I wasted decades ignoring the Contender because it was "only" a single shot. Then I handled one at a shop one day, and I realized that it had an absolutely GREAT trigger pull. Better than most of the deer rifles on the rack!
So I decided to get one, and like the old potato chip slogan, its really tough to stop at just one...
Its a teaching tool par excellence, all about putting ONE single precise shot where you want it to go. I think its FUN to shoot.
The Contender was phased out of production quite a while ago, T/C replaced it with the Contender G2, which corrected the only real issues the Contender had (which were never issues to me.
)
The big quirks of the Contender are it is very stiff to open. It basically requires full adult hand strength and some people have a problem with that. The G2 model opens very easily.
The other quirk is that if you cock the hammer, and then lower it, you cannot recock it without opening and closing the action. THis is also corrected in the G2 model.
There were at least two different versions of the Contender. might be 3 I don't know. I have seen two different versions of the selector switch hammer and have been told ALL barrels do not fit all model frames. The G2 is supposed to take all earlier barrels.
Be aware, the Contender doesn't not have an ejector. It extracts, then you pick out the empty by hand.
For me, the Contender takes me back to the era before revolvers, and semi autos, but in a modern way.
Another point is the barrels, since the "standard" barrel is 10", you get a sight radius and velocity advantage over most revolvers and semi autos.
Contenders are large, but until you get into longer barrels or bull barrels they aren't really heavy. A 10" Contender .44Mag is a little longer but much lighter than a 6" S&W.
Scoping a Contender is easy, if you want, many folks do. Some of the barrels (and many of the custom one) don't come with iron sights at all
You can, if you want set up a Contender so you have essentially anything from a .22LR to a .45 magnum with the same sights, barrel length, grip and trigger.
I have a couple of frames, and barrels in .22LR, .22 Hornet, .222 Rem, 9mm Luger, .357 Mag, .44Mag .45 Colt and .45Colt/410. Also have barrels in .30-30 and .45-70.
If you think you'are a good pistol shot, the Contender will open you up to a whole different level. One where its not about how many hits you can put in the A zone how fast, but about doing one shot "right" and then doing it again, after you reload.
Zen for handgun shooters