Thompson/Center Contender Pistol: Hoe to Tune, Time, Load, and ...

The Thompson/Center Contender Pistolwound and stiff spring when new. It is next to impossibleto clip this old-model trigger spring. If the desiredtrigger pull weight cannot be obtained by polishing thetrigger/striker engagement areas and adjusting thetrigger return spring, then the trigger return springmust be replaced with a lighter aftermarket one. If youreturn your old model frame to the Thompson/CenterArms Company, the company may replace it with oneof the new models that incorporate the latest safetymechanisms. Call the company first before you shipthem your old frame to be sure of the action you wantto take. Your old frame may be worth more to the collectorthan the price of a new one, and you may wish toadvertise it or trade it in the T/C CollectorsAssociations quarterly journal.There are other parts of the Contender that requirepolishing. I consider polishing these parts to be part ofmaintenance, as doing so will not usually improve theaccuracy of the pistol. The next chapter covers the polishingof these parts.The best thing about timing the Contender is that youdon’t have to tune the pistol in order to time it. Timingthe Contender is a separate procedure and is the simpler,and perhaps more neglected, of the two. Timing, asthe term is applied to handguns, refers to the conditionof the pistol when the hammer is cocked and the gun isready to fire. This condition should be the same eachtime the gun is fired.For revolvers and semiauto pistols, this condition isno more complex than for the Contender. For all threetypes of firearms, the gun must be in perfect time inorder for it to consistently fire accurately. The key wordhere is consistently. The Contender is timed by theshooter for each shot. The shooter achieves the timingby pulling the trigger guard rearward to release the boltand open the action.22