Gary Reeder
If you decide to get a Contender, get one of the G-2 models
Friday, June 02, 2023, 13:04

instead of the Contender. They are so far ahead of the old Contender and almost equal to the Encore. When the G-2 first came out I used one on an Africa hunt and that sold me. I had one of my 378 GNRs and one of the 338 GNR along with my little 9" 41 GNR in the G-2 and they did everything I asked them to. When I got back I began to weed out most of my Encore frames except for a couple that I run some "large" calibers in, like the 450 GNR and 476 GNR. The loads I run in these two barrels are too "warm" for the G-2 but just barely.
I think guys that are jumping on the old original Contender (serial number under 225,000) are not knowing that this version of the Contender is not the best model ever made. When we were young and the Contender was younger the bad sides of the Contender like hard to open, hard to get the locking pin out, not working with some barrels with low serial numbers and so on were overlooked due to it being a great new handgun for hunting. Even with it's flaws it was still the best hunting handgun on the market. But buying one in that serial number range these days is probably not the best way to go unless you are a collector. I saw 2 of these early guns yesterday that a collector would go crazy over. But they were a bitch to open and most of the newer barrels would not fit the frame.
In the later days Thompson Center solved all the Contender problems. You could send the action back to TC and for around $50 they would put the easy open system in the gun and clean up the other down falls that had plagued the gun for years. Unfortunately, TC is no longer around. They may come back, or may not. But the G-2 frame solved those problems except the problem of some of the older barrels not fitting and working on the G-2 frame. Even with that the G-2 is still the finest all around frame TC ever designed.
The Encore is the strongest frame TC has ever made but you have to accept the extra weight to go along with the strength. If you are not planning on getting into some of our extra hot and higher pressure calibers, then go with the G-2. It is that simple. Most of my frames these days are the G-2 and other than the hotter calibers I mentioned above the G-2 will do everything I need it to.