With Bill gone, the shift has been tactical and self defense. Many a lesson was learned by Contenders being hot rodded and blow apart which i believe is why the G2 came to be.. As mentioned before, silhouette shooting fueled sales for close to two decades but that sport is a shadow of itself now.
The #3 was dropped and there are rumors that the #1 is headed the same direction so anew single shot rifle is doubtful. I believe if its not made of black plastic today, Ruger isn't interested.
There is still plenty of custom barrels available for the Contender and companies like MGM in my opinion, supply a better product than T/C did.