There are a couple of significant improvements made in the G2. The hammer can be cocked, returned to safe position, and re-cocked without breaking the action to reset it. Not true in the original Contender or the Encore. The angle of the grip has been increased to so that there is more clearance between the back of your fingers and the triggerguard. The frame is a little beefier than the original contender, but not as massive as the Encore. The G2 and the original contender share barrels but the Encore uses only Encore barrels.