Should be some good stories here!

I had a customer that was a handgun hunter, I listened to lots of his handgun hunting stories and became interested. He used Contenders, the 309 JDJ specifically, and had killed deer, bear, moose and who knows what else. When I first saw a loaded 309 cartridge, I figured it was way more than I could ever handle!

I was killing time one lunch hour and wondered into a pawnshop I ocasionally visited, in the show case was a Contender in 30-30. I looked it over and put it back but it kept working on me! I asked my customer if it was a good deal and he said I couldn't lose on it. Still, I resisted, and it kept working on me. Finally, I broke down and bought the pistol. It came with a TC 1.5X scope, a TC case and it was a handcannon to me. I didn't have any 30-30 ammo and didn't want to buy any factory stuff, but I found a single round stuck down in the pocket of the case. I took it to the range and set up to fire the single round.......I thought for sure that I would end up with a broken wrist when I touched it off......of course, the recoil was very mild and I was amazed. I bought dies, brass and SSP bullets and started shooting the pistol seriously. I was shocked that it would shoot sub 1" groups off the bench and figured I was ready to kill a deer with it. I wasn't completely confident though, and I always carried a rifle too. I finally killed a doe with it a few years later and I was hooked! I probably looked funny using a rifle as a rest to kill my first handgun deer!

Since I had used a Marlin 35 Rem. to kill my first deer at 13, I was extremely interested in obtaining a 35 Rem in the then brand new Super 14. In '81 I got one and started loading for it. Two years later, I think, I had a very big doe come out at about 40 yds and laid her down with a 200 gr. Hornady spitzer, shot through the shoulders. I know now that a bullet that heavy and that heavily constructed would not have expanded very well if I had shot further back, but it did the trick. As the previous poster says, "I was hooked".

hey guys;

Dad always like the Contender and wanted one but we could not deer hunt in Indiana with a pistol until 10-15 years ago????So when they opend it up I went to Gun Show and looked around and found a 44mag 10" blue with Pacmayer grips and forend and it came home with me.

Started shooting it a lot open sites with some quality handloads(not mine at the time)I think I shot over 500rds threw it the first year.I would bring the empty brass and box back to the reloader and trade them in.Got to the point I couls hit a can at 75yds 3 to 4 times out of 5.

First season with my hadcannon,about 4 of us was walking out of a field going to the truck in the afternoon.I was the only handgun hunter at that time(there are more now I hooked others with my illness).A doe ran out of the edge of the field going mach 10 at a angle from us the slug shooters was not even going to try(old Forster type slugs,no scope,bad sites,old stock barrel)she was at 75 yds when she came out I pulled up the Contender and followed her and shot and she went down at the shot(spined her).That started it then bought a 35 rem and 45/70 12" hunter barrels killed 2 deer apeice with it and then they all got stolen.Insurance paid me.I had 8 barrels and 4 of them was deer hunting barrels and thought I just need one barrel for deer hunting but I want the best barrel I can get.Found a copmany named SSK and talked to a guy named J.D.Jones.Now 2 Contender frames and 6 barrels 4 from SSK,and 2 Encore frames 3 barrels one SSK, 6 XP-100 center grips 2 from SSK,2 from other gunsmiths,1 still at the gunsmiths being redone in 300 Rem Ultra Mag,a rear grip and a Weatherby CFP,numerous revolvers in 44,475 line.See why I call myself handcannons.That is my story sounds like I should go to handgunners anymous.

Wade

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 19-20 years ago, my brother turned me onto the Contender. Simply for the fact it was pretty cool looking to a 13 year old. He found me a used frame that came w/ an 8" .44 mag and .10" .357. Well, I was hooked from the day I pulled the trigger on MY first handgun. Over the next few years I hunted w/ the Contender and missed more then I care to admit. College came and the gun was laid down for a few years. Then the bug bit, I harvested my first whitetail with a .35 Rem, 14" barrel. The rifles were sold (for more Contender barrels) and I've shot single shots exclusively now for about 10 years.

hey handcannon, just say no ,you can dooo it.problem is we always need that new one,and of course its only money

Just a short 6 years ago a friend that is in a wheel chair wanted to go hunting and he had a xp in 358 win. So we went to the range and after watching him I wanted to try hunting with a hand gun. So he let me use a 35 rem in a contender on a deer and antilope. It kind of made hunting have a new meaning again, which means sleepless nights and endles dreams. I tried some guns at the range and then I was in Reno at the Weatherby Fondation meeting and SCI meeting and met the people from Lone Eagle and they made me a great deal on the 358 I still pack and use today. I have taken 3 deer, 3 antilope and a moose so fare with the longest shot being 240 yards. My next dream gun will be a 338/300 wsm because of the great leadership of fifty in bolt handgun. Good luck Olefish

475/480

Hey it is just a addiction and what a fun one at that. It is kinda like potato chips you can't have just one.

But what next

Hey olefish

Tell us more about your 358......we don't hear much about Lone Eagles! What loads did you use for the moose and antelope?

The writings of Bob Milek intrigued me, and I especially enjoyed hsi varmint, deer and antelope exploits with the 6mm-.223.

So,it goes without saying that my very first wildcat round was the 6mm-.223.

From there, it just snowballed...

Bobby expressed my exact thoughts.

I started with the 6mm-223, then went on to the 44mag., 300savage, 22hornet, 375JDJ and the 222mag imp.

The addiction continues.

If Bob Milek had never written about it, I may not be in to it.

Good shooting!

HBL

I'd always been intriqued by the contender, but never that seriously. Many of the folks here know HHI 812, and have likely bought or sold him a barrel. Anyhow, it was a cold Feb day, and he had his 9" 300 whisper. He only went out to 80 yds to set up the target, as the snow was ~2' deep. I plopped the pistol over a sandbag, and managed to put two shots in one hole. My hands were numb, and I didn't want to mess up the group by shooting a third shot.

I was sold at that point, picked up a frame as soon as I could, and have gone through over 1/2 dozen barrels, with no stop in sight.

Mark,
You picked a good subject to read and share!
My love for handguns began at the ripe old age of 6 years old. We had an Otasco store in Derby, KS that I would frequent when my mom would shop for grocerys at Safeway which was just a couple of doors to the North. I would always talk her into going so I could look at guns, handguns. The one the caught my eye was Ruger's 22 semi-auto. I had no idea the model number or even how many rounds it held--I wanted it bad. My love of handguns remained firm although my dad would not allow us to have a handgun while we were at home (although we could go to my Grandpa's house and shoot his old Colt 1911 anytime). Although an avid small & upland hunter my dad never hunted big game. Because of finances we never read any of the hunting or shooting mags that a number of you grew up with. At 22 I bought my first handgun a six inch Model 66 S&W and quickly learned that I had bad habits and needed to re-learn how to shoot. While living in Colorado (1985-88)I hunted big game for the first time in my life. I took my first antelope and mulie with a rifle. During that year I began reading articles by Bob Milek. His writings motivated me to buy my first TC (10 inch 222 Rem w/2.5 Thompson rail scope). PD shooting with it was a hoot. Before the next hunting season arrived I had Super 14 in 7mmTCU. I shot my second antelope ever with a handgun near Yoder, CO. I have never used a rifle since for big game, but I still do not own a Ruger 22.
xphunter

Ernie

I enjoyed your story, reminds me of my youth.

My dad was in law enforcement until he retired, so we always had handguns around the house.....one of my earliest hunting memories was going along with my dad and grandfather while they shot jackrabbits with their handguns. I even remember trying out dads S&W 357 on a jack that he had killed, I must have been around 5 at the time. My first handgun was a Benjamin 22 caliber pellet pistol, the kind you pump up. I wanted one for a long time and finally talked dad into letting me have one when I was around 10 or so, used my own money to buy it. The first time out with it I managed to kill a bird at about 35 yards. I'm not sure who was more surprised, dad or me? My next handgun was a Ruger 22 auto.....my wife and I had been married about 6 weeks and were dirt poor as most young married couples are.......she had made some money babysitting her neice for a couple of weeks, which I spent on the Ruger......she didn't know what to think about that! I wasn't old enough to buy a handgun, so I talked my Brother-in-law into helping me out......first time out with the new pistol, I killed a rabbit. My wife loves to shoot too, and, many times, the little Ruger was our entertainment.....we didn't have much money but we could afford to buy a box of shells and go out and shoot the pistol once in awhile.......we still have the Ruger!

What inittially got me into Contenders was the ability to rebarrel a T/C frame with a simple screwdriver for the forend and dowel for punching out a tight pin. This is what got me started into the Contender conept to begin with.

Late 1980s and early 1990s, I used to primarily shoot bolt action rifles, and running across inaccurate examples, I hated having to send a bolt action to a gunsmith if the barrel needed replacing: it always seemed like an awfull hassle to ship not to mention very time consuming and expensive, and the end result may not shoot any better than what was started with!.

All of that is history when one becomes a Contender or Encore shooter. With the Contender, if you run across a barrel that will not shoot, simply dissassemble the gun and send the barrel back to T/C under their lifetime warranty and they will replace it, or better yet purchase a Custom barrel from the likes of Virgin Valley Custom Guns, Dave van Horn, etc.

With rare exceptions, I hardly use the Bolt guns anymore due to the accuracy of the Contender/Encore concept and ease of gunsmithing and upgrading them, and when I started to explore the extreme edge of distance and accuracy using small bore and rimfire cartridges with free floated forends, bipods, and rifle scopes, the sky seemed the limit!

I have yet to tire of these Contender configurations! I am currantly using [or will shortly use once delivered] the same configuration [though slightly differant componants for each] of grip, forend, bipod, scope with the following calibers and makers:

Van Horn 14" 17HMR

Bellm 14" 17HMR

Bellm 14" 22Short

T/C 14" 22lr Match

Bellm 14" 223 Rem w/Hart barrel

Van Horn 15" 7mmTCU

Bellm 14" 22Mag

T/C 10" 32H&R mag

T/C 14" 300Whisper

Bellm 10" 9mm Luger

VVCG 15" 9mm Luger

I find all the above to be fun and quite interesting when applied to various sorts of Varmint hunting using this platform



[ 02-19-2003, 02:25: Message edited by: Sean VHA #60013 ]

Great topic Mark

The only guns my Dad ever owned were a Stevens Side by Side 12 Ga. and a Wards/Westernfield Bolt Action .22 Rifle (which I still have). However a cousin showed up one Pheasant season with a Colt 1911. I was in awe of that big ole Colt, and after much begging my cousin let me shoot it. First shot I hit a 5 gallon pail at a range of 25 yards, and I was hooked.

Then when I became old enough to legally purchase a Handgun I bought a 5" Liberty Mustang Single Action .22 LR Revolver. Man that was a lot of years ago (28 to be exact). I wouldn't even want to begin to think about the number of rounds I fired through that old single action. Since that time I have owned more Semi Autos and Revolvers than I care to admit to.

In the late '70's I too became enamored by the writings of the late Bob Milek. I made my mind up that I was going to hunt with one of those Speciality Pistols Bob wrote about. I started coresponding with Bob over the phone, and gained a lot of valuable information.

In '82 I sold every Rifle I owned and bought a pair of Speciality Pistols. The first was a Super 14 Contender in .223 topped with a 7x Burris LER Handgun Scope (on Bob's reccommendation). The second was a Remington XP-100. This one was re-chambered from the 7mm Bench Rest to a cartridge called the 7mm I.H.M.S.A. by a gunsmith named Bill Gouty in Illinios. I added a 4x Redfield Handgun Scope to it, and took 2 Whitetails with it in the first year I hunted with it.

YEP I too was hooked. However I longed for one of those magical 6mm-223's like Bob Milek wrote about, and a couple years later built a Custom XP-100 in this chambering. This was followed by a Bullberry Contender Barrel in 6mm-223 as well. When Stainless-Steel Contenders came to be I traded off my Blued Frame and the Bullberry Barrel for a Stainless-Steel Frame and a Stainless-Steel Bullberry Barrel in 6mm-223.

Throught the years I have been fortunate to take at least ONE Whitetail with a Speciality Pistol every single season I have hunted. I have owned more different Contenders than I care to admit to, and a few Remington XP-100's, and a Savage Striker (that addiction thing you know), but have never been disappointed.

Currently I have 2 Contender Frames, and 3 Barrels (Blued Super 14 Match Grade .22 LR, VVCG 15" Stainless-Steel 6mm T/CU, and a Blued T/C - SSK Re-Chambered Super 14 .30-30 Ackley Improved).

The one thing I have learned about Handgun Hunting, and shooting Speciality Pistols in general is that this game is super addictive, but then that is the joy of all of this. Now on to the next caliber / cartridge to try. I am thinking the next one will be something in a .35 Caliber, .358 Bellm, or .358 JDJ.

Larry

My first experience with a handgun was at the ripe old age of 17 (I'm now 53) when I joined the Army and shot a M1911 in basic training and I loved it.

After Viet Nam and working overseas for about 11 years as a civilian I settled in Okla. and got into Contenders when I started shooting IHMSA back in '85' and my first barrel, which I still have, was a 10" 7TCU.

After shooting at iron for a a year or so I came to the realization that I wasn't half bad with a handgun and that I could harvest a deer just as well with a pistol as I could with a rifle so in about '87' I hung up my rifles, as far as the deer woods go, and started hunting deer solely with a handgun.

I bought a 14" 7TCU for silhouettes and scoped the 10" 7TCU and every deer I've harvested thus far has been with my original 10" 7TCU, every year I promise myself to carry some other handgun but me and that 10 incher go back a long way and I always just seem to grab it on the way out the door.

Now as far as single shot handguns go I've got four centergrip XP's, three Contender frames with seven barrels and I recently got back into a Encore for the second time with a 12 3/8" VVCG 1" dia. 7-08 bull barrel and a I've got a 13" heavy bull .260 Rem. TC Custom Shop Encore barrel on the way.

Out of all the places and critters there are to hunt in the world my "dream hunt" would be to harvest a bull moose with a handgun, there's just something about them big ole butt ugly critters that just trips my trigger.

[ 02-19-2003, 04:06: Message edited by: IKE ]

Growing up back in Pa. the local mechanic who had to inspect our vechicle's had a 30 Herrett that he shot all the time out the back window of his garage. He had several steel "Gong" targets out to 300 yards that I got to hear sound off! Never thought about getting one untill here in Ohio about 6 years ago I walked into my favorite gun shop and there it was. A Contender in a SSK rechambered 30/40 Krag(in what I grew up shooting deer with, an 1896 model Krag). It was a super 14 w/SSK brake and a TSOB. It also came with a 2x Luepold.Bought it cheap, I think 400.00 frame and all, out the door!! I was hooked!!!!!! I now have 9 barrels and 3 frames. (2-SS, 1-blue)
.22 14" 1x Burris
.223 14" SS w/brake 7x Burris Target A/O
7x30 Waters SS 14" w/brake TSOB 3x9 Burris
30/40 Krag 14" SSK-brake TSOB 2x7 Burris A/O
357 Max 14" 1.5x4 Burris
375JDJ 12" mag-na-port full-lenght TSOB 4x Burris
44mag 14" SS 2x Burris
45/410 10"
45/70 SSK w/SSK brake and TSOB 2x7 Burris P/L
I bought my boys each and Encore 209x50 SS and their anxious to get started on their collection. My next barrel will probally be a .25 or 6mm dia. set-up for varmits. This thing called contender-itis is a real bad sickness that wives just don't understand!!!!!

Many years ago there was some new pistol advertised, but my trusty Ruger flat top 44 Mag handled everything I needed to do and besides I could recover my bullets and cast them over and over with the Bullseye load I used. On top of that,a new gun, dies and mold were a LOT more than my budget allowed in those days.
Then I read about the Contender in 30 Herrett and could not imagine controlling the recoil from such a round.
Well the 44 went in a trade to get my 219 Donaldson in Remington Rolling Block. I missed that gun we had a lot of travels together.

Many years passed and though I had a 357 Mag it JUST WAS NOT a 44 Mag. A coworker mentioned that he had a Contender in 44 Mag and since I still had the 429215 mold I had to have the gun.
A long story ensues here, but I will shorten it to say, the old original style grip and hot 44 Mags in the 44 Mags octagon barrel were NOT fun, but 9.3 grains of 231 was the most accurate load I ever shot in that barrel.
Well next it was a 10" 30 Herrett, but it just did not seem to hold the attraction of a 6.5 TCU, well a 7mm TCU came next and then luckily I found a guy that wanted my 44 Mag barrel, and traded straight out and I got the 6.5 TCU I had been looking for!

Push comes to shove my favorite barrel(s) are 16.25" 45-70, 14" and 10" 357 Max. That 10" Max barrel seems to be the ULTIMATE performer on a TC frame. Yes, there are bigger and more powerful chamberings, but I bet there are NONE more efficient.

Oh yeah that original grip long since was relegated to the grip pile in the ammo can and all mine wear Pachmayr grippers.

Truth be known the 30-30 or better yet 7mm Waters factory barrel could handle most or all of what we want to do . . . but then why limit oneself to one barrel??

Rambling on till asked to get off of his soap box,

LouisB

I started shooting at 8 mom was in hospital having baby sister and couldn't argue, so I got an old used 22 rifle for my birthday.
Bought a new win 94 when I was 14, and hunted with it till I moved to IA in 1960.
I didn't hunt again until 3 years ago with my son. Got my small whitetail buck first morning out with a 14" 7MMUS, at about 40 yards.
My younger son did a lot of shooting when he was at KU. They hooked him on sillywets. then he hooked me. Now four frames and 17 barrels later, I'm still haveing fun. That was in 1993
Jim

My start with single shot pistols was some 30 years ago with a 50 caliber blackpowder pistol , I shot this for several years until I cracked the stock shooting 390 grain bullets backed with 70 grains of black powder . It went on the shelf because there were no replaement stocks availible .
Less Than a year ago I bought a contender and now have 3 barrels and am looking for another .

Actually, i got started with XPhunter about 20 years ago, with Contenders (they had quite an appeal for backpack hunters). We were hunting an isolated area in the CO Rockies for mule deer, and some prairie antelope. But XP kept pushing for more and more range/energy, and of course we hit on elk, and after that I knew with XP's enthusiasm for it, I'd be riding his shirttails on that one too. Which brings me up to the present day, with my main interest focusing on long-range coyote sniping.

Oh yeah, Bob Milek had a lot to do with our interest in SS pistols. He was definitely our hero back then, heck still is probably.

sscoyote
please give me an e-mail at jarmstr173@aol.com
I e-mailed you but it was returned
Jim

Funny you should ask�I was approached by this FED LEO friend of mine that asked if I would like to participate in a fact finding/semi sting type operation designed to put hardened criminals away�actually he told me I had to since he possessed eye witness testimony that I had actually shot at a Wood Duck 23 seconds prior to legal shooting light�based on the geographic location of the blind.
Anyhoo, the premise of the operation was as follows:
I was instructed to purchase online a frame/receiver manufacture by a company that will remain nameless�This particular firearm component was available with a pistol grip and short forearm. I was to have this shipped to my FFL holder and observe how the required forms were completed. Once in possession of these components I was to order various other components such as custom barrels of various lengths, shoulder/rifle butt stocks, scope mounting hardware etc. Strange, but I had no trouble with this part of the operation as it became somewhat of an obsession�Next I was to assemble the components in various configurations conducive to hunting various game animals and target shooting. The last phase of the operation required that I join various message boards/chats/forums where like minded perpetrators lingered to discuss this highly questionable activity.
Well as much as I would like to I shouldnt really go further into the additional details as the investigation is still ongoing and doing so may somewhat jeopardize the op�
I trully hope there will be no hard feelings after some of yall�s doors get kicked in but do us a favor and if they allow you computer time in the big house, please update your profiles to read from �the pen.�
And that is how I got into shooting SS pistols/rifles.
Dave
Code named TC-CSI(component swapper investigator)

Interesting story there Dave....do you get to keep the stuff when you are finished?

GonHuntin

I think we need to go over to Daves house and take away all of his toy's for ratting us all out.Then never let him have another SS pistol again.

Wade

Gonehuntin
I use 180ssp 48 gr h322 2450fps and 200sp 47 gr h322 2375fps. They shot so close to the same that I do not change anything when hunting. I have never recovered a bullet so no idea about bullet after wards. The moose was 75 yards off hand and the shot was in the back of the head and it came out front. The antilope and deer have been 125 to 240 yards with one neck, one Texas heart and the rest heart/lung shots. All have been one shot kills so fare. Recoil is stiff but after a few hundred rounds it does not seem to mater any more. It does have its draw backs in that sticky/dirty cases will not always eject and the trigger is about 5+lbs. They will out shoot the guy behind the trigger and with the center grip balance good even off hand. The X bullets will not group no matter the powder or anything else I have tried. I have used 225 balistic tips and they were ok but for the change in recoil and bullet drop why. With 2" high at 100 I am 4 low at 200 and 10 at 250 so I can hold in the meat out to that distance. Hve a great day olefish

GH, I kinda thought you would be the first to reply. The jury is still out on if I'll get to keep the components...I almost really screwed the pooch and nearly got cuffed and stuffed the other night when my LEO friend stopped by for a beer and notcied lying on my reloading bench.......
my rynite 12" forearm attached to my 15" .308 barrle...granted my frame was concealed in a drawer only problem was...in the drawer below that was my Walnut shoulder stock...I know, I know what was I thinking. You should have seen LEO reaching for his cuffs. I quickly stuck another cold Dominion lager in his hand just before it slipped from my now sweaty grasp...shewwww good thing too. That would have made a real mess considering all the brass case trimmings and loose powder on the floor.

Actually it was quite by accident ( thats my story and I'm stickin to it)For years I hunted whitetail with a Remington 760 in 308 and an extra loaded clip close at hand. The funny thig is that one shot was all it ever took. I began looking for an Encore 3 years ago as now I realized that one shot was plenty. The local shop owner called one day to tell me he had in his possesion just such a gun with 2 barrels (7MM08 and 209X50) though they were rifle and not the handgun I was looking for. But when he quoted a price of $500 out the door I could not resist. That started it and now I have 2 frames, the 2 original barrels and 5 handgun barrels( VVCG 6.5X55 14" ,TC 260 rem 15" ,TC 223 rem 12", SSK 30-06jdj 16"and a TC 45/410 10")I am unsure of what caliber will be next but there will be more....This is truly an addiction!!!!
Rick

[ 02-20-2003, 01:03: Message edited by: cricker ]

A few months before I got married my soon to be wife asked me what I wanted for a wedding present. She said, pick out something that you would never buy for yourself. After a few days if thought, I said a T/C Contender in 309JDJ. After a visit to the local gun store, I had a stainless frame. Six weeks later I had a 14” full bull SSK barrel with muzzlebreak. Plenty of case forming and powder burning later, I had my Simmons 2x7x28 sighted in and was ready to hunt.

Later that fall, during deer season, I thought I would change stand positions. Man, I hated the thought of lugging my 8-1/2 pound rifle and deer stand into the woods. So I grabbed my Contender (Which until this point was just a conversation piece). After hanging my stand, I decided to hunt the rest of the afternoon. Wouldn’t you know it, a nice seven pointer decides to walk that trail just below me. I eased the hammer back, found him in the crosshairs, and fired. He was directly facing me at about 50 yards, and the first shot took out his off side shoulder, but hit no vitals. He immediately ran about 10 yards and stopped. I hurriedly reloaded and fired again. This time it was a broad side double lung shot and the 165 grain ballistic tip did its job perfectly. He fell on the spot.

A few deer and rabbits later, I'm still hooked on this single shot pistol thing.

[ 02-20-2003, 01:51: Message edited by: Alpo ]

Simple economics,
First flight contender with 357 octagon barrel with 100 rounds ammo = $115
Smith & Wesson model 66 = $250.

For an Ensign fresh out of the Academy, the choice was easy...

Still have that gun, and many more barrels to go with it. Hasn't been changed to easy open system either.

Graycg

I don't know exactly why I got into it, but my first was a 223 xp100 with a loooong eye relief Leupold 2x. My first field occasion was on a Ga. barrier island. I was sneaking around when I stepped around a big Live oak and so did she....Standing there face to face at 10 yds, me and a doe. I slooowly raised the gun, took careful aim under her chin, and BOOM. At the report the deer dropped to the ground, rolled around laughing for what seemed like an ETERNITY, then bounded off At that point I was hooked!! After many pistols and many deer and hogs, I'm still hooked!! Normal people just can't relate, but that's okay, I'll just stay in the cellar mvm

Once upon a time, way back in the olden days when they weren't as particular about who they were selling what to at gunshows as they are now, some clown in Minnesota sold an Erma .22 Luger to a city kid from Illinois, who probably wasn't actually old enough or resident enough to be buying handguns, for the rather nominal price of only $45. The only problem with the Luger was it wouldn't shoot - something wrong with the springs perhaps, and parts turned out to be unavailable. Actually, it would shoot once in a while, and once even twice in a row, but it wouldn't shoot very often, which was kind of a disappointment...

So a few months later, the city kid took this pretty much non-functional pistol with him on a long drive to Texas, wherein he came across a small town gunshow (there's those damn gunshows again!) where the most impressive display of hardware was the local KKK chapter's table, complete with .50 cal Browning heavy machine gun and free racist literature!

Recognizing a true sportsman when he seen one, the city kid struck up a conversation with one of the gentlemen behind the table, commenting on the ultrafine work his organization was doing. After awhile, he pulled out the Luger, which looked rather "Nazi" even though it wouldn't shoot for shit, and showed it to the man. Shortly thereafter, a trade was negotiated - one .22 Luger and a slightly dropped pair of cheap Nikon binocs what the two sides were, ah, kinda looking in different directions, for a new in box Contender pistol in .357 mag, with a spare used barrel in .22 Hornet.

Fortunately, the VA hall where the gun show was being held was crowded, the KKK guy was short and not particularly bright, and the roof was bar joist. He looked through the binocs and all he could see was criss-crossing bar joist, which was good 'cause you couldn't actually read a license plate with those things at 10' without developing a serious headache... Anyway, he looked so happy the kid couldn't resist throwing in a genuine US Army shoulder holster, which at the time must have been worth nearly $5! All negotiations were conducted without a lot of unnecessary introductions or paperwork.

VERY shortly thereafter, the kid departed from that gunshow - the only one he's ever left without at least walking down all the aisles - at fairly high speed, with his shiny new Contender and a real appreciation for what redneck assholes are actually good for.

A true story...

Mark Dumais

Mountain goat hunting with a rifle. Both rifle and I got thrashed. Decided there had to be a better way, saw the Contender in the local gun shop and decided that was it. Could climb with both hands free and carry the gun in a holster to protect it from banging on rocks. Now own three frames and 14 barrels. Funny thing is I haven't taken a goat with one yet - maybe this year.

Rob, whatever you take up there in AK with your rigs-- you better tell us about it!!! pretty please.

Mark

Thanks for the good laugh! I think that story tops them all!

MSSMAGNUM got me started with my first single shot handgun. As a long time friend and hunting buddy it amazed me what he could do with a handgun.I now own two contender frames with several (10") barrels and one super 14. i have become fairly proficient with them but still have a long way to go to compare to my teacher,but thats the fun of shooting and hunting with handguns,everyone has something still to learn.This coming year will be my first deer season with a contender only, leavin my marlin 444 lever gun at home.Wish me luck.

I was deer hunting in Southern Colorado (1979) and came across an old mining camp high up in the mountains. Not seeing any deer that day started rummaging around an old cabin that was there. I had put my trusty 30-06 in the corner and was just looking through some boards on the floor when I noticed a movement by the window. I casully walked over to the window, not trying to be quiet, and there stood a nice 4 point buck not 10 yds from me. I was afraid if I tried to go back for my rifle I would spook him. Since I always carried a side arm with me (I was a police officer at the time) I thought "why not!". I pulled out my trusty 6" Colt Python and promptly dispatched the deer in the neck. Needless to say, it dropped like a rock. I was hooked! I started grabbing everything about handgun hunting that I could read. I first bought a Contender in a 14" 30-30 with the Mag-Proof Redfield 4X. It sucked. Couldn't group woth anything. I thought, man, did I just screw up by buying this or what? Then I read an article by Bob Milek about the .30 Herrett. I ran down to the local gunstore where I bought my Contender and asked him if I could trade my 14" 30-30 for a 10" 30 Herrett. He said no problem. Prepped some cases and reloaded them. I loaded up some 110 gr (Speer?) for fire forming. Mean while my brother-in-law called and asked if I wanted to go whistle pig (rock chucks) hunting with him. I stated heck yea! I thought this would be fun to try out my Herrett. I ended up shooting over 50 of them in 5 hours anywhere from 25 to 250+ yards. That was too much fun to be legal! Later on that same year I shot a 6X6 31" Mule Deer at 200 yds with the 125 grain Sierra bullet in the Herrett.

I never had the chance to meet Bob Milek but he definately started me on the right path to handgun hunting.

This topic has really brought back some memories.

The first single shot pistol (an actual powder burner) I ever used was one of those old Savage .22s that was supposed to look like a revolver, but wasn't. My drafting teacher kept it on his dashboard, "just in case." While the exact circumstances have faded with time, I came to be the one who was supposed to clean and repair it. Of course a field test followed and a patient wait by a groundhog hole produced by first pistol groundhog. Range was about 4 feet.

Another thing I remember about that gun was that the hammer spur was broken off and being unable to repair that cast part it was filed so that you could still grip and cock it. There was some other problem which, although I can't remember what it was (extractor?), I apparently repaired to his satisfaction.

My first SS was a Crosman 130 .22 with which I killed many starlings and some barn rats.

[ 02-22-2003, 21:36: Message edited by: Hobie ]