Which is better encore or contender

Both are break-action single shot actions with an exposed hammer. You can think of the Encore as the larger, younger brother to the smaller, older Contender. There are probably more chamberings for the Contender than any other firearm I know of. However, it will not handle the higher pressure modern rifle rounds like. The later G2 Contender offered the ability to fit a muzzleloader barrel as well. The Encore is a sized-up, stronger, heavier frame with just bigger dimensions in every way.

It will handle up to some of the larger belted magnum cartridges there for dangerous game hunting, as well as everything back down to a. Comment Post Cancel. Well that's about all that can be said about two individual muzzleloaders. I don't know much about those guns but I sure love my tc omega. The Encore is the newer, heavier-duty style. The G-2 Contender is the newer, lower-quality Contender.

Right Rail 1. Top Active Users. Right Rail 2. Latest Topics. You can't have just one. I have been looking for a good, used, reasonable 22LR bbl but have had no luck and I can't justify the coin spendeture on a new one when a new complete 22LR can be had cheaper! Hi, I own and shoot both. I like the thumpers in the Contender mainly because of my hand size. The Encore will shoot more powerful chamberings but due to the large size is uncomfortable for me.

With custom barrels Contenders will out shoot most hunters capabilities anyway. Just MHO. Safe shooting Doug. I dont know what info someone got a hold of but the Contender Is not sold from the factory as a handgun only!!! And I have bought 2 Encore frames designated as pistol frames this is the only way you can turn a Contender or Encore from pistol to a rifle and back again.

During the early 90's the factory stopped selling Contenders as pistols only. If you buy a frame and dont know what it was sold as and you change it to a rifle this could mean confiscation of the weapon.

Some people in Texas had this happen to them ,they were hunting with a Contender pistol ,the game warden stopped them and did a serial number check on the frame it was a designated Contender carbine or rifle frame and they had it confiscated and almost put in jail. The only thing that saved them was the purchase reciept from the person that he bought it from.

This is very important to check if you buy one from an individual. If you buy one new and it has a rifle butt on it it is a rifle , if it has a pistol grip on it it is a pistol this is how the factory ships them now.

The end of the box that the pistol or rifle frame comes in will have the designation on it. The only thing I will add to bowhntrs comments is that if you order a frame from the Custom Shop, you can have them designate it as a "Frame Only" and then designate it as "Other" on the the new forms allow that.

If you do this then you can use it in any configuration you wish as long as you don't put a barrel that is less than 16" on a frame that has a rifle buttstock attached. Henpecked Senior Member Mar 28, Another thing if you will read I did not say you could not make a rifle out of a Contender what I said is if it is sold as a pistol frame it could be changed from a pistol to a rifle and back again.

If the frame comes with a stock and is designated as a rifle you can not make it a pistol whether it is a Contender or an Encore. The BATF letter would not come thru so there is a link to the site where the letter is printed check it out it is a good read. Best advice is to have one frame purchased as a handgun, dedicated to handgun use, and one frame dedicated to rifle use.

After all, it will not be TC who charges you with a crime. The "Short Barrel Rifle" Issue. By now most everyone has gotten the word that an assembled combination of a frame, buttstock, and barrel under 16" represents a potential invitation to "The Graybar Hotel," but many shooters are oblivious to those parts of the same law that address "making" a handgun from a rifle. This is technically against the law!

One can legally convert a handgun into a rifle by installing a buttstock and a barrel 16" or longer, but once it is configured as a rifle, converting it back to a handgun is "making" a handgun from a rifle. The "Catch 22" is there is no way to identify whether any given frame started life configured as a handgun or as a rifle, nor is there any way to know its history changing hands from one owner to the next.

It is probably best to rely on the information from the form covering one's purchase of a frame as back up to identify what legal configuration it was. Or, when buying a frame from an individual make an honest attempt to keep it in the same last known configuration. Expanding on this, here is an example, courtesy of "GonHuntin," who has researched the subject extemely well. Mike There should be some mention somewhere that the US Supreme Court case the TC letter posted below speaks of did not deal with converting contenders that left the factory in rifle configuration TC did not offer a factory contender carbine at the time the case was filed Second, one of the best ways to get the point across is as follows: If you walk into your neighborhood gunshop and buy a Remington Model 7 rifle and an Encore rifle You have committed the same federal felony of making an unregistered short barreled rifle These two items would definitely help make the issue crystal clear.

Below is a reprint of their Policy Statement. Compare this to the BATF's statement that follows it. Supreme Court to establish the lawfulness of the Contender pistol and Carbine including the carbine kit , and won. The Supreme Court opinion also establishes the legality of the Encore system, which has similar interchangeable parts. With these systems, a receiver may be assembled either with a pistol grip and pistol barrel, or with a shoulder stock and rifle barrrel minimum length 16 inches.

A barrel under 16 inches in length must never be assembled onto the reciever when the shoulder stock is attached. Within that parameter, the consumer may use the parts to make a pistol or carbine, and may change the configuration at will. The U.

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U. Their opinions are cited as United States v. In the trial court and in the Federal Circuit, the United States argued both that 1 the mere unassembled parts constituted a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches in length, and that 2 use of the receiver to assemble a pistol after a rifle had been assembled constituted making a weapon from a rifle with an overall length less than 26 inches. The Federal Circuit rejected both arguments.

See F. Thus, the sale, possession, and use of the Contender or Encore pistol and carbine as described are fully in accord with federal law. The use of these products in all of the States is likewise lawful, except that certain restrictions may apply in California. BATF Position Statement If these scanned images are not readable on your screen, you may obtain them by email from mike bellmtcs.

In summary, without getting into all the court decisions and logic behind both positions, it boils down to this: Thompson Center says you can freely swap handgun and rifle parts back and forth so long as you do not combine a buttstock and a barrel less than 16" or an overall length with a buttstock under the legal 26" limit.

The BATF says you can't! Who are you going to believe? I tend to believe the one carrying the big stick with the arrest powers and suggest you do the same! Had G2's and Encore's briefly and let them go. The upside of the contender is it's a compact package and since it's been around for so long there is a huge market of used barrels out there. The downside is that due to the design of the frame you are limited in what backthrust the action can handle.

It's important to understand the issue is backthrust as you can use the. But when you increase the diameter of the cartridge, you have to reduce pressure. You can't use any of the rounds that use a. The encore can handle most any chambering you want to use, but it's a bulkier package.

Personally I prefer the compactness of the contender and can live with the pressure limitations of the frame. I had an encore but sold it before even firing it as I just didn't care for the bulkiness. Originally Posted by Sixpack. Originally Posted by Grumulkin. A recent review of a Contender. EABCO will sell you a new frame with the trigger already tweaked. If I were in the market, that's what I'd go with.

A little more up front, but would save time, trouble, and money in the long run. EABCO did the trigger job on my prohunter. Very nice now. I use a regular Encore fore end with my 24" barrels. No problem. Gun is light enough to carry all day in the mountains. They used to do an "easy open" conversion, but no one else does it any more, that I have found. I have an old Contender frame and a new-ish. Just damn hard to open Guess I could send it to Bullberry's and ask them to re-fit the barrel so it opens easier.

Or else find a newer frame. I have a Bishop thumbhole carbine stock. Bishop of course is long out of business. Those are the best feeling stocks I have found - perhaps someday I'll get someone to duplicate mine and start up a new supply. I got tired of paying eighty some dollars for a trigger job and bought Mike Bellm's spring kit and now do my own trigger jobs. Regarding the "recent review of a Contender. The original Contenders had a much nicer trigger that you really shouldn't have to do anything to.

Yup, it's a new one. Apparently they were largely unavailable for a bit. The pull on the reviewed example ran about 7lbs, which would make offhand shooting pretty tough with such a light rifle. I always had a hankering for a one of the rifles, but now have a couple of falling blocks that scratch my SS itch pretty well.

A stainless. Trying to resist urge Are the contender pistols as good as the carbines? They look interesting. Bullberry will do the easy open mod. And make oddball barrels. That shoot pretty good. At least out to 50 yards. I would avoid older, used Contender barrels, as some of the factory barrels were pretty awful in quality. I had a scoped 10". I've had two G2s and one Encore, all handguns. The G2s were purchased used, but like new at very good prices.

One was a 12" Hornet and miserable to shoot even with plugs and muffs. The other had a. My Encore was a 12". It shot well and that extra pound made it very pleasant to shoot. I also found it very awkward to carry, even with a scabbard, much more so than a light rifle.

Good gun that I used a lot and it shot very well all things considered. It came with a waist holster which I used only a very few times due to bulk and weight. A shoulder rig worked much better and was my go to contrivance for carry in the field. In short, it was in my view, a special use tool amenable for a small spectrum of application if for no other reason that it was BIG.