I'd be grateful for any information i can find out on this and i know some of you haven't heard about it yet. i went to something like www.tcarms.com - not sure what price or when to be released, all i know is that all the barrels and stuff for this new contender are interchangeable with the one we know now and vice versa.

i'm pretty in with the talk of the gun world as we get a ton of hunting/fishing/related magazines at my hpouse. so why is it that i've only heard of it now?

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A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed !!

This is the new Contender it will look like the Encore. It will have a new hammer safety block and new trigger

no idea of price or when it will be approximately available?

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A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed !!

Availability is now projected for the end of this calendar year, begining of next year - as of the last time that I heard. I haven't heard any details of how it is to look or function other than that it will use all contender barrels from past production.

Well guys, i got the scoop. and i think they are morons. i emailed them and asked and heres their reply"

Reply-to: <tech@tcarms.com>
From: "Thompson/Center Arms" <tech@tcarms.com>

To: "'Dan Shumway'" <sure_shot_99@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Contender G2
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 13:43:34 -0400

Dear Sir:

The Contender frame has been discontinued for 2001.

At the present time the G2 Contender is still in the R+D stage. We
have not
made any firm decisions on calibers, forend and grip configurations,
finishes (blued or stainless steel), barrel lengths, trigger style or a
firm
ship date. We will have details regarding this new product in early
2002.
Please contact us again at that time for information on the new G2
Contender.

Very Truly Yours,
Tim Pancurak
PO Box 5002
Rochester, NH 03866-5002

- - - -

Now why wouldn't you keep making the contender frame until the new one was released and then discontinue it?

are they hoping for a mad rush of frenzied customers who have been saving up extra for months because they can't get the contender till then?

if so i suppose i'll be one of them if it looks good

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A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed !!

I was almost interested in the Contender until the mention of a hammer block safety. Is it going to be akin to the safety on the Marlin's? Or the nasty '94 safety?
Would it be better to get an older one and wait for the kinks to get worked out on the new ones?

I had not heard of a hammer block safety on these I know that it will have an ignition system like the Encore in that you can cock the action and let the hammer down then recock without opening the action. As far as size and weight it is supposed to be similar to the old Contender not the Encore. If they were going to put a Marlin or Winchester style safety on it they would have already done it to the Encore. Sean

Fellas, I think the Contender has been dropped due to fear of (or actual?) lawsuits and awards given by inane juries. I know Rem. has recently suffered a VERY stupid jury finding and award due to the "Walker trigger" in their 600 and 700 series rifles.

LEGISLATION BY LAWSUIT really IS the order of the day. As Yakov Smirhnov said, "What a COUNTRY!"

Welcome to the "New Millenium."

Blackwater,
I am just curious as to where you came by this information? If you have a source let us know the scoop. Sean

There are still some NIB contender frames on dealers shelves, and used actions aren't hard to find. It is too bad T/C dropped the contender frame, there is nothing wrong with it IMHO.

T/C has also put themselves in a bit of a pickle. If they make the new frame any stronger, then folks will start chambering barrels for rounds that are hotter then the contender will take, and no doubt those barrels will find there way onto the contender frames. Asside from that, I've seen a contender barrel re-chambered to 358 winchester.

Anyhow, just get a contender frame, the triggers are superiour to the encore, and there is no wait to get one. The new frame has been "in the works" for awhile. I wonder if it will ever come about, seems unless T/C were complete morons, they'd have the new action ready before discontinuing the old one. And if they weren't making a profit on the old frame, can't see any reason to invest the R&D and tooling needed to make a new one.