It may be growing a little long in the tooth, but the Thompson/Center Contender pistol is one of the more influential handguns of our time. A single shot pistol that hinges open for loading, the Contender came along in the late 60s and took the handgun world by storm. This system permitted the use of many barrels on the same receiver, and was an inexpensive gun that got a lot of shooters into the handgunning business on a budget. From a .22 barrel for casual plinking to a powerful hunting barrel in .35 Remington, the Contender covered the spectrum of sporting handgun uses. With few exceptions, Contender shooters were also handloaders and they gave the handloading industry a boost. Contenders were also very easy to fit with scopes and contributed to the development of better optics for handguns in general. My first Contender was a .357 Mag. for which I bought a spare .22 LR barrel, giving me a great deal of versatility. But the Contender got its biggest boost when IHMSA shooting burst on the scene and many shooters picked it up. One of the most popular wildcats in history was the 7mm T/C-U, which used plentiful GI 5.56mm brass, necked up to take 7 mm bullets. This cartridge dropped scores of steel chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams in the IHMSA sport.
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