Pardon my lack of TC and ballistic knowledge but Does this case with a head of .445" develope pressures that exceed the deisgn parameters of the Contender....and or G2??? Got too many tubes for the one Encore frame that I own and want to do a 16.5" varmint barrel.
Thanks,
Dave

Dave,
With the sides of the G2 frame gussetted like the Contender should have/could have been eons ago, it will be less subject to stretching out of spec. under loads somewhat higher than can be used in the Contender. But I doubt that larger diameter rounds like the .22 PPC loaded to the approx. 55,000 psi level will be viable in the G2.
Much is conjecture at this point until we get some experience with it.

There are a lot of rounds that can be used in the Contender, but experience has shown that some of them, like .300 Savage and .250 Savage for example, are not completely satisfactory unless downloaded to a level that does not over-flex the frame and cause problems.

Whether it CAN be done, or SHOULD be done, is the question.

A friend of mine had a .22 PPC in a Contender carbine. Neither he nor the person he sold it to ever was very successful with it. Part of this was due to the former being "invinceably stupid," to borrow a phrase from someone else, in regard to adjusting the size die for correct headspace, inspite of showing him hands on several times.

With the Contender, you get max. potential performance by keeping the chamber diameter small enough to run full 55,000 psi loads, which do not over-flex the frame, and increasing the length of the chamber to get the capacity needed.

That is why I came up with the 5.6x50 R Bellm. It holds up to 37 gr. of powder, similar to loads run in .22-250, and essentially duplicates a .22-250 safely in a Contender.

Here is a good example of what happens when you increase the chamber diameter:

We took an 18" .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. with loads chronographed in it, then rechambered it to .224 Weatherby, which is smaller in diameter yet than the PPC. Inspite of the strength of the Weatherby brass, pressure problems developed before reaching the quite comfortable velocity levels the .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. produced.

Permissible velocities from the .224 Weatherby were little better than you get from a standard .223 Rem., but not up to par with the smaller diameter .222 Rem. Mag. Imp..... and none come up to the velocity levels of the longer bodied 5.6x50 R Bellm.

The problem with the 5.6x50R Bellm is the cost and availability of the 5.6x50R RWS brass, which is preferred over the thinner Hirtenberger and Sellier & Bellot brass. Both of the latter are several grains lighter than the RWS brass, and there have been problems with dies not sizing the thinner necks small enough.

Back to .22 PPC.... until it has proven itself in the G2, I would spend the money on lottery tickets instead. Might prove to be a better gamble, even though it might not be as much fun.

Mike

Dave,
I asked the same question about the 22PPC and the 6PPC. I was told that these are Encore rounds and not for the contender. Even after that I was thinkin that if ya didn't load them to max they would still work for the contender. I have a lot of new 7.62x39 brass and was looking for something to use it for. I think this brass can be used to form cases for both these rounds. But I may be wrong.

Thanks, Mike and Coon Bone. Thats about what I was figuring. I guess I'll just pick up another Encore frame for the PPC project and other pistol length barrels.....should be taking delivery on my 26" Bull 6BR from OTT here shortly

Guess i'll have to do something else with this 7.62 brass Maybe some type of Whisper.

Jules,
I still have a bit of a fettish for 7.62x39 Imp. and with production of new barrels on the horizon, may make that one of the projects.

It did not work at all with factory ammo in the equal land and groove factory barrels I rechambered..... ran too much pressure, way too much.

But in narrow rifling barrels, even the standard 7.62x39 worked.... marginal, like the .300 Savage and .250 Savage referred to above, but it did work.

Combining narrow rifling and the correct groove diameter, the Imp. 7.62x39 could be viable.

I was even looking at shortening it down to 1.4" for the Illinois folks, but it still has the spring loaded extractor to deal with and modifying the cases did not go as slick as hoped for, so I dropped that idea in favor of the .30x.221 Imp.-R.

May find a good use for the 7.62 brass yet....

Mike

I'm sure something will pop up Mike
I sold my AK, SKS and Mac 90 but the guy that bought them didn't reload so I'm kinda stuck with the brass and dies. I could sell them but I would rather find some use for them......and that's my excuse to get another barrel