My 15" MGM stainless 6.5TCU Contender barrel arrived yesterday and all I can is that if it shoots as good as it looks it'll be a keeper for sure.

Some may be aware that I ordered and received from the TC Custom Shop / Fox Ridge a 14" blue Contender barrel in 6.5TCU and have been playing with it for the past month or so.

With the Fox Ridge barrel I tried three powders, two bullets, 15 pet loads of five rounds each and thinking that the scope may be the problem I changed scopes on the last batch of five pet loads and I never could make the barrel shoot better than 2 1/2" and 3" groups at 100yds.....as of this past Saturday the barrel is gone !

Last night I got the scope mounted on the new MGM barrel and after mounting it on the frame I thought I'd try to chamber a few (three) of the FL sized empty cases that I'd been using in the Fox Ridge barrel......glad I did.

The cases that were fired in the Fox Ridge barrel and FL sized (die set to just barely kiss the shell holder) would only go in the chamber about two thirds of the way and would come to a dead stop and when pulling out the cases you could see all the way around on the outside of the brass were they were scraping the sides of the chamber on the way in.

I then tried a brand new unformed .223 case in the MGM barrel and it slid right in and the action closed just fine.

With the FL die set the same I next I formed two brand new .223 cases to 6.5TCU put primers in them and stepped outside with the new MGM barrel.....they also slid in and action closed just fine and fired without a bit of trouble.

Based on the above I assume the problem with the Fox Ridge barrel all along was a oversized chamber ? ?

Out of the fourteen Contender and Encore pistol length barrels I currently own only three are not TC off the rack or Fox Ridge and I'm not knocking Thompson Center barrels in anyway shape or form because I've had extremely good luck with them.....it just looks like I apparently finally got (and got rid of) a lemon.

Ike

Whether or not the TC factory barrel was oversize (a GOOD chance it was), I do know that MGM adheres to tight tolerances -- and that will certainly pay off once you start developing loads for that barrel.

Ike,

Just a comment, the way your post is worded, it sounds like MGM sent you a barrel with an oversized chamber.

I wouldn't be the least suprised that your old 6.5 TCU had a generous chamber, nor that cases fired in the old barrel after fl sizing don't fit in the new barrel.

Paul I've read through my post several times now and I honestly don't see where there is any confusion whatsoever about which barrel I feel had the oversized chamber.

Also, actually I was more surprised that the Fox Ridge barrel wouldn't shoot than I was was about the brass not being interchamgeable.....I only mentioned the brass not chambering between the two barrels to illustrate my point of why I thought the F.R. barrel chamber was oversized and the possible reason of why the barrel wouldn't group.

Ike

My bad, the title of the post gave me that impression, the body of the post cleared that up.

Let us know how it shoots, that's what really matters.

Ike
I have two Foxridge 257 tcu barrels..one pistol length and one carbine length. Cases fired in one will not chamber in the other. The carbine barrel has a much tighter chamber but a loooog throat..the pistol has a generous chamber and a shorter throat. Neither are as accurate as I would like. In the rifle I shoot long 100 NBT's and get good enough accuracy and enough speed for deer hunting and with the pistol I shoot light weight bullets best. The old 75 grain X bullet works on deer as well. I have to segregate the brass for the two guns and that is a pain so I shoot nickle brass in the rifle only. If I didn't like the little case tcu so well I probable would rechamber to the 257JDJ to see if I could clean up the chambers and make shooters of them. Perhaps down the road I can get a decently chambered 257tcu. I like you have had real good luck with the standard fair from TC and have found these two barrels to be the first ones I could not make shoot up to par.
I had one custom barrel that was less accurate than I would like as well so the problem is not exclusive to TC. I have an OTT rechamber of a very poor shooting barrel and it has turned into one of the best barrels I have.

shortgun

Ps do you still have the 6.5 Bullberry?

Thanks for joining in Shortgun.

Yes I still have the 14" 6.5 Bullberry barrel along with the dies that I purchased from you back in March of 2004....it's one of the best shooting barrels I have and it's not going anywhere.

Ike

I was just thinking of starting a thread on this subject. I have two Encore pistol barrels I got not long after the Encore came out. Both 15" one is a .223, and the other is a .260 Rem. I love them both, and they both shoot like crazy. Could not be happier at all.

My father bought an Encore rifle last year because he wanted a truck/carry gun for coyotes and knew how well my Encore shot. He has had nothing but trouble with his. His is the rifle version, in 25-06. Would not shoot ANYTHING worth a crap. He sent it back to T/C, they said the gun was fine and returned it to him. He went to Bellm's website, bought the parts, did all the tricks, still wouldn't shoot. Finally he sent the barrel back to T/C again, told them they might as well keep it, he couldn't use it and couldn't sell it to anyone in good conscience. They finally sent him a new one, and it is quite a bit better. Still nowhere near what my older pistol barrels are, but marginally usable for a 300 yard coyote gun.

Now every time I turn on the T.V. someone is using an Encore. Being in manufacturing I know what can happen to quality control when all of a sudden you have to drastically increase your production. Is this whats going on here? Most people I hear of still think their T/C's are great. There is however and increasing number of horror stories about them.

If this is a dead horse topic, I apologize, and will blame it on being new here. Enlighten me.

JTP,

Welcome aboard!!

I'm not the expert here, but I have 3 Encore actions, 7 T/C barrels and two Bullberry. They all shoot pretty well and I have a 24" .25-06 that shoots about MOA or a little more. My contender does just as well, so I guess I must say I'm a T/C fan so far. Hope your dad has better luck with his new barrel.

do u happen to have the web address or the phone # for mgm ive been loking for some one who still makes tcr barrels mainly because id like a 300 wm and a 416 barrel thanks

mgm= http://www.matchgrademachine.com

also the forum is at http://www.matchgrademachine.com/forum/

MGM'S phone # 435-628-0071