1. I'm considering either a Contender or Encore. One of the uses of this will be as a lightweight carbine. An acqaintence was quoted from VV to be able to get down to about 5# sans scope with the Encore and the new synthetic stocks. Beings that these stocks aren't available for Contenders, what does your Contender Carbine barrel weigh? I'm thinking max 21" with a very slender barrel profile.

2. I've got a single shot ML pistol and was at the range with it and it was shooting 6-7" high at 25yds with the sights fully adjusted. This was with 50gr Pyrodex and a 370gr MaxiHunter. A guy at the range said that I need to go to a lighter bullet as the heavier one is in the barrel longer and the muzzle 'flip' causes it to go high. That makes sense, but is kinda counter-intuitive for me. Is it true?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice/info.

The contender will produce a lighter carbine, however you will be limited to lower pressure rounds, and wildcats to make it do its thing.

One can debate contender vs encore for pistols, and there are pro's and cons both ways, but in a carbine, the encore is a much more verstile round, and it's bulk and extra weight isn't an issue.

As to heavy bullets shooting higher, yes they do, and it is because of barrel whip. Due to their lower velocity, they spend more time (relatively speeking) in the bore, and the extra recoil produces more whip.

Paul- Could you please state your pro and cons between the two? Pistol and rifle config. both are of interest. But, I guess either way I can get a 6# scoped carbine out of either.

In a handgun, the contender has a slimmer grip, and the gun is ~1# lighter. The encore just feels bulky as a pistol. The whole reason to me to use the contender is to have something compact. That is why I only like 10" barrels on a contender, IMHO, I'd rather pack a rifle then a 14" barreled contender, or 15" encore.

The downside of the contender as a pistol or rifle is you must use wilcats to make it stand up and sing.

With an encore, you can use any 308 based round and have outstanding performance in a 15" pistol, it'll outperform anything the contender can do by a fair margin, and with common factory fodder.

In a rifle, you have the same advantage, and can also take advantage of 30-06 based rounds, or the various 2.5" belted rounds, ie 7mm through 338 mag, I can't see shooting the bigger rounds in a light carbine though.

That said in a slender 21" barrel, I wouldn't use anything larger then a 308 win based round.

I think a fairly fair comparison of the performance differences would be that a 21" contender wildcat carbine would be capable of the same velocity as a 15" encore using a 308 based round.

As a buddy said, the contender makes a better package for a handgun, and the encore makes more sense as a rifle.

I still want to get a 358X444 in an 18" tubed contender barrel though, that with my folding stock will make a really compact hammer

Pointer

I think your bullet strike being so high can be related to the low powder charge.
I had read about low powered loads hitting high in 44 Mags but watching it happen with a 14" TC proved the point to me.
Heavy bullet, light powder charge and the barrel is in recoil and higher than I would have ever thought had I not seen the demonstration!

LouisB

I have an Encore rifle and I absolutely love it. You can have barrels for everything from mild to wild. I even seriously thought about a 375 H&H or 375x338 WM barrel. (Hey, you never know until you try.)

The only chamberings that aren't feasible is anything based on the .404 Jeffry case or larger diameter. i.e. The new WSM's. From what I've heard, there's just too much force on the breech face and the locking bolts with the larger diameter case.

But, within that limitation, you can have anything based on the 375 H&H case or smaller.
Buy one and enjoy it.

-Mike