Contender barrel length

[diver dan]

What caliber should I use out of my 10 inch contender barrel that won't be too loud and I can buy ammo for it at the smaller gun shops? I heard that 223 is too loud.I don't reload.I am after yotes in thick woods, will be using a red dot.

 

[Creedmoor]

What caliber should I use out of my 10 inch contender barrel that won't be too loud and I can buy ammo for it at the smaller gun shops? I heard that 223 is too loud.I don't reload.I am after yotes in thick woods, will be using a red dot.

We shoot a bunch of 221 Fireball out of a 16" Contender.
Its a bit quieter than 223.
223 will be cheaper to buy for.

 

[Squirt239]

What caliber should I use out of my 10 inch contender barrel that won't be too loud and I can buy ammo for it at the smaller gun shops? I heard that 223 is too loud.I don't reload.I am after yotes in thick woods, will be using a red dot.

22lr?

 

[Mgderf]

At what distances?

 

[bwframe]

What about 300BLK subsonic loads?

 

[Methane Herder]

.256 Winchester Magnum might be quieter than.556. Ammo is a question and finding a.256 TC barrel more so.
What are you shooting at?
10" barrel, 30 carbine, 32-20 necked down to
308.......

MH

 

[gdkaiser]

As having owned .223, 7mmTCU, 44 mag and 22lr 223 in 10 inch is ungodly loud and delivers a muzzle blast like that of the sun. I also had it in 14 not much better.7mmTCU was in 10 in (for those not familiar,7mmTCU is 5.56 necked to 7mm and named 7mm thompson center ugalde, a popular wildcat cartridge for silhouette shooting) this even worse than the 223. 44 mag was loud with mags, but you could load to 44 special specs and reduce recoil,muzzle flash and recoil (use at shorter range) and both 10 and 12 in 22lr. The 22 can shoot long rifle,longs,shorts bb and cb caps also subsonic,making it the most quiet and ammo versatile. So the choice is there… hand cannon or bb gun…

 

[Hookeye]

Even my .22 mag 14" has some bark.
But it aint as bad as my .223 was LOL (also 14").

My dads first Contender was w the little wood grip in .222 rem. (early 70s).
Octagon 10" IIRC.

First shot and we were HOLY COW!

 

[patience0830]

Thread the. 223 and buy a suppressor.

 

[Hookeye]

.256 Winchester Magnum might be quieter than.556. Ammo is a question and finding a.256 TC barrel more so.
What are you shooting at?
10" barrel, 30 carbine, 32-20 necked down to
308.......

MH

Seen .256 win bbls on a certain auction site.
Most people don't want that cartridge.
Pops had pistol and rifle bbls in it...........he never did get a Ruger Hawkeye, so Contender it was.

 

[Creedmoor]

.256 Winchester Magnum might be quieter than.556. Ammo is a question and finding a.256 TC barrel more so.
What are you shooting at?
10" barrel, 30 carbine, 32-20 necked down to
308.......

MH

The OP doesnt reload.
I have a 256 win mag in a 10" octagon.
Now days its pretty much a reload only if you want to shoot it s bunch.
It has a good bark to it when shot.

 

[Hookeye]

Hmmmm

.22 hornet proly better if wanting 100 yd or little farther zap. But ammo price might be salty.

Can reload though

Have never shot a Contender in 14" .22 hornet.

Never shot anything w my .22 mag 14"
Was my dads bbl and he blasted chucks w it

 

[Hookeye]

IMHO the .22 mag 14" is pleasant enough recoil and blast wise on the range. But is pretty heavy to lug around. I hunted it a couple times.

My decision was to change to a 12" .357 and run that on varmints and deer.

Havent found a .357 bbl at good price yet LOL
Could just leave it set up w .35 rem 14".
Recoil is a bit stiff, even w Pachmayr Grippers.
And i got a bum wrist, so might eventually have to drop to .357.

I like .22 mag.
It worked well up close in handguns when chucking, and in rifle does well at 75 yards.

But to guarantee anchoring anything on the spot youd proly need more horsepower.
And that on chucks. Yotes maybe more.

223 seems the ideal yote round in rifle.
Handgun proly decent, dunno, never tried.
But any higher performance cartridge in a handgun is gonna be blasty and noisy.

And harder to employ afield.

And EER scopes suck afield IMHO.
Red dot makes shooting specialty pistols not benched much easier. But then you have no magnification, which IMHO would be limiting on range. A rest and a scope would let you take longer shots.

Nothing is ever perfect LOL

 

[Hookeye]

Under 50 yards I have hunted yotes w my .357 revolver. Only shot one so far. It jumped,.flipped and ran maybe 10-15 yards and fell over dead.

 

[700 LTR 223]

As having owned .223, 7mmTCU, 44 mag and 22lr 223 in 10 inch is ungodly loud and delivers a muzzle blast like that of the sun. I also had it in 14 not much better.

LOL! I have a Super 14 223 and with H322 powder reloads it is loud but nothing like the 16" AR shooters with their factory ammo. Of course the original poster does not reload. I would surely pass on a 10" 223 in the TC. Probably any centerfire in a 10" TC is going too be fairly loud. I borrowed a 22 mag 10" barrel some years ago and found it to be somewhat loud as well but nothing like some of the centerfire calibers.

 

[Creedmoor]

LOL! I have a Super 14 223 and with H322 powder reloads it is loud but nothing like the 16" AR shooters with their factory ammo. Of course the original poster does not reload. I would surely pass on a 10" 223 in the TC. Probably any centerfire in a 10" TC is going too be fairly loud. I borrowed a 22 mag 10" barrel some years ago and found it to be somewhat loud as well but nothing like some of the centerfire calibers.

I have a 10" Contender and a S&W mod 53 in 22 Jet that will melt your ears.
People look and and go, awe look at that little cartridge hes gonna shoot.
And then its, WTF was that?

 

[Hookeye]

I wouldn't run a 10" TC barrel in anything other than .22 lr.
Even if wanting .357 I'd go 12" min. Even downloaded for target or plinking.
14" is a bit long, kinda cumbersome.
Super 16's worse (tapered though).
Do think 14" is right for .223 or .35 rem

 

[tomcat13]

I run 22 Hornet thru my 10" & its just OK @ 50 yds.
Probably a lot of Operator Error involved!
I reload everything, so for the OP's issue, I would suggest 22 Magnum.
The ammo isn't Cheap, but i think it might fit the sit.

 

[Whip_McCord]

I run 22 Hornet thru my 10" & its just OK @ 50 yds.
Probably a lot of Operator Error involved!
I reload everything, so for the OP's issue, I would suggest 22 Magnum.
The ammo isn't Cheap, but i think it might fit the sit.

I shot a lot of 22 Hornet back in the IHMSA silhouette days, w/ a 10" barrel. It is a tricky cartridge to ring out accuracy. I found a nice trick from Handloader magazine years ago that worked for me. They suggested using SP primers instead of SR. The reasoning; the small amount of slow pistol powder used may not respond well to the violent blast from a rifle primer. I tried this, and with some tweeking I got sub 1" groups at 100 yards. It is a fun little cartridge.

 

[700 LTR 223]

I shot a lot of 22 Hornet back in the IHMSA silhouette days, w/ a 10" barrel. It is a tricky cartridge to ring out accuracy. I found a nice trick from Handloader magazine years ago that worked for me. They suggested using SP primers instead of SR. The reasoning; the small amount of slow pistol powder used may not respond well to the violent blast from a rifle primer. I tried this, and with some tweeking I got sub 1" groups at 100 yards. It is a fun little cartridge.

My 6th Edition Hornady manual states "Our 22 Hornet was the most accurate of the Thompson /Center barrels tested in the Hornady lab."