[broom_jm]

Since I've owned mine, I've often thought that Warren Center never had big game hunting in mind when he designed the original. It isn't strong enough for anything beyond the .22 Hornet and moderate pistol cartridges, I now believe. Target shooting and small varmints seem to me to have been the intended market. The set trigger is a definite plus for those uses. But Americans being Americans, owners HAD to hot-rod the thing, so we got .30-30, .35 Remington, and of course The Max, all of which will actually stretch the frame if overindulged in. And will lead people to stalk around the woods with it loaded and in a shoulder holster.

You're the first person I've ever heard suggest the Contender frame isn't suitable for more than 22 Hornet or the standard straight-walled pistol cartridges. A few thoughts come to mind, when contemplating why you might feel that way.

1) With thousands of them out there, many of which are shooting the powerful rounds you think will ruin the gun, I have never heard of one actually failing. I'm sure it's happened, but the occurrence must be so rare as to not be of any concern or we'd surely be hearing about it. This may be an odd way of looking at it, but when a frame stretches you can get head separations or failure-to-fire, due to light primer strikes. In either case, you are alerted to the condition at hand, which is easily remedied with over-sized hinge pins. Some might call that a built-in safety measure, but only for the attentive?

2) You use the words "overindulged in". Maybe that's the key? Most folks don't shoot 500 rounds a year from their Contender...heck, I probably don't shoot that many in a DECADE! How many rounds of stout 6.5JDJ does it take to stretch a Contender? Even an unimproved case, with a lot more thrust against the standing breech, doesn't get shot frequently enough to present a problem very quickly?

 

[broom_jm]

Deliberately carrying the arm with the trigger UN-set would exacerbate the problem. Jostling the hammer alone could let the hammer contact the firing pin. An unwise shooter might think that by closing the gun and pulling the trigger (without cocking the hammer) to release the set trigger is somehow safer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have to say I've never given this much thought, but now that you present this design feature in such clear terms, it makes perfect sense. I've always thought of a single-shot rifle as being a little safer, but I hadn't realized just how safe that Contender design is.

 

[broom_jm]

It's plain the problem is not understood and I don't have a gun to play with to make it plainer.

LISTEN for the click as you slowly pull the hammer back. You might even think its a half cock or something but its not. AFTER the click, the hammer is then free to hit the firing pin by dropping or impact no matter the position of trigger.

Exactly so.

 

[broom_jm]

That's a very interesting bit of history, JBelk. I'll be certain to have the gun secured, if carrying it in a holster. I didn't know that was why T/C was sold.

 

[broom_jm]

So, just to be clear..... I don't know, "what I'm getting into". But you are. Yet you cannot even answer a simple question pertaining to it's basic operation. Thanks for all of your "expertise".

Yeah, but you have the gun IN YOUR HANDS...and still can't tell what model it is or whether or not it has the safety feature you're asking about!

Point being, some folks need to know that kind of stuff before they buy something. Didn't mean to offend.

 

[broom_jm]

You're the second person I've been acquainted with who purchased an Encore without seeming to understand what they were getting into.

The first guy didn't know how to open the action until I showed him and was FLOORED when I told him he could convert his Encore muzzle-loader into a rifle, shotgun, or pistol configuration, with almost unlimited chambering options. He knew it was an Encore and not a Contender, though.

I'm not sure about having anything like a "hammer block safety", but the older Contenders have a 3-position selector on the hammer spur (rimfire, centerfire, and in-between) that I never found much value in, as far as a safety goes. When I shoot and hunt with my Contenders, I just leave the hammer down until I'm ready to shoot, which keeps it safe.