Assessment: Thompson Heart Contender Pistol

It often begins with a kind of conversations: For those who might solely have one gun …

Personally, I actually don’t need to stay in a world the place I’d be restricted to 1 firearm. Nonetheless, in the event you go on an prolonged journey off the grid in a searching or survival scenario, you in all probability received’t have the ability to tote your whole assortment of firearms with you.

You may pick a rifle and handgun on your scenario, however you’ll nonetheless discover gaps between the 2. Your rifle could possibly attain out at lengthy ranges and your pistol could also be sufficient to maintain you protected from two-legged predators, however will both excel at harvesting recreation, maintaining varmints in examine, or offering protection in opposition to a four-legged predator?

What in the event you did have one gun that would do all of it, or at the least get you near that aim?

Thompson Heart Contender

Caliber(s)
.223 Remington, .45-70, .410 Shotgun/.45 Colt (different calibers accessible)

Barrel Size(s)
14 inches (different lengths accessible)

OAL
17.5 inches (as proven with 14-inch barrels)

Weight (Unloaded)
3.5 kilos (with out optics)

Capability
1

MSRP
Begins at $729

URL
www.tcarms.com

When it first debuted in 1967, the Thompson Heart Contender was principally a curiosity. The barrels had been all beneath 10 inches in size, had been octagonal, and represented the decrease finish of the ability spectrum (.22 Jet, .22 LR, .38 Particular, and so on.). They had been correct, however not notably helpful past the firing line on the native out of doors vary. By the Nineteen Seventies, the barrels turned spherical and had been supplied in rifle calibers reminiscent of .223 Remington, .30-30 Winchester, .35 Remington, and .45-70. Magnum. Handgun calibers reminiscent of .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .357 Most, and .45 Winchester Magnum adopted, and the Contender was reborn as a extremely correct long-distance pistol for metallic silhouette capturing and an appropriate searching arm in both rifle or pistol configuration.

Though they had been by no means meant or marketed as a “bug-out” gun, it’s a task at which they’ll excel.

A part of the great thing about a Contender is which you can change calibers in a matter of minutes. Take away the forend with a screwdriver, come out the hinge pin, take away the barrel, set up the brand new one, substitute the hinge pin and the forend, and also you’re achieved.

There’s no want to suit, examine headspace, or set cylinder hole. Moreover, there’s no must re-sight the Contender, because the sights or optics are mounted on the barrel. Your zero is all the time maintained.

As a result of there’s a 52-year manufacturing interval with small adjustments right here and there, some older barrel and body mixtures might require becoming. This has principally been eradicated with the most recent incarnation of the Contender often known as the G2 body, which debuted in 1998. Nonetheless, even probably the most correct barrels and customized frames can nonetheless be a bit tight-fitting. The largest criticism outdoors of being a single-shot firearm is having to slap the barrel all the way down to get it to interrupt open at occasions with the older fashions. The older fashions do have a greater set off than the G2, nevertheless.

Rifle size barrels and a buttstock will be hooked up to the Contender to offer the shooter a single shot rifle. We won’t delve into this right here, because it doesn’t match the character of maintaining a battery of a number of calibers in a small bundle, however the choice is there.

The Thompson Heart Contender breaks open like an old-school single-shot shotgun.

My private favourite mixture for the Contender as a bug-out handgun is the next three 14-inch barrels: .45-70 Authorities, .223 Remington, and .410/.45 Colt.

Every one covers a possible want in most survival eventualities, notably in the event you’re trying to hunt your personal recreation. Most significantly, Thompson Heart Arms nonetheless makes these three barrels for the G2 sequence.

.45-70 Authorities

When most individuals consider the .45-70 spherical, both single-shot rolling block or falling block rifles come to thoughts, or probably a Nineteenth-century lever-action carbine.

The .45-70 barrel represents the higher threshold of energy for the Contender in a at the moment produced manufacturing unit barrel. It’s able to taking any animal in North America, from feral hogs and whitetail deer to brown bear, elk, moose, or buffalo.

Due to its energy stage, many shooters are postpone by this caliber in a 14-inch-barreled pistol. After I purchased my first Contender barrel on this caliber, the salesperson on the counter referred to as me “a f***ing nut” and stated he noticed somebody hearth it and break each bone in his hand. Like most gun store sages, I ignored him and located the recoil someplace between a .44 Magnum and .454 Casull.
I received’t lie; the pistol has fairly a little bit of kick to it. The excessive bore axis and the recoil from the massive, heavy gradual bullet push the Contender again sharply into your hand. My barrel has the manufacturing unit muzzle brake put in and is topped with a Leupold prolonged eye aid 2x scope.

As with most Contender barrels of this size, accuracy is excellent.

Above: The versatile Contender from prime to backside — 45-70 with 2x Leupold scope; stainless 410/45 Colt with ventilated rib and brass bead; .223 with threaded barrel and rail; wooden forend and grip on a blued body.

.223 Remington

This has all the time been one of the crucial in style selections for the Contender pistol. It’s an impressive varmint spherical, and in the event you keep on with the 14-inch-barreled model, your velocity, accuracy, and energy ranges will probably be on par with what you’d get from an AR rifle with similar-length barrel.

I’ve had my barrel for a few years and used it on varied frames with no issues. My barrel is threaded ½x28-inch and serves properly for silencer testing. For those who run suppressors, the Contender makes for one of many quietest hosts on the market, as a result of it’s a totally closed motion for the whole length of the firing sequence.

Most frequently, I mount a red-dot sight on the rail. My barrel began life in a manufacturing unit blue end that quickly deteriorated in service as a area gun for over 20 years. At this time, it’s coated in a black Cerakote end by Nevada Cerakote. My subsequent stage on the earth of Contenders is to have all my non-stainless barrels coated the identical method.

The Contender device, used to take away the forend, hinge pin, and barrel.

.45 Colt/.410 Shotgun

The .45 Colt/.410 barrel for the Contender is a bit controversial, like most firearms that fireside this cartridge mixture. It’s because a sub-16-inch barrel wants rifling or else it’s thought of an NFA merchandise, requiring a $200 tax stamp. That rifling doesn’t assist the .410 shot sample in any respect. Likewise, the 3-inch chamber for the shotgun shell means the .45 Colt bullet has a big leap within the chamber earlier than it makes contact with the lands and grooves within the barrel. In consequence, the accuracy of the .45 Colt will endure within the Contender. It is a disgrace, as a result of you possibly can actually bump up the ability stage of the .45 Colt on this pistol to outshine the .44 Magnum.

Nonetheless, with the manufacturing unit choke and the best ammunition, the .410 shotgun spherical in a Contender is greater than ample for rabbit, grouse, quail, pheasant, and dove inside 50 yards. It’s a superb choice if you end up in a scenario the place you should forage for small recreation and uncared for to carry a full-size shotgun.

This barrel is authorized in each state besides California, the place a sub-18-inch barrel on any firearm able to discharging a shotgun shell makes it a short-barreled shotgun underneath state regulation.

Above: A well-used 44 Magnum barrel, artificial forend, and Pachmayr rubber grip will be sensible equipment to have readily available.

Different Choices

I’ve different barrels in varied calibers, as a lifetime of capturing and hand-loading has gotten the higher of me. All of the Magnum handgun calibers work extraordinarily properly in a Contender. One other surprisingly good spherical is the outdated .30-30 Winchester. Within the Contender, you possibly can actually faucet into the accuracy inherent on this spherical by loading conical, pointed bullets as a substitute of the outdated round-nosed ammunition designed to be used in lever-action rifles.

Sarcastically, the .300 Whisper designed by JD Jones was not solely meant to be used within the AR, however within the Contender as properly. This spherical is thought immediately because the .300 Blackout and a few of us would possibly choose this to the .223 or .30-30 chamberings.

Moreover, you could find sub-caliber chamber inserts that’ll mean you can hearth .22 LR or .22 Magnum out of your .223 Remington barrels, for instance. These inserts are low-cost, and though they don’t present the accuracy of a devoted barrel in that caliber, they are often enjoyable to mess around with.

The .22 lengthy rifle Contender barrels are among the many most correct you could find this facet of a European Free-Pistol. I left them out as a part of the bug-out barrel battery as a result of I discover a devoted .22 semiauto or revolver extra helpful for a similar quantity of weight because the Contender barrel.

Handloading

Whereas the three barrels I specified had been chosen as a result of they fill sure wants, one other issue was that there’s an abundance of off-the-shelf ammunition selections for these barrels. The actual magic of the Contender platform is which you can tailor your handloads to your particular person barrel to extend efficiency.

For those who’re not already reloading ammunition, the Contender will simply get you into it in addition to flip you into an accuracy nut!

Extra Energy

Thompson Heart Arms affords another choice in the event you discover these selections missing, though all three can be found on this platform as properly in 15-inch as a substitute of 14-inch barrels. It’s referred to as the Encore and was designed to permit the shooter to fireplace rounds reminiscent of .308 Winchester, .30-06, .460 Smith & Wesson, and within the long-gun configuration, shotgun and muzzle-loading choices. Barrels don’t interchange between Contenders and Encores, however a battery of potent searching weapons will be constructed from a single body.

Taking pictures the Contender

My method of capturing the Contender is with a normal two-hand grip that you just’d use on any giant revolver. I’ve mounted bipods on them, shot them throughout the hood of my truck, or from a relaxation constructed into an ATV. I’ve even laid on my again within the Creedmoor place with the facet of the forend braced on the highest of my boot for lengthy vary with open sights.

Some individuals cradle the forend of their non-shooting hand, and for a flicker in time there have been corporations making extraordinarily tall scope mounts to permit the shooter to fireplace from the mid chest space and the flexibility to get nearer eye aid from a extra highly effective scope. These explicit mounts are now not made for good purpose.

Ignore the forend — it’s there to look good and shield the hinge pin. You don’t and doubtless shouldn’t use it for capturing until you put in a stud to mount a bipod or are utilizing a remainder of some type.

Pricing

The Contender was a extra reasonably priced firearm within the $400 worth vary, and the typical worth of a barrel would run from $50 to $199 with used ones on the decrease finish of this spectrum. The present MSRP on a brand new G2 Contender pistol body runs from $523 for walnut furnishings and blue end to $548 for stainless and artificial. New pistol barrels are about $229 every. A whole handgun in a single caliber begins at $729 from the manufacturing unit.

In Abstract

I wouldn’t advocate a Contender as an “solely gun,” though some old-school preppers have used one efficiently as such. I believe they’ve a spot as a searching and varmint gun, particularly when maintaining your loadout on the lighter facet. The one-barrel lockup and single-action set off make them correct and really dependable. Their measurement and weight make them simply moveable, whether or not you add sling swivels to the grip and forend or hold them in a holster of some kind on the hip or throughout the chest. Different firearms might come and go from my assortment, however I’ll all the time make room for a Contender (or two).

FAQ

Learn Extra

Subscribe to Recoil Offgrid’s free publication for updates, affords and extra.

Written by Mike Searson