/ 22 HORNET, ADJUSTABLE OBJECTIVE, ELASTIC LENS COVERS WHAT’S INCLUDED: BARREL, SCOPE, MOUNT A Contender frame without the right barrel is a frame waiting for a job. This stainless 10-inch 22 Hornet barrel gives it one, and it shows up already topped with a Simmons ProHunter 4-14×44 on a Burris mount, so the work of building a varmint pistol is done before the box is opened. The 22 Hornet is a natural fit for a Contender. It is mild enough to shoot comfortably from a handgun, quiet compared to the hotter. 22 centerfires, and accurate enough to anchor ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and crows well past the range of any rimfire. The scope runs from 4x for quick shots up to 14x for picking off a target across a pasture, and the adjustable objective sharpens the image and removes parallax at whatever distance the shot is. Stainless steel shrugs off weather and sweat that would mark up a blued barrel. Thompson/Center built the Contender around one simple idea: a single frame that switches calibers by swapping barrels, with no tools beyond a screwdriver for the hinge pin. That idea turned it into one of the most popular hunting and silhouette handguns ever made, and barrels like this are how owners build out a collection. The front sight has been removed, so this barrel is set up to run optics. This one is already assembled and ready to zero. A serious Contender owner deserves a dedicated varmint barrel, and here it is. Snap this barrel onto a Contender frame, lay it across a backpack at the edge of a dog town, and dial the scope to 14x on a prairie dog standing up at 150 yards. One soft crack of the Hornet later, he is gone, and the next one pops up two mounds over.
