So I finally shot Uncle-in-law Bud’s T/C Contender in 7-30 Waters this past weekend. 
Why did it take so long? The difficulty was in finding some loaded factory cartridges for me to shoot. There used to be a couple of factory loads; now it seems there’s just one — Federal’s Premium load with a BTSP (boat-tail soft-point) bullet. I finally ordered some from Sportsmans’ Guide. When they arrived I looked a bit askance at the flattened lead tip. Great for hunting, but would it deliver in the accuracy department?
As Merle rightly pointed out in the comments to this post, I erroneously referred to the 7-30 Waters as a wildcat cartridge back when I first talked about the gun. The cartridge was developed by Ken Waters (hence the name), but it’s been factory fodder for a long time. However, the most accurate results seem to be from folks who’ve tinkered around and developed their own pet loads, most especially in the T/C Contender — although a couple of years back I ran into a fellow at the Castro Valley range who was shooting an AR with a 7-30 Waters upper! He said it was “wicked accurate.”Â
I, however, don’t reload.
So it was with some trepidation that I set everything up for my first trigger squeezes. Would the gun like the factory ammo? If not, I was screwed….
First impression: the Contender is much lighter and smaller than the Encores I’m used to. In a word, it’s handy.
 
 
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It also came with what I think is a Mag-Na-Port muzzle brake. 
Whether the brake is really necessary for this cartridge or not I don’t know, but with it this is sure one fun gun to shoot! With the small size, it fit my hand nicely, and there’s very little recoil.
I ran into a problem right off the bat. I discovered Uncle Bud must be farsighted as hell, because he had the eye relief on this scope (an old Burris 1.5-4x) set so that I could barely get a sight picture even with my arms at full extension. (To be fair, I’m a small guy and Bud’s a big strapping fellow.) Did I have my screwdrivers with me? I did not. So I gamely tried to get the hang of this new toy as best I could. I felt silly bobbing and ducking my head around trying to see the target long enough to squeeze off a shot before the image changed. It became clear that the sights were set about four inches high and four or five inches to the right. After about five flyers, I was able to settle down enough to put three shots into (barely) an inch. Then the range closed, so that was that for this round.
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A one-inch 3-shot group may not seem like much, but considering the terrible scope picture I was dealing with, I was quite pleased. If I get some comfortable eye relief in this scope and a proper rest, I think I can do even better. If I put a Burris 3-12x on there, I think I could do better still at longer ranges. And this is with factory ammo!
Next up: swapping out the scope mount for a Burris Signature mount and rings. The existing scope mount just won’t accept any less eye relief with this particular scope.
I didn’t know what to expect out of this gun, but I’m sure happy now. This is one great gun and cartridge combination!
A gunsmith out in Omaha (Vic Samuels, he makes some really nice custom Martini-Henrys) was telling me that he’s had a bunch of orders for rifles chambered in that cartridge recently. I’d never heard of it before he mentioned it, but I’d jump all over it for a single-shot. And I’d imagine that it’d be nearly ideal for a Contender-class pistol. I hope once you get your scope figured out you get it up and running nicely.
By the way… that 7-30 AR, did the cartridges still have the rims, or did he find/make some rimless brass? I’d imagine the rims would cause havoc feeding.
I am guessing that without the rim the cartridge would be called something else. Yeah, I don’t know how it fed with the rim and all.
A noted T/C gunsmith named Bellm has opined that the 7-30 Waters is nearly the ideal cartridge for the Contender action and the usual Contender-length barrels. Lots of these guys get into calculations about optimum powder capacity for bore size, and optimum pressure for barrel life. Apparently the 7-30 Waters scores very well on all those counts.
I have high hopes for this gun if I can ever get the Pachmayr forend off (it seems stuck, maybe Uncle Bud got Loctite-happy) and put a Bower forend and grip set on it. Don Bower liked rimmed low-pressure cartridges just like the 7-30 Waters.
I don’t reload either.
But I do HandLoad. There is a difference, a significant difference, and it is well worth the effort.
The problem you have noted with the scope is endemic with the Contender/Encore handrifles. Handgun scopes are designed to be mounted on revolvers, a good 2 to 3 inches further away than the T/C mounts are designed for. T/C and Burris make a few scopes designed for the gun but most don’t work. I have a 4x Leupold on my .223 that is fine in the Duo-Ring mount, but the 2.5-8x needed an aftermarket rail and rings that mount it further forward.
You will probably find the 7-30 shoots exceptionally well, but you really won’t be happy with it until you roll your own that are specifically tailored to your gun.
If you want/need some help getting in to handloading (as opposed to re-loading), I’ll be glad to offer my assistance. I’m even driving distance away 🙂
First let me comment that the AR probably wasn’t chambered for the 7-30, due to the rim and the length of the cartridge. It may have been a 7mm TCU, which is a 223 necked up to 7mm. It was also a very popular IHMSA round.
Is that a 12″ barrel? It may be out of the TC Custom Shop / Fox Ridge Outfitters. They had a lot of customized TCs of a similar type, plus some combo Hunter Packs. It sure looks like a Magna-Port, and I recall that was one of the TC Custom Shop options. It could also be from SSK Industries, and the finish would then be SSKhrome instead of armor alloy. In general TC does not (at the last time I checked) recommend putting a blued barrel on a plated gun & vice versa, due to dimensional differences caused by the plating.
If you want to hunt deer with it, you should try something like Nosler ballistic tips, for better expansion. The factory ammo is flat tipped to suit lever actions, and may not give the very best expansion or accuracy.
I shot my carbine in 7-30 more than all the other centerfires combined. It was a joy, and my favorite. And the occasional dumb looks when asked what caliber it was were quite entertaining too.
Enjoy.
Thanks all for the comments and encouragement!
Merle I believe it is a 12″ barrel but I will have to measure it when I get home.
Stanger, this is my first Contender but I have two Encores that wear Burris 3-12x handgun scopes, and the eye relief is just fine on those.
Stanger, as a Sherlockian I have to ask: are you by any chance the editor of the Vermissa Herald, the Sherlockian publication by the Scowrers and Molly Maguires scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars? IIRC the editor was always named Stanger after a the editor of the paper of the same name in “The Valley of Fear.”
Merle — it’s 12 and one-half inches exactly, breechface to muzzle.
David,
I have never, nor will I ever, been an editor of anything. There are lots of “Stanger”s out there, I am merely one. Sorry to disappoint you.
I haven’t tried the Burris scopes, so I guess I will have to at some point. Hmmm, that’s a good reason to buy another barrel…
I really like the Burris 3-12s, especially with the Ballistic Plex. On the other hand, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with any other EER scopes. The Burrises were recommended to me by Don Bower’s disciples, and I’ve never been disappointed.
As for the editor question, I know one of the former “Stanger of the Herald” guys lives in Livermore, so when you mentioned driving distance I wondered….
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