Anyone have any experience with these? Pros, cons, issues with quality or accuracy?

Pros: They are accurate, exceptionally so with custom barrels. As a handgun, it requires skill to realize, but the triggers can be worked to the point of perfection, so that helps. You'll want to learn the Creedmore position to take advantage of the standard pistol form. I have stocks on mine because I kept wanting to stretch the range for varminting. The shortness of the action makes for a really neat pickup gun. They are exceptional for teaching and learning marksmanship as they naturally make you slow down and think about each shot. Obviously, it's cheaper to run them too. It makes a lot of sense to bring one to the range with a barrel in your pistol caliber and another in your main rifle caliber. Being small lightweight and simple, it's worth bringing. There are TONS of chamberings for it. I recommend rimmed revolver cartridges like .357 and .44 magnum. .22 Hornet is excellent in a barrel as short as a 14" My scoped 14" shoots half inch or better as a carbine. I have a 20" .223 with a shilen barrel that shoots half MOA.

 

Cons: The action it not inherently strong. They tend to stretch when large bore, high pressure cartridges are used. Hence the extra metal on the encore. (note-the contender trigger is better) I had some beastly chamberings attached to my frames (375 JDJ) and 30/30. They were loud, blasty and beat up the frames. Fortunately, breech faces can be replaced and shimmed to put things back in order. However, it just doesn't make sense to push such a lightweight gun to such a limit unless you are hunting for large game and need to reduce weight. Both headspace problems and aging springs can cause weak primer strikes.
  Most of the barrels available are 10's 14's and 16inchers, which are really blasty If you are using rifle cartridges. It is best to stick with carbine or pistol cartridges (or parent cases) which have less backthrust. Also, rimmed cartridges are much more user friendly because of the extractor geometry necessary to engage a rebated rim. This is why 2 out of the 3 barrels I still have are rimmed. Also, the stretchiness of the action allows the brass to stretch a bit more, so resizing and trimming are critical. There is a reason that steeper shoulders are popular with these guns. It slows the flow of brass. The biggest downside is that they are addictive. I have spent a lot of money with all the switching and tinkering. I have tried to upgrade and simplify my tools over the years, but I cannot seem to part with my super custom, completely tailored briefcase of contenders.

To learn ore about them, check  http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/

Exactly the kind of info I was looking for!! Thanks! I'm in the market for one right now after shooting a friend of mines contender over the weekend.

I have way more Encore stuff than Contender but I do have one frame and a couple of barrels. I prefer the trigger reach on the Contender but I like the chambering choices of the Encore. My 30-06 and 6mmRem Encore barrels have deer to their name and I will probably use the Encores exclusively for deer firearms season this fall (personal protest for the HPR proposal going down in flames!) I use a tripod, put the forearm on it, hold the forearm with my left hand and sort of use it to brace it against the tripod saddle; put the hold the stock with my right hand and brace it against my left arm. Don't know if that makes any sense but I find it to be pretty stable. I've been shooting the 6mmRem barrel in particular this summer that way and it's working well. don't know if you reload but the 7 Waters would be a great deer round if you do reload, there is a little recoil; but I have Encore's that are far worse.





One last thing take the warning about being addictive to heart. I have many frames and many more barrels!



 

I have been hunting whitetails since I was 8, was practically born in deer camp and grew up in the woods. Its something I'm very passionate about! I hunted with archery for many years til a shoulder injury makes that mostly impossible now. For the past 15 years I have been hunting exclusively with an H&R Handi rifle in 308. I find it works well on southern deer and knocks the hits down as well. My old handi rifle is about worn out so I'm going to retire it. I have been wanting to get a tc for a while now.

I had one of the older Contenders with a 12 inch bull barrel in 44 mag. it was one of the best shooting handguns I ever pulled the trigger on. If I was interested in hunting with a handgun, I would not hesitate to get back in the T/C game.

Contender in 44 mag is great for deer. Enjoy using it when I feel like handgun hunting. Great trigger as stated before, and hand loading for it is easy too.The 180 grain bullet is my favorite, good velocity, pretty flat shooting and plenty power for deer.

I've been using a 14" .41 mag Contender for decades.  Never taken a deer with the .357 mag barrel of mine.  Just replace the Simmons 2x20 scope with a Weaver 1-4x.  Learn your abilities and its capabilities before heading into the woods.  Practice from field positions.




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