I think I want to rechamber my 7-30 Waters carbine barrel to something with a little more kick. I was thinking maybe 7mm JDJ, but am open to suggestions I want to get the max that I can from a 7mm on a Contender frame. Also, who would you suggest other than SSK ??? TIA.

bowhuntr

I have owned and shot several 7 mm contender barrels and here is a short synopsis of my experience with them. I had a factory 7x30Waters barrel which was an excellant shooter and killed medium game very well. I had a 7mm Super Bower (307 x 7mm 40 degree shoulder)but never even worked up a load as I sold for $ on another project. And several others. Like you, I have searched the 7mm's for the most power available from a 14-15" barrel. Here is a small list of available 7mm's (that I know about):

7mm Bellm (7x444) - never shot one but should be awesome and his work is excellant.

7mm x 375Win (Dave VanHorn) - I own several of his barrels and I like them all.

7mm Super Bower - Cool Cartridge but be careful of the velocity claims. IMO one of the best in 7mm. His load data is "SMOKIN" hot.

7mm Whisper (7mm x 221) - probably not what you are looking for

7mm JDJ (7mm x 225) - very efficient super accurate.

7mm-30 JDJ - simply a 7x30 Waters improved. Slight velocity improvement over the Waters.

7mm JDJ #2 - same as a 7mm super bower (307 x 7mm). Again, be careful of the velocity claims but should be one of the best.

In summary, rechambering a 7-30 can be difficult as chamber and throat clean up will not be 100% on most rechambers (Go to the mike Bellm website as he is probably one of the foremost experts). The velocity gains I truly saw on a chrono were almost insignificant in most cases. My search continues for the ultimate 7mm but I think I am going for the 7mm x 375 as I want something slightly different then everyone else. Plus Dave VanHorn is a local guy for me. If I were going to rechamber a 7-30 Waters I would send it to Bellm for the 7mm x 444. Dies are common and workmanship from what little I have seen is superb. Bottom line, In my experience, You can get 100-200fps increases over the 7-30 waters with some of these cartridges, but I don't think actual field performance is significantly different on any of these cartridges. But a guy can't have too many barrels and shootin wildcats is half the fun!!!

I don't think that you're really going to gain much velocity over the 7-30 Waters in a Contender frame. You can already load the 7-30 hot enough to stretch the frame. Those other cartridges may have a little more case capacity, but I seriously doubt that you'll gain a significant amount from it. If I were going to get max performance out of the Contender with a 7mm, then it would be something like a 7mm-50R Improved that would be a rechamber job for a 7 TCU (based on the 5.56-50R European round) however brass can be a real pain in the...err...well let's just say that it is difficult to find.

It is my opinion that you already have a great hunting round for the Contender. Keep it back off the ragged edge for the Contender...buy an Encore if you really need more.

Gary Reeder Custom Guns in Flagstaff. 7MM GNR is an improvement on the 7-30 Improved. The Single shot pistol forum has several shooters of this caliber.