup.

Tell me more about the .223 in the 1:12 twist Contender pistol barrels.  I thought that 1:12 was a little bit slow for the readily available 55 grain .223 ammo.  My friend's .223 Encore rifle barrel did poorly until he found some 40 grain bullets.  I do not wish to get into reloading again and need to be able to use commercial ammo.

What weight bullets were you using to achieve good accuracy in your pistol barrel?

- Mike

1:12 is fine for 55 grain ammo.  1:12 starts to loose it's ability to stabilize much more than 60 or 62 grain bullets

[k9jri]

I really appreciate all of the .223 comments.  I was concerned about the twist rate and it looks like I should not have been.  Looks like there are two good choices for me then:

1 - .223 in a 14" barrel
2 - .357 Magnum in a 12" barrel
3 - get-em-both

- Mike

[Ladobe]

#3 Mike.

My very first Contender that I bought in 1968 came with a 10" octagon 38 Special barrel.   I did some hunting with it, but mostly I used it for plinking with cast (many 10's of thousands of cast were shot in it).   

[Carter]

I really appreciate all of the .223 comments.  I was concerned about the twist rate and it looks like I should not have been.  Looks like there are two good choices for me then:

1 - .223 in a 14" barrel
2 - .357 Magnum in a 12" barrel
3 - get-em-both

- Mike

Option number 3, definitely.
I was rather limited by the available barrels when I bought my brand new Armor Alloy Contender way back when, but I reload .357 for my revolvers already, so adding the .357 Contender barrel is a no-brainer.
.357 out of a Contender up to 150+ yards is a load of fun.