Contender Octagon Barrels

[contender]

"I have a 12" octagon in 7-30 Waters"

I'd bet that this barrel is a Fox Ridge barrel,, not a factory offering. Or maybe one of the other custom makers like BullBerry, or whomever. It's not in any of the T/C catalogs.

 

[Uncle Howie]

I gave it an angry face, because of the damaged box. Not because of thread drift. It's definitely related.

Have fun with that scope and your Contender.

No worries!

 

[eveled]

There must be some that were uncataloged. Found this one on Ebay. 12"octagon 38/40

 

[contender]

Interesting.
I didn't get into the later years,, as I was looking through stuff due to the yearly reduction in the offerings. I didn't look in ALL the catalogs. I'll go back & double check myself. That 38-40 is obviously a much later barrel by the box markings.

 

[bykerhd]

I bumped in to a couple guys at an Albany NY gun show maybe 30 years back.
They were talking about being members of the T-C barrel of the month club ?
I was curious but not in a financial position to actively follow up at the time.
I still wonder about what the T-C offerings were. I assumed they were produced from T-C's Custom Shop.
Based on standard barrel blank calibers they already were using T-C would have only needed chamber reamers to produce whatever wildcat they desired. Barrel lengths, diameters, blued or stainless all no problem.

 

[eveled]

Good points about being able to make any wildcat relatively easy. Especially when rim or center fire don't even necessitate any change.

When the 5mm Remington Rim Fire became obsolete it morphed into the 5mm Craig centerfire. The stumbling block was converting the rifle bolts to centerfire. Obviously with a Contender it is a much easier conversion.

First time I heard of the barrel of the month club. I wonder if it really was a subscription service or something said sarcastically? Some people now use the term "flavor of the month" generally to mean the latest fad.

 

[carbonfibrebob]

"I have a 12" octagon in 7-30 Waters"

I'd bet that this barrel is a Fox Ridge barrel,, not a factory offering. Or maybe one of the other custom makers like BullBerry, or whomever. It's not in any of the T/C catalogs.

Tis a factory barrel

 

[eveled]

@carbonfibrebob That's awesome! Thanks for posting the picture.

Probably a pretty scarce barrel. Only one I've seen.

Thats 2 that seem to be uncataloged both 12". I think I've seen a .218 BEE 12" Too.

 

[Dan in MI]

I may well be wrong, but I'm guessing we're overthinking this. Could it be as simple as they made 12" octagon barrels when they switched from 10" to 12" for the standard length?

 

[bykerhd]

Fox Ridge, T-C's custom shop offered non-standard barrel lengths, at least in the catalogs I have.
But, the catalogs I have all are later than the octagon era.
I would suspect that the 12" octagon barrel originated from Fox Ridge.

 

[eveled]

Another odd 12" octagon barrel

 

[eveled]

Another 12" Octagon

 

[contender]

These later, odd offerings have to have been a Fox Ridge offering. Nice ones for sure.

 

[eveled]

That makes sense @contender @bykerhd mentioned that too

Interesting what is/was available. Seems like the newer ones are mostly 12". @Dan in MI is probably correct.

I'll keep looking and posting what I find. Just to put them all in one place.

Thanks everyone.

 

[bykerhd]

Fox Ridge Outfitters was located next door to the plant I was told, although I never actually saw the T-C plant.
The building was used as an office by T-C after they closed the retail store.
No idea where the Fox Ridge stuffed Polar bear "greeter" ended up.

 

[KIR]

I read some time ago that originally, octagon barrels were easier to make. To make barrels lighter they started milling them to be round. Personally, I think octagon barrels look better/cooler/etc. than round barrels on rifles and revolvers. Here are my octagon barreled firearms. Henry .30-.30.

Winchester 1894 mfg. in 1908 Nickel Steel Barrel

 

[bykerhd]

Years ago on the ordering counter in the Fox Ridge store they had an octagon barrel on display.
The barrel flats were so highly polished that you could see your reflection in them.
Just a very fine example of the work they were capable of.

I ordered a heavy stainless, matt finish, 24" barrel in .223 from the Custom shop.
The new barrel was gorgeous, to me, I assembled it on an action and snapped it closed and then could not open it ?
I had to disassemble the action to remove it.
The extractor channel was chuck full of stainless steel chips !
It worked fine after cleaning out the chips but I was disappointed by the obvious goof by whoever assembled it and inspected ? the barrel.

 

[eveled]

@KIR I agree all octagon barrels are classy, and heavy. These Contender barrels are on another level, octagon and tapered and amazing bluing and somehow svelte. Just beautiful. They didn't have to be octagon, round and tapered would have been easier.

It makes sense that Octagon barrels became passe' after the lathe was invented. But a blacksmith could have used a round swedge block as easily as an octagonal one. I think they did it so the barrel could be put in a vise.

@bykerhd I went to the TC factory once to drop off my Renegade. Unfortunately I was only barely aware of Contenders and knew nothing about Fox Ridge. It broke my heart when I heard about the fire.

The original TC was such an awesome company. A lot like Ruger was. Owned by visionaries who did things they wanted to do even if it was outside the box and risky.

 

[contender]

"The original TC was such an awesome company. A lot like Ruger was. Owned by visionaries who did things they wanted to do even if it was outside the box and risky."


^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^

 

[gemihur]

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The solid lugs often give me and my frames a fit
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Besure to get left AND right

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