Does anyone out there have one of these and use it?

Will it fit on my older contender frame?

What poweder and bullets are you using - sabots, round balls of maxi balls- what does TC recomend?

I don't have one, but it should fit any Contender frame. There are no warnings on the barrels I have seen that say G2 only. From what I have seen looking at Ed Kirkpatrick's frames and talking with him, the only things not swappable (is that a word) between the two frames are the forend and grip (due to the extra metal added to the G2 frame). Thompson would probably have a real P.R. nightmare if the new frames would not handle the older barrels or visa versa. Another reason I say this is because I heard that Thompson will not introduce any new barrels for the G2 only because they could be put on an old style frame and run the pressures past the safe limit. Who knows what the custom barrel makers might do though (.22 PPC in a Contender sounds interesting to me).

Actually if you check the TC Website there is a warning on the Contender page that states:
"Note: The 209x45 Muzzleloader Barrel Will Not Fit on old-style Contender frames. No attempt should be made to alter the old-style Contender frame, or the G2 209x45 Barrel to facilitate this installation." You can see this here:
http://www.tcarms.com/contcarbine/index.html
the statement is in the bottom right corner. Hope this helps.

Mike

That PROBABLY has more to do with the forend/ramrod setup than anything else really. The barrel will fit and (again, probably) be fire on and old style frame, but there'd be no way to attch the forend to hold the ramrod.

I think it might also have something to do with what looks like the little pin that comes down from the lug if you look closely at the barrel for the muzzle loader. But again just speculation.

My Bad, I overlooked (actually had a brain fart ) the fact that he was talking about a black powder.

Mike.. I didn't even see that. What the heck is that? (Something they istalled so it COULDN'T be used on an old frame?) Who knows....