Posted on 04/26/2006 2:04:34 PM PDT by pabianice
Yes.
I have the S&W 460 and 500 revolvers in the Performance Center Hunter model. The X frame combined with the muzzle brake drives the recoil straight back into your palm. The Hogue Monogrips make that tolerable. Shooting the 460 Magnum on the Encore with stock walnut grips produced a pretty hard slap in the palm. The round that nearly punched the 3/8" Birchwood-Casey spinner was a 200 gr flat nose plated bullet with 37 gr of Win 296. It was a lot hotter delivery from the 15" Encore barrel vs the 7.5" Ruger Super Redhawk .454 Casull.
He sheered the bolt that goes through the frame into the grip, not the hinge pin.
His latest toy is his Lone Eagle in 308 Winchester
His groups are about 1" at 100 meters. He has TCE's Recoil Proof scope with dial in illuminated crosshairs (which is a neat feature). After that 444, I have no interest in shooting this one bad boy either, LOL. I'm just real happy with my Smith 44 mag Trail Boss. When I run out of ammo, I can beat 'em to death with the lanyard ring...hehehe
Breaking the grip bolt on the Contender with 444 Marline makes more sense. The original Contender frame doesn't go very deep into the grip. It is mostly bolt. The new G2 frame has a much longer stem that goes almost half way down the inside of the grip. The bolt is shorter and simply performs the function of holding the grip to the frame stem. It's a much stronger design.
My local FFL tells me that the most common way to break a Contender grip is to brace it against a table when firing a big rifle cartridge. The 10" Win 30-30 is one that often lures a new Contender owner to make that mistake.
I just looked up the Lone Eagle. Nice implementation. It looks like a tool free barrel swap with the leve on the left side. The caliber offerings are similar to the T/C Encore, but with shorter barrels and higher prices. My local dealer has an Encore with a 30-06 barrel fitted with a scope. That could be a bit painful. Getting 1" groups with the Lone Eagle at 100 meters is pretty impressive.
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