Hi, how do the 45/410 barrels shoot? I've been looking on ebay and gunbroker. There seems to be a few 45/410 barrel, but hardly anything in just 45colt. Do the 45/410 barrels shoot reasonably well? Would they do better with 460 S&W brass in them to get the bullet closer to the rifleing? How about 444 brass?

Also I'm looking to buy some contender barrels in 357 mag/ max and 45 Colt or similar.

email idahobronco@aol.com if you have a bbl for sale.
TIA

The 45/410 barrels shoot reasonably good shotgun patterns with both shot shells and 45 bullets. The 45 Colt only barrels are very good shooters. Mine is one of my favorites.

A buddy of mine has a Custom Virgin Valley Custom Guns 8" Stainless-Steel .45 Colt / .410 Ga. Contender Barrel. He has had this barrel for several years and just this past summer got around to playing with it seriously. To start with I think he has pattern tested about every .410 Shotshell made in an effort to find something that he was satisfied with. He even bought several different choke tubes to try since a Gun Dealer Buddy told him they are not all created equal. In the end this barrel patterns great with Winchester 3" #8 Shot.

Once he was satisfied that he had found the .410 Shotshells that his barrel preferred we moved on to .45 Colt Ammo. If I thought getting a .410 Shorshell to pattern well enough to suit by buddy, the .45 Colt deal was way worse. To date the best load we have tested is 23.5grs. W-296 with a 240gr. Sierra Jacketed Hollow Cavity. Remember this was the BEST LOAD, and the best this load did was 5" + 10 shot groups at 50 yards with a Scope on the Barrel for accuracy testing purposes.

With all of that said I am itchin to buy myself a .45 Colt / .410 Ga. Contender Barrel. My reasoning is they can not all be that bad or fussy. The other thing is IF I pick one up it is going to be a 14" version, and then I will more than likely try it as a .450 Mongo rather than a .45 Colt.

Not sure what to tell you. I am have only worked with this one barrel. Hopefully someone with more experience can offer further info.

Larry

I hate to say that I have never seen one of the combo barrels that was worthy of consideration when it comes to accuracy. Horrible, horrible groups have been the norm with the ones I've shot or owned.

With that being said, the few Super 14s in .45 Colt that are out there seem to have a pretty good reputation for paper-punching prowess. I've never owned one of these but did help develop loads for a friend's barrel. Three-inch, 100 yard groups were easy to obtain, and the best loads were close to 2 MOA.

Of course, a 12" BB barrel in .45 Colt I had a few years back was a true MOA performer -- and I could still kick myself for parting with that one...

quote:

Would they do better with 460 S&W brass in them to get the bullet closer to the rifleing?

Ouch, I know you're suggesting handloads because a factory load would make quite the grenade out of a Contender (so would a 454 I imagine)...but it raises an interesting question of the Encore 45/410.

quote:

How about 444 brass?

That's the 450 Mongo...which apparently doesn't work either.

Thanks, I found a 45 colt only bbl and a 357 also.

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
Thanks, I found a 45 colt only bbl and a 357 also.

Lar45,

Where did you find a .357 barrel? I'm looking for a 12" one. No luck so far.

Steve

Some one here had a 10" 357 mag. Another had a 10" and 14" 357 max. The 14" should still be availible. I found a 45 colt only on gunbroker.