Question on 30-30 w/ 10" Octagon barrel

[engravertom]

hello everyone,

I have gotten into Contenders via a 22lr G2 carbine, but am looking at a used 30-30 Contender pistol with a 10" octagon barrel. It has Pachmayer grip, wood forend, and the slotted hammer. The condition appears excellent. I'm considering this for deer season in NY, as I am not in a rifle county. The hardest kicking handgun i have fired was a S&W 5 shot 357 Scandium revolver with full house magnum loads, which felt worse than my 5.5 " Blackhawk 44 mag. Any thoughts on what to expect from this slim Contender barrel recoil wise? Is $300 a decent price? Seems like it to me. I would be adding barrels over time, and would get dies for the 30-30 , if I get this.

Thanks for any input!

Tom

[Keith L]

I have a 12 inch 20-30 heavy barrel and know it is not anywhere near the recoil you felt in that lightweight .357 smith.  It should be manageable, better if you put a scope on it.

[Hopalong7]

      In a 10" 30-30 octagon barrel you will get a lot of rotation and muzzle jump, but what will impress you the most is the muzzle blast....lots of it!!!  The 30-30 is an absolute great caliber for the Contender, and is very versatile, however, I would heartily reccomend a S-14 barrel w/o muzzle break.  There is also quite a difference in velocity with the two barrels...enough to have a large affect on bullet performance.
Walt

[shot1]

The recoil of the 10" 30-30 will not be as much as a 10" 44 mag in a contender. I had the heavier barrel at one time in 10". Muzzle blast is pretty big especially with factory ammo. You loose an average of 200 fps in the 10" over a 14" barrel. Expect right around 1900 fps muzzle velocity with 150 gr bullets in the 10". That is the really old frame you are talking about. Most of the time you have to do some work on the locking lugs of the new barrels to get them to fit that old frame. Hand loads are the way to go with the 30-30 in a contender. IMR 4198 is the best powder I found. The 125 gr Sierra or Nosler ballistic tip are really good bullets for deer. My best load for the 10" barrel was the suggested hunting load from the #4 Sierra manual. 29.1 grs IMR 4198 and the 125 gr Sierra spitzer, I used Rem cases and CCI200 primers. I averaged 2100 fps and great accuracy. If you really want to have the cream of the crop for deer hunting with a contender get you a 30-30 Ackley Improved with at least a 14" barrel. Mine does average 2670 fps with the 125 Nosler ballistic tip and if I do my part they all go under 1" at 100 yards. Another tip I might add is get a Weaver 2.5-8X28 scope. They really hold up and are good glass and they run right at $200.00 . You need the low 2.5 power for close shots and you have the higher powers for longer shots. I paid $300 just for my last frame with no grips.

[P.A. Myers]

I have a 30-30 octagon. If you keep the bullets under 150g, the recoil is not bad. I like the 55g sabot round [only available as a loaded cartridge as far as I know]. In the Contender you can use pointy bullets. You want to wear a headset with this one, plugs arnt enough.

If the Contender has a good finish and mechanicaly sound, $300 is a bit of a bargain. Low prices are often seen at Gun Shops because single-shot guns tend to sell slowly.

You will then get the fever and run amok buying barrels and accessories.

[engravertom]

Thanks for all the good input. I'm seeing several octagon barrels on gunbroker that look reasonable in price. I would eventually get  longer barrels for the rifle calibers I would want.

I'm going to check it out again tomorrow, and put some money down on it, and then go get my pistol coupon!

Thanks again, and more input is welcome. Thanks especially for the load and scope ideas, as well as the shooting impressions.

take care,

Tom

[engravertom]

I picked it up about a week and a half ago, and already have a 22 lr barrel for it also. had trouble getting the 30-30 barrel to lock up properly at first. Didn't get to shoot it until today, after getting some help with the locking bolts. I put wood grips on it to match to forend, they fit my hand better.

Fired two rounds of the federal 125 hp ammo, just to try it out. It shot to point of aim, and recoil was brisk, but not abusive. maybe a bit less than my scandium gun of days gone by.

I'm looking forward to working with this pistol for the upcoming deer season.

Struggling to resist barrel acquisition syndrome, or whatever you folks call that!

Love this gun!

take care,

Tom

[Keith L]

Welcome to the Contender Club.  My second barrel was a 30-30 and I still have it.  Glad you are pleased with yours so far.  A word of advice:  don't fight the feeling.  Just get more barrels like the rest of us.

[Hopalong7]

     Ahhhhhhhhh....Yes....the FEVER spreads.....like WILDfire!!!
Seriously, welcome to our crazy world Tom.  Actually, with the 30-30 and .22. what more could a man need to shoot something on our end of the planet....Oh No...don't ask that question.  I agree with shot1, that 14" 30-30AI is a nice step up and his load is a good one.
Walt

[mbopp]

Ha! Welcome to Contenders! "I don't need another barrel, I can stop anytime....."
From another NY hunter, after realizing that most of my shots were under 100 yards I put a Bushnell Holosight on my Contender. I had a Leupold 2X scope, a Red Dot, and now the Holosight (stolen off my slug gun) on it. Of the 3 I find getting on target with the Holosight is the easiest. I'd like to try a Burris Fastfire, maybe it'll go on the 44.

[engravertom]

here are a coupe of pics. The 30-30 barrel is on the frame, the 22 lr barrel is with it, along with a holster I picked up off of gb.





After sighting in today, i fired two shots each at 50 and 100, sitting. The first shot on each target was to the right. I had only one elbow supported for these shots. The shots closer to center were fired with both elbows supported. Ammo was the federal 125 grain JHP. The top target was at 50, the other at 100.





I still need to pick up a die for the 30-30. Also, a 10" bull barrel in 223 arrived in today's mail! Birthday is next week...

Thanks for all the help!

Tom

[P.A. Myers]

That 10inch 223 barrel is my fav. Great for showin' off.

The fine original grip you have can really punish big recoil. The grip I have pictured is a later style T/C. It is much less painful to shoot and is as comfortable as most of my custon grips. These can be easily and cheaply found online.

         P.A. 

[engravertom]

Thanks for the tip! I've seen those, and like the look of them. This came with the Pachmayer presentation grip, which I did not like the looks of, nor how it felt. never shot it though. I imagine I will have several grips before I am done! I wanted to begin with what looked like a matching grip to the forend, so i plucked this one off of gb also.

Tom

[mbopp]

Well if you want custom grips, as a satisfied customer I'll recommend Tony's:

http://www.tonysforendsandgrips.net/

He did the ones in my avatar.

[P.A. Myers]

Dear mbopp,

Tony's looks very interesting, prices seem reasonable.
  Thanx

[Mack in N.C.]

nice buy...i have the 14 in 30-30 barrel with scope and the 10 in bull 30-30 with fiber optic iron sight...love that 10 in 30-30!.....every deer i have shot with it(both for that matter) have dropped within a few ft of where they stood...i limit the 14 in to 125 or less and the iron sighted 1 to 75 yds or less.....i use 150 gr bullets in both....mack

[Richard P]

Another source of wood for Contenders / Encores is OleGeorgiaJim  in Covington,Ga.  You can see some of his work on SpecialtyPistols.com  It requires a registration but many of you probably visit there already.