what barrel/stock configurations balance the best?

[ruger438]

I have a contender pistol  I love, and decided I would like a carbine as well. With the rynite stock- which length barrel balances just ahead of the trigger guard for comfortable carry?

What length balances best with the walnut stock?

 I've decided on a 23" for the varmint barrels, as they aren't carried as much, but in a 30-30 barrel I need something that carries nice all day in the woods, or a 44 mag barrel.

I've heard the 44 mag barrel is a bull barrel so I wondered how a 16 1/4 or 18 barrel would balance with either a rynite or walnut stock.

Thanks

[Hopalong7]

    I love the old factory 21" carbine(please take a hint TC)barrel.  I have a .17 HM2 23" "new" barrel that I find muzzle heavy and want to shorten.  I also have several 16"er's and one 18".  The little carbine with a S-16 barrel is handier than a pocket on a shirt, but a little hard to hold steady too...makes one h___ of a squirrel or turkey rifle though.  My 18" is a custom shop 6mm TCU and I have it rigged up with the folding stock......now, we're talking serious "pocket rifle".  My imagination goes wild over that 18"er in a little heavier contour.  I have no experience with a real bull barrel on the carbine, but I'm thinking 18" might be about right.
    Of course TC designed the thing to be a handy little carbine and not a bench rest rifle.

[David D.]

At  one time I had a 21" tapered 223 with factory wood and it was sweet. Also use to have a 23" bull in 22L.R. I squirrel hunted with and also liked the feel of it. I no longer have these two.

I do have this 6.5JDJ 20" bull with a Gunstocks Inc. stock set, sweet sweet sweet, and a breeze to  carry all day. Deadly on deer!!!

Little 17MACH 2 with a 17" tapered F.R.O. barrel, youth stock with a 9-1/2" pull for my grand kids. I also use it with a full lenght stock.


If you like the Encores this combo works well for me. Balance is good and weight not bad to carry.
My 280Rem 26" tapered F.R.O. barrel.

[Ladobe]

For factory barrels on the Contender it's hard to beat the 21" barrels IMO.    Good balance, easy carry and plenty of length for any cartridge.    The stubby 16's have their place too, but the 21's hang better for offhand shooting for me.   Part of that might be because I hate plastic stocks and only use wood on my Contender carbines.   For full bull custom barrels the 20" is "the nuts" for either carry or bench work IMO on the Contender.    Almost every custom carbine barrel I've had made (a bunch of them over the years) has been 20" regardless of what they were chambered for.   

Kind of a funny on myself...  I had a 18" pencil (maybe straw would be a better description) custom wildcat barrel that would be great to carry or swing in thick cover, but it was so over powered by the wood stock that I put a Choate folding buttstock on it and a Pachy forend to balance it better.   Loved the barrel but hated that stock, so I sold the stock and the barrel and was done with the problem.
 

[Dezynco]

I also wish TC would put 21" barrels back out there.  I've got a old 21" 30-30 barrel that I use with a thumbhole stock from Gunstocks, Inc.  that balances perfectly on your index finger, right in front of the trigger guard.  That seems to be a trend on this thread!

I'm thinking about ordering a 20" bull in 300 Whisper, that should handle nicely also with the same stock.

[ruger438]

well it looks at the moment that my only immediate barrel options are 23" bull unless I custom order or stumble into a used shorter barrel.

Would I be correct in assuming the wood stock a better fit/balance or does the rynite stock balance ok too with the 23 bull barrel.

Or isn't there much difference in weight between the wood and plastic stock.

I am torn either way, I would prefer the look of wood on my stainless frame, but in the summer this gun will ride on the tractor, pickup and gator every day for groundhogs eating my soybeans, so the plastic would not make me cringe every time it got hit.

[stoutstuff]

You could go with a regular contour in a 23" instead of the bull for a little better balance. Thats the way I went with my 204 Ruger.

[cap'n bubbleoff]

A buttstock cartridge holder full of shells helps balance a rifle that's a bit muzzle heavy. You could also add weight to a Rynite stock by removing the recoil pad and inserting ________? in the hollow stock. i like the Appalchian stock on my Contender w/ misc. survival stuff stashed inside.

[3leggedturtle]

I have 2 that balance real well. 1st is a 24" tapered 38 Special. 2nd is 18" bull 45ACP.  They handle and balance nicely. Have the black rynite stock and foreend on it, 38 has a Leupold Vari-2 1-4x on it and 45 has a  Simmons 2.5X shotgun scope mounted in a scout configuration.  21" 22LR tapered with peep sights is also well balanced and a joy to carry 3-4 hours at a time.   the 22 has the walnut stocks on it.