Even a very brief look at a rifle beyond my financial means fueled my desire to build one close to it. The rifle in question was a custom one-off falling-block rifle made in Europe. It was chambered in .22 Hornet and had magnificent case colors adorning the frame. Marketed as a gentleman’s rifle for fox hunting, it was going to be sold at the Safari Club International annual hunter’s show in Reno, Nevada, for a few bills higher than a Rolex Presidential model.
The seeds were sown, and visions of a case-hardened Thompson/Center Contender came to mind with a fancy stock and a Leupold scope. With a spare old-model first-generation frame gathering dust in the safe and a Leupold scope sitting around, the only things needed to finish this project were a barrel, rings and an attractive stock. And someone willing to apply the color case-hardening. Challenge accepted!
HISTORY
When it was first rolled out in 1967, the Thompson/Center Contender was mostly a novelty. The barrels were all below 10 inches in length, octagonal in shape and mostly represented the lower end of the power spectrum (.22 Jet, .22
