I'm relatively new to Contender, purchased one with two 14 barrels, all works good. Purchased a third in 30-30 Win, put it on, closed action and had to disassemble to get barrel off. Looking at 30-30 compared to other two barrels, the latching device under the extractor has a much stronger spring, and I feel a lot of roughness in the motion of the latch, even hangs up and cannot be depressed in some instances. Is there a known problem with older contender barrels (probably more than 25 years old)? Some kind of modifications possible? Have I made a bad purchase?

I'm relatively new to Contender, purchased one with two 14 barrels, all works good. Purchased a third in 30-30 Win, put it on, closed action and had to disassemble to get barrel off. Looking at 30-30 compared to other two barrels, the latching device under the extractor has a much stronger spring, and I feel a lot of roughness in the motion of the latch, even hangs up and cannot be depressed in some instances. Is there a known problem with older contender barrels (probably more than 25 years old)? Some kind of modifications possible? Have I made a bad purchase?



Different things can be tried. Check bolt spring length, binding, bolt engagement under the locking table of the frame. What's happening is the bolts of the barrel are not getting pushed forward enough by the interlock (little butter fly thingy under locking table) to clear the locking table on the frame. Whether the bolts are too long or they are binding and not moving all the way forward has to be found out first.

Pull the barrel bolts out after removing the retaining roll pin with the CORRECT SIZE pin punch 3/32". Call in super thumb to hold pressure on the bolts while you do this with your third hand. :D Make sure the bolt hole in the barrel lug is clean also. I like to apply a gun grease SPARINGLY in there with a q-tip.

If everything is OK there, you have a decision to make. Fire your frame off with barrel to TC or try some fitting on the lugs yourself. First thing you have to check is lug engagement under the locking table. Mark the angled lug surface on top with a black felt tip pen. This will let you see a "signature of how far the bolts are running under the locking table. We want engagement under the locking table to be just to or slightly passed the little "U" in the lugs. If not to that point, either stone the angled area down EVENLY WHILE MAINTAINING THE ANGLE or get a set of lower lugs from TC. If the engagment is passed the "U" buy a great margin, get a higher lug set.

With the barrel closed, Were you able to cock the hammer, hold it with your thumb, pull the trigger and see if the hammer falls ALL THE WAY to the firing pin? If the hammer hits the interlock hammer block instead of the firing pin, the lugs are NOT protruding enough under the locking table to push the interlock out of the way.

If everything checks out OK up to this point with the lug/locking table engagement. I would either remove a LITTLE material from the front surface of the locking bolts on there to shorten them up a bit or get another set of lugs as the ones on there are could be out of spec for length.

I had a 357 Magnum barrel that I actually had to drub a little material off the front surface of the bolts to get it to open but before even that I had to remove some material off the lower edge of the barrel lug for it to clear the breach face of my frame so I could close it. I've since had it rechambered to a 357 Max and it is one of my favorite and most accurate barrels to boot.

In the future, Sometimes if you pull back on the trigger guard very hard or fast it will just unlock the barrel so you don't have to drive the barrel pin out to get it apart from the frame. Not a cure for the problem but a way out of a jammed closed barrel sometimes.

I know I covered a lot here and truly if you're overwhelmed or unsure get it to a smith WHO KNOWS CONTENDERS or send it back to TC for fitting (preferred). You can always learn more about the Contender mechanism as time goes by at your leisure.

Regards

Also meant to add, if the barrel has a one piece bolt. (older barrel) Get a two piece one.

I have a 44mag barrel that did the same thing when I got it. I called TC and they recommended changing to the newer locking bolt. I ordered the new bolt and a new spring (just in case), installed them and that cured the problem.

Send it back to TC and it will come home working super. Had the same problem with some barrels and they fixed it.

Thanks for all the help. I will be working on it a little myself to try to understand how everything works together, but if I cannot make it all out, the factory is my next step. It's a little bit more interesting to try to solve the problem myself, but I know I have limitations. For example, I need to find a proper size roll pin punch. I know enough not to remove a roll pin without one, but I don't own any of them yet.

Problem is clearly with the added 30-30 barrel, as it feels entirely different when I depress the Bolts (correct name) under the barrel's extractor. So here is the place I want to begin.

Thanks again for all the input. I'll put the results up on the forum so maybe someone else can benefit from the experience I am having.

Thanks for all the help. I will be working on it a little myself to try to understand how everything works together, but if I cannot make it all out, the factory is my next step. It's a little bit more interesting to try to solve the problem myself, but I know I have limitations. For example, I need to find a proper size roll pin punch. I know enough not to remove a roll pin without one, but I don't own any of them yet.

Problem is clearly with the added 30-30 barrel, as it feels entirely different when I depress the Bolts (correct name) under the barrel's extractor. So here is the place I want to begin.

Thanks again for all the input. I'll put the results up on the forum so maybe someone else can benefit from the experience I am having.

If you can't find the roll pin punchs locally Brownells has them and roll pin holder punchs. Good luck on fixing that contender.

I'm relatively new to Contender, purchased one with two 14 barrels, all works good. Purchased a third in 30-30 Win, put it on, closed action and had to disassemble to get barrel off. Looking at 30-30 compared to other two barrels, the latching device under the extractor has a much stronger spring, and I feel a lot of roughness in the motion of the latch, even hangs up and cannot be depressed in some instances. Is there a known problem with older contender barrels (probably more than 25 years old)? Some kind of modifications possible? Have I made a bad purchase?

I had a similar problem with a .223 barrel I picked up for mine. I posted here in an older post. I corrected the problem by switching the springs for the latch pawl under the barrel. Put a weaker spring in the new barrel and it worked fine. Put the new spring in my old barrel and I guess the pawl was worn enough that it worked fine as well. You might give that a try in you case. :)

Forget the 'super thumb' idea. I would suggest you use a clamp.....those ratcheting kind they sell at all the home improvement places. Clamp the bolts (they are called bolts) back to relieve the pressure the spring is putting on the roll pin. As others suggested make sure you have the two piece locking bolts as opposed to the old style single piece

The old singe blade bolt once cost me a nice buck. It would go off sporadically and I though it was from my handkdloads as I was new to the game. A nice buck presented itself for harvesting and the Contened just went "click"...three times! By then the buck had heard me recocking the gun and decided he had other places to be. A two piece bolt from TC fixed the problem.
Another time I bought an older frame to make a stand-alone carbine in 17 Remington. Mated with a new barrel most of the cases I used split after one shot, including factory loads. Turns out there was just too much headspace between the older frame and newer barrel. I solved that by trading with someone that wanted the earlier gaenration frame These things can happen when mixing different generations of frames and barrels. It's just part of getting to know TC's.