Every 10" Contender pistol barrel I have shot has been a tack driver. I have one rifle length barrel - a 30-30. I can't get better than 100 yard baseball sized groups with it. I've tried cast and jacketed bullets and different weight bullets. It seems to be very sensitive to how its held. Is this normal for a Contender rifle barrel?

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If you are shooting it off bags try moving the gun up to where the bag is closest to the trigger guard as possible.
A TC Contender carbine can be kinda of tricky to shoot accurately esspecially with a tapered barrel. They tend to be very difficult to hold steady at the instant you pull the trigger. All of mine are bull barrels which helps alot and most are set up with a hanger bar system. What is your setup ?

I never understood the hanger bar system. All my stuff is off-the-shelf. My 30-30 barrel has 2 screws holding it to the forearm. I leave one screw loose and that makes a noticable difference.
My 10" Contender barrels are ungodly accurate. The rifle-length 30-30 is pretty mediocre. I'm just trying to find the reason.

The concept of the hanger bar is to minumize the contact between the barrel and the foreend. Very little vibration or barrel harmonics in a 10" barrel.

In addition to what has already been mentioned, the problem could be poor quality of the TC factory barrel itself. Most 30-30 barrels do not have a throat at all. There's no transition; you simply go from the chamber to the rifling. And on some other calibers, what you have is, for lack of a better description, basically a "toilet bowl" effect, and that certainly doesn't help accuracy, either.

Some older TC barrels were good shooters -- well under MOA with almost any load. But the barrels with misaligned chambers and other assorted ailments are far too numerous, and that's why you have custom shops offering rechambering services and others offering full custom barrels. In fact, Mike Bellm, one of the most knowledgable folks you'll ever run into when it comes to the break open actions, has made quite a career out of correcting TC's mistakes. You can read about the TCs at his web site (www.bellmtcs.com)

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Most 30-30 barrels do not have a throat at all. There's no transition; you simply go from the chamber to the rifling.

That's exactly how my barrel is. A 180 grain cast round nose bullet barely fits. There is no taper at the beginning of the rifling. The rifling begins at a blunt, square edge. Seems like there is no throat; but I could be wrong about that. So, what can I do about it? Is there something I can do or is there someone who can fix it at a reasonable cost?

The best "fix" is Mike at www.bellmtcs.com. He can take a look and inform you of potential options.