TC 'tender in 45 Colt?

[todd]

i'm a big Encore fan. i own in 23" MGM barrels the 20 Vartarg, 444 Marlin and 500 Linebaugh. i used to own 14", 16 1/4" and 23" MGM barrels in the 6.5 Creedmoor and a 27" MGM 22-250AI. i can do under a 1" at 100 yards for 5 shots/bench for all of them.

i also have a TC Contender with a 14" factory brake in 7x30 Waters that i got from Dad (RIP). i hunted with it, but only three or four times thru the years. i never got a deer with it. my dad hunted with it for years and he did kill deer. the 7x30 Waters was exceptional on accuracy. Dad would do a 1/4 - 1/2" group at 100 yards (5 shots/bench), but as he got older, his eyes ain't what they used to be, so he traded his scope for a reflex sight and he was happy with 3 - 4" at 100 yards, 60-70 yards was about as far as he could see in the area he hunted. i think it was a 115gr Speer HP and Imr4895, but i have to look it up with his book.

the only thing wrong with the 7x30 Waters is the muzzle brake. boy is it loud!!! it will make your ears ring!!! i know, believe me, i know.

it won't this year's deer season, but next year? even tho the 7x30 Waters does kill deer, i am not a fan of the muzzle brake....not one bit!!! i'll keep the 7x30 Waters barrel because it was my dad's. i've been thinking (ow, my head hurts!!!) of SSK 10" barrel in 45 Colt. i never hunted with it or owned one, for that matter. the 45 Colt will be good at my hunting spot (60ish yards and under). i'll load it with a 250-300gr WFN or SWC at about 800 - 900fps. i'll have to look it up in my reloading books, but Unique, 2400 and HS-6 is all i got to load for. unless i go with Goex FFG black. i'll have to check my LGS to find some more powder.

what do you think?

 

[Winelover]

For 45 LC, I load the MP clone of the RCBS 270 SAA. Unique for moderate loadings, 2400 for Ruger only in a BH. Cindy has taken deer with the BH using the RCBS 250 SWC/19 grains of 2400................this was years before I got the MP mould. I don't particularly care for SA revolvers, so I haven't used it for deer, myself. She quit hunting when we moved to Arkansas. She'd rather track deer than hunt them.

 

[RBHarter]

Cowboy loads , 800-850 in the 7.5" BH did 1050ish from a 16" carbine and passed through 24" of hog with a 255 gr 454424 at 47 paces . It punched the soft part of a scapula and exited closer to .500 than the .452 it left the muzzle based on the neat holes in the shields .
I'm guessing a little here that the apex barrel length in nominal Colts loadings is about 18" .

I did load a 350 gr with H322 . What a fire ball in the Ruger ! 650 fps MV. 1280 fps in the carbine , which is why I bought the 1895G in 45-70 .

I don't think within Colts data it will be difficult to get supersonic.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I think you will be most pleased.

Many years ago, I left the hunting lands I knew my entire life to hunt close to home. More homes more people where a 30/06 just didn't seem "safe". Altho completely legal I choose two calibers the 357 Maxi and the 45 Colt. I cannot tell you how many fell to my 454424 and 9g Unique or my heavy Speer 300 Plated and 21g 296.

That Speer shot end to end thru two I remember explicitly. The Cast was a good one too I handed it to a friend one time as I gutted a animal he shot a nice buck that tried to sneak by bang flop rightbthru the shoulders! I still remember him holding the Marlin out looking at it then the deer then me is absolute awe..

 

[richhodg66]

The .45 Colt is my favorite handgun cartridge, I really don't see how you could go wrong. In a Contender or Blackhawk, it's the equal of a .44 Magnum (or can be) but even loaded to conventional loads, it is still a power house. I'm told that the Army specified it had to be capable of killing a horse at 100 yards, not sure if that's true, but I can't see anything standing up long to a big lead SWC moving at 900 FPS.

Dad had a tone of Contenders, but the only one he still had when we moved him out was a 10" octagon barreled old one in .44 Magnum. #1 Son was working with it, but he has gotten distracted with other things. I've never killed a deer with a pistol before, maybe that one will be the first.

 

[Missionary]

Well I would not wait. A new challenge like a handgun with put alot of expectation, challenges and fun into the days afield.
ILL-Nois is notorious anti-gun hunting. They finally decided 25 years ago handguns were safe. So we took our 375 Dan Wesson Supermag, loaded it like the old 38-55 BP loads velocity and thwaped corn crunchers with it. It is a bit more fun than muzzle loaders.

 

[todd]

compound bow, crossbow, flintlock and my inline has killed deer. i killed about a dozen deer with revolvers in 44 mag/spl. i've killed 3 or 4 with a 6.5 Creedmoor in 14" Encore handgun. i never killed deer with a Contender.

before my stroke, i was into hunting archery, but the Bear compound bow was so accurate that it bored me. i put my mind to it and it came with a traditional recurve bow with wood arrows and feather fletching. i would have gone on with flint arrowheads, but my knapping skills are next to none...lol. i wonder if an atlatl is legal in PA or WV? that would sure be great!!! dang stroke, look at what i could have done........lol.

if i could go back in time, i'd take my friend's grandpa's Winchester m92 in 25-20 WCF and be done with all handloading and different rifles/revolvers. it was his tractor gun, deer season gun, predator gun, groundhog gun, pheasant gun, squirrel gun, two-legged predator gun and a couple more of them gun. he had a (i think) Remington m700 BDL in '06 with a scope (probably a cheap 3-9x) that he used one year in deer season and he didn't like it. he complained about the bloodshot meat and the way it "kicks". so the remmy sat in his closet till the day he died. i should have bought the 25-20....if i known then......

what other 10" 'tender barrels (except the 45 Colt and 44 mag/spl) kills deer around 60 yards or less?

 

[L Ross]

todd, my brother killed a couple, maybe more with a .45 Win Mag 10" Contender.

 

[hornetguy]

what other 10" 'tender barrels (except the 45 Colt and 44 mag/spl) kills deer around 60 yards or less?

I would bet American money that a .357 Magnum out of a 10" barrel would take down deer with authority. I plan to try my Rossi lever gun this year, if I get the chance to go....
Think about the .35 Remington.... slow it down just a bit, and you have the .357....

 

[Missionary]

Well there is a 414 Supermag with a 265gr FNGC cast (soft) chugging along at 1350 fps. We also have a 45 Win Mag and launch a 270 gr. FNGC at 1300 fps. There is the 375 Supermag but that is only an 8" Dan Wesson. Have not pop a corn cruncher with the 454 Casull but I have no concerns a 280 gr FG Coated slug cast of range scrap will fail.
Looking at getting our .22 Rimfire reamed by JES to 475 Linebaugh.