Barrel extended, Accuracy?

[Lon371]

 I have a factory .357 maximum 14" bull barrel. Was wondering if anyone had an extension put on to make rifle length legal. If you did, did it effect the accuracy?

 It shoots good if I am on a rest. But if I try to off hand it, well it is less than accurate Ok maybe I am a little shaky . thought if I could extend it to rifle length 16 1/4" add a stock I should be good .

I have thought about just buying a Maxi rifle barrel if it can be found. But dollar wise would I be ahead since I already have the barrel, to just have it streched?

Thanks for your advice.

Lonny

[KYODE]

there's no reason you can't shoot it accurately as a 14" handgun.... IF you'll put in the time n ammo to practice. you can grasp the forearm with the offhand to steady the shot, instead of a 2 hand hold on the grip. you can also use a sling to help with that. you can also use available field rests, rest off the knees when sitting, or any other method you can come up with to get it done.

you just gotta be willing....... i know you are able.

myself, i wouldn't screw up a good 14" barrel by adding junk on the end of it. which very well could affect how it shoots with a particular load.

[Troggy]

My two hand hold...grip with the right hand. The left had has my thumb over my right thumb or back of hand and the pinky and ring finger wrapped around the same fingers of my right. My index and middle finger on the trigger guard to balance. It was strange at 1st but now it is very comfortable and easy to shoot offhand at 100 yards. Targets that is. I  even goofed around shooting the 200 yard ram like that and did ok. Use that hold plus the kneeling and field rests like KYODE said and you should be ok.

[Hopalong7]

      If done properly, a barrel extension should not effect accuracy.  But, I must agree with Kyle and Troggy, I'm not sure that's the best way to approach the problem.  It's a very rare shooter who can hold a Contender with 14" barrel steady in a normal off hand hold.  But before you transform it to a very short barreled, very light little carbine you might want to try holding one of them steady off hand as well.  I carry around a very handy little Contender carbine some myself and I can't hold it still for the love of Pete.  I've seen some excellent Bullseye Pistol shooters give up in total disgust and swear they wouldn't have one of those silly Contender thingies because they couldn't hit the barn from inside with one.  It takes some adjustment from the "normal" pistol shooting form.
Walt

[Troggy]

By the way I was not saying its easy to shoot off hand at 100 yards at game..I was just goofing around with targets, but for me if I had a hog at 60 yards and the only way I could get a shot was off hand standing up(as long as I was not out of breath and calm) I would take the shot.

[KYODE]

  maybe i'm rare i can shoot a 14" contender every bit as good as i could a rifle. doesn't seem that hard....but....  a lot of practice, n anyone should be able to.

[Lon371]

But before you transform it to a very short barreled, very light little carbine you might want to try holding one of them steady off hand as well

 Never thought about shooting a rifle off hand, Hmm like in the wild west off the hip?

I figured it would be more useful and accurate. Since I do shoot long guns a lot more than I do handguns. Maybe I will work on my stands and install shooting rails.

Thanks for some of the replies.

Lonny

[Hopalong7]

     My coment about "rare" was aimed at those who insist handguns should be shot with one hand and arm fully extended.  He who can do that accurately with a 14" Contender is "rare".  I will quickly agree with KYODE that a 14", scoped, specialty pistol can be fired extremely accurately as well as, if not better than, a rifle, and not just from a rock steady, rested position.  I will absolutely, totally agree with him on the "practice" part.
     I have two 16" barrels, one in 22lr and one in 22WMR, that I shoot and hunt with quite a lot.  The 22lr is one of my favorite tree rat weapons and the 22WMR is my favorite choice for spring gobbler season.  I've done a good deal of experimentation in shooting these two barrels in various configurations of both carbine and pistol.  In both cases the deal that has won out is this:  A pistol grip(usually a Pachmyer),  a 3-9X rifle scope mounted in see-through rings on a Weaver base on the rear of the barrel with the original TC open sights still in place amid ships and the original front sight.  My original thought in using the "see-throughs" was to be able to still use the open sights if I needed to extend my arms in whatever shooting position and that does work although, the open sights are just visible over the top of the Weaver base.  The biggest advantage of the see-throughs has turned out to be that they raise the scope way up over the barrel.  Now I generally shoot this thing from a sitting position up against the base of a big tree.  I shoot it from both right and left sides.  Whichever hand is holding the pistol grip is planted firmly in the center of my chest directly under my chin.  The off hand is either cradeling the forearm(if I'm shootin' up), or, in a sort of Taco hold(if I'm shootin horizontal or down) with my elbow tight against my ribs or resting on my knee(whichever seems appropriate at the time).  From this position, I feel like My Contender is at least as accurate as my tricked out 10-22 Ruger and is definately more accurate than the same Contender in carbine configuration.
Walt

[DanChamberlain]

The way to shoot the Contender off hand, is to hold it like a rifle...without a butt stock.  The best way to do this is with a sling that allows you to push the weapon forward to the limit of the sling and use that stress to solidify your hold.  It's nearly as rigid as a shoulder stock.  There are different slings available for this.  Use google.

Dan