The original Contender was tremendously popular, and the newer G2 version (shown here) has several improvements, one being it is easier to open.

My crystal ball is often quite accurate, and I say that with all modesty, but there are times when its look into the future is off by a country mile or two. Case in point is the Thompson/Center Contender. Shortly after its introduction in 1967, I handled the gun--I even had a friend who praised the two he had purchased--but prior to my days of metallic silhouette competition, I had no interest in it whatsoever. This was mainly because I considered it to be one of the homeliest and worst handling firearms I had ever picked up. Bluntly put, I figured its future was less than bright.

Others in surprising places shared my opinion. While the company's founder, Warren Center, was working on the design of the Contender, some of his employees thought he was wasting valuable time.

Talk about us all being wrong.

Contender sales started slowly, but its popularity among hunters and shooters grew as each new option was introduced by T/C. It went on to enjoy great success primarily because each new option increased its versatility far beyond other handgun designs. With its interchangeable-barrel capability and a hammer design that allowed both rimfire and centerfire cartridges to be used, the Contender was like nothing anyone had previously seen. On top of all that, it was affordable, and it proved to be extremely accurate. In other words, the Contender was the right idea in the right place at the right time.

The Contender has to be considered one of the all-time great firearms designs simply because it is capable of being so many different things to so many different people with so many different interests. A single Contender has the capability of serving as an entire battery of firearms at far less cost than for a battery made up of other types of guns. Caliber options in handgun, carbine, and rifle barrels range from .17 Mach II and .22 Long Rifle to .44 Magnum and .45-70 Government. The rifle can also be a .410 shotgun or a .45-caliber muzzleloader.

J.D. Jones, who owns SSK Industries, also deserves some of the credit for making the Contender successful. That's because as far back as the 1970s he was offering custom barrels in not only factory chamberings unavailable from T/C at the time--the .45-70 being an example--but also in an extensive line of JDJ wildcats designed specifically for the Contender.

The present G2 version of the Contender is an improvement over the original in several ways. At the top of my list in importance is the fact that the hammer can be lowered and then recocked without having to break open and then close the barrel. The G2 is also easier to open, and there is a bit more clearance between the front of its grip and the rear of its trigger guard. The latter feature is especially nice when shooting a hard-kicking cartridge.

Except for the 209x45 muzzleloader barrel, which is compatible only with the G2, most barrels are interchangeable between old and new Contenders. But grips and buttstocks differ between the two.

I bought my first Contender in 1969, but I did not begin to take it seriously until I bought a 10-inch barrel in .30-30 and used it in production-class metallic-silhouette competition. I stuck with the .30-30 in that game for a couple of years before switching to the 7mm TCU.

Since those days, I have worked with Contender pistols and rifles in most of the chamberings offered by T/C as well as many of the wildcats offered by SSK. As you might expect, several chamberings have become my favorites. Here are what I consider to be the "Magnificent Seven" centerfire cartridges for T/C's versatile Contender.