Huey
Reading JT's 7.62x39 Article in Guns Magazine Feb. 2020...
Wednesday, January 01, 2020, 10:26

And have to agree. I bought a 10" Contender Barrel 30 years ago. Some claim it too hot for the Contender. But, I've used mine on an Original Contender Frame with no issues.

A few years back, I was offered a Ruger #1 so chambered. As JT stated, it slugged .310". Stuck some handloaded Contender ammo in and the groups were sub 1" at 75 yards.

Load development for the gun started. I settled on CFE Black and Hornady's 123 grn SST at 2500+ fps. Groups stayed at or below 1" at 100 yards.

The interesting part came later. Using Unique Powder Loads from the Lyman Manual, I switched to the 100 grn XTP Bullets for the various 32 Revolvers.

The results perfectly matched the on Win92 32-20 WCF Ballistics. It was an ideal small game load then and now. Providing low noise and great accuracy.

Not sure how the XTPs would feed in a bolt gun. But, sure made a great multi use gun in the Ruger #1.