.22 Hornet

Lil’ Gun powder was originally developed for the 410 shotgun, however, it proved supremely great
in the .22 Hornet, .357 Magnum and .357 Maximum during targeting in the multiple barrel G-2.

The Anticipation: Why Hornet when there’s the .223? Two benches over at the range one day is a sharp crack — boisterious! It was a .223 Contender. The Hornet will do all I ask of it “quietly” for incidental varmints. Prairie dogs, jackrabbits, gophers, ground squirrels, marmots are all correctly-sized. Add called-in coyotes with bullets in the 33- to 55-gr. weights and the game is ramped up some. After years of shooting Hornets, I came upon Lil’ Gun at 13 grains for superior ballistics from the little case with a 40-gr. bullet from my G-2 barrel. Can you say 2,800 fps, a 45-grainer at 2,325 and a 50-grainer at 2,345? I couldn’t ask for more. Neither should you.

A friend made a fine holster for Sam’s G-2. Sam likes the handi-ness of keeping your hands free in the field.

AG-2-Three is not an artificially intelligent 24th century spaceship robot. Rather, it’s my Thompson/Center Contender G-2 pistol with three barrels: A Match Grade Machine Company (MGM) .22 Long Rifle Match, MGM .22 Hornet and a T/C .38 Special/.357 Magnum/.357 Maximum. Anticipation is the mother of preparation, and I had great anticipation to wring-out the Contender on these five platforms. The .22 Long Rifle, .22 Hornet, .38 Special, .357 Magnum and .357 Maximum test became a reality once the barrels were in-hand.

Match-grade .22 LR ammo in the MGM .22 LR match barrel proved it could out-shoot Sam!

.22 Long Rifle

The Anticipation: Riddle tin cans, make pine cones jump along with a special challenge in a favorite boulder field of thriving cottontail rabbits — Wyoming white meat tasty. Not Cape buffalo thrill in the Mopane in Africa, but a day winding along the narrow pathways is a time warp to a new dimension. Look, find, rest pistol on hiking staff for steady aim, gather and care for. Too good not to, and then add tree squirrels to the mix. My handgun coach made 3-shot dime-covered groups at 25 yards with the MGM .22 LR match barrel, my shots made nickel pieces. I couldn’t ask for more with open sights, which is my choice for clean holster carry.

.38 Special

The Anticipation: While the .357 Magnum and .357 Maximum proved manageable in the solid T/C Contender (I wear a wrist wrap and impact gloves with hottest Max), the .38 Special is apple pie sweet for practice and sheer joy of shooting. A vendor at a gun show had a veritable bucketful of .38 caliber bullets he couldn’t wait to get rid of. Handloads with minuscule fast-burning powder charges provided plenty of pasta with these 158-gr. wadcutters. Also in the lineup, Black Hills 148-gr. HBWC chronographed at 880 fps from the 12″ G-2 barrel and was plenty accurate. Sheer fun.

Sam’s “G-2-Three” with the .357 Maximum/.38 Special/.357 barrel, the MGM .22 Hornet
barrel and the MGM .22 Long Rifle Match tube. Three barrels, five cartridges.

.357 Magnum

The Anticipation: Everyday carry along with duty in the whitetail thicket. My preparation included a variety of bullets. All were accurate, with adequate performance for deer-sized game in-close. I was content with different powders until I ran across tiger loads from MGM with — wait for it — the same .410 shotgun powder hitting the high notes with the .22 Hornet — Lil’ Gun. A 140-gr. Hornady Flex Tip left the muzzle at 2,020 fps with 23.0-grains Lil’ Gun from the 12″ G-2 barrel. A 180-gr. Barnes Tipped TSX FB gained 1,800 fps with 20-grains of Lil’ Gun. What’s not to like there?

.357 Maximum

The Anticipation: Let’s just say it — big game. Whitetails in wood and thicket, mule deer in mountain and hill and pronghorn on the plains. I called up online “MGM .357 Magnum & .357 Maximum Load Data” and was rewarded with 12 pages of great information. A .357 Maximum Stout Load 140-gr. bullet ran a freckle under 2,400 fps at the test range, with a charge of 29-grains of Lil’ Gun.

I worked up a personalized load with a 180-gr. Barnes bullet for 2,050 fps based on MGM’s 25-grain Lil’ Gun load. In between 140s and 180s, many 158-gr. bullets shot well. Any of these will bring home the bacon.

A single cartridge case was loaded overand over to see if a load was entirely within safe pressure range.
The cartridge shown here is not the test cartridge, but a micrometer was used at the base of the actual
test cartridge (as illustrated here) to find evidence of brass flow — there was none.

Grist

Colonel Doug Wesson went forth with the then-new .357 Magnum handgun for deer, elk, moose and add a grizzly, one shot per customer. Only a pronghorn buck — of all things — requiring two. The G-2 .357 Maximum with Lil’ Gun is a much stronger cup of tea. Being a Wyoming boy, I’m privileged with three antelope tags annually, same for deer, elk up to two, and now and again a moose. All with longbow to mainline big game rifles, a lot of 30-30 in between. This coming season though? My G-2 with hunting loads. Our family processes, packages, freezes and distributes — along with one of my cookbooks — to a variety of people and organizations.

Simplicity can be pretty. The .22 MGM Match barrel with competition ammo surpassed all expectations. The .22 Hornet with Lil’ Gun was perfect. MGM provided .38 Special Subsonic loads with Hornady XTP HP 180-gr. fps. I can shoot all day with this ammo.

The .357 Magnum MGM load in the G-2 is great for everyday carry on hikes, with enough authority for thicket and woods whitetails. The .357 Maximum is the big dog for hunters willing to work for bullet placement. Colonel Wesson did it with a “lot less gun” — but I have no handicaps other than myself.

While this is not a hunting story, I’m hoping you’ve now gotten an itch to take a Contender into the field. Especially from stands, where arrow-range is the rule, the pistol will do the job. Then the sometimes-forgotten way of hunting — spot-and-stalk — negotiating the terrain more like a cougar than a bulldozer can also come into play. The Eye of the Hunter (binoculars), searching to find game, not peeping at that already seen with a naked eye, means a game is afoot. A solid rest with the glass eating up bits of country a small bite at a time, especially early and late in the day, is the way to go.

The Field

My home state has five subspecies of whitetail. I love the smallest, thriving in heavy brush along streams and rivers. Bucks wear a crown not much bigger than a good-size Coues deer. My heaviest field-dressed mature buck scale-weighed 170 lbs. Sittin’ along trails by my favorite mountain stream is rewarding, because something interesting always comes along.

One day I saw a lynx — not a bobcat — a lynx. Never before and never again. He or she was hunting, and I had a ringside seat to the show. Lay a little scent out. Rattle if timing is right. Try a call, even. I like to walk the stream. That means in the stream with high boots. Although deer have radar ears, the stream gurgles up sound. I’ve had many opportunities for bedded does and small bucks. So could you, and the G2 carries so nicely.

Pronghorn antelope live in my “backyard.” This coming season the G-2 will go for Mr. Fleetfoot of the Flatlands, but it’s more rolling hills where I hunt. I’ve taken bucks with longbow to hotshot rifle, with the 30-30 tempering the field, but only a couple with a handgun and none with a Contender. Get to know habits and close shots are possible. At first light and late afternoon bucks “lose caution” allowing a hunter to get closer. Work the fences. Anyone who thinks antelope cannot jump a fence has never seen a game department roundup. However, odd as it may be, antelope will most often dive through barbed wire, rather than jump over it. I have gotten longbow close by watching a pronghorn trail along a fence, the single-minded buck passing right by my ambush.

You Too?

The hunter willing to actually hunt will have opportunity — from small to large game — with the G-2 pistol. Getting shoelace-close for the one perfect shot as Colonel Wesson must have with his .357 Magnum, makes a story to tell later. The more I shoot, the more confident I become, if I stalk for that perfect shot, the butt-kicking .357 Maximum with MGM Stout Load will do the rest — with a rest.

“A Handgunner is no better than his rest,” a wise client in Africa told me when I was guiding him. He proved his point. I have two rests — the ever-present hiking/shooting staff, and an Easton Cross Shot easy-carry with a fast setup.

A 180-gr. bullet at 2,050 fps is not far behind an everyday 30-30 load I like with a 170-gr. bullet at 2,200 fps. And my “Little Thirties” have put plenty of protein in the freezer.

For more info: www.matchgrademachine.com, Ph: (435) 628-0071

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.22 Hornet

3 Barrels 5 Cartridges Endless Opportunities

.22 Hornet

.22 Long Rifle

.38 Special

.357 Magnum

.357 Maximum

Grist

The Field

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