Gonic short barrels

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nhmikel

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Recently came across a Gonic contender 16" barrel 45 cal. How are these for accuracy and range?
Anyone use BH209 in them?
 
First time ive heard of that one. What kind of cap or primer does it take?

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If you are looking for info, try calling Coyote Creek in Rochester NH. One of the older guys or owner would have information.

The Contender muzzleloader barrels were some of the early work for Gonic Arms. The Story I hear was that the owner worked as a gunsmith at TC and suggested to TC to make a muzzleloader contender. TC was not interested early on and he patented the muzzleloader design design for the G1 contender. TC later on did may the .45 muzzleloader for the G2 only and was setup to not close the action on the G1. This avoided TC being sued by Gonic.

Gonic Arms is out of business. The owners son ran it for a short time but had no skill at running the operation. Good luck getting parts, some of the tooling is for sale on ebay currently. If the Breech plug is in good shape you could try and install a ventliner. I would not pay much for the barrel no mater the condition due to limited parts. I would also slug the bore to correctly size your bullets. Gonic arms early on made really accurate barrels and rifles. The stuff is son made was not consistently high quality.

Did you ever sell the TC contender .50 cal barrel? If not consider putting a ventliner in the breech plug.
 
Cattledog,
You are better informed than most. Fred Rodney, founder of Gonic Arms, did indeed work for TC.
Gonic Arms was founded by Fred Rodney a former employee of Thompson Center. He came out with a line of inline muzzle-loaders and custom muzzle loading contender barrel in lengths from 16 to 24 inches. Unfortunately Fred Rodney died and eventually the business went with him.
They were known for some fabulous performance guns such as the GA-87 (below)
upload_2019-6-15_15-42-51.png and the GA-93 upload_2019-6-15_15-49-42.png also the GA-90 for contenders.
I've got a GA-93 SS and two GA-90's in 45 cal (one 16" and one 20")
The GA-90's use 209 primers and the GA-93 use a #11 cap. They all are excellent shooters
 

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Here's my Gonic 16" barrel .45 cal on my contender with a homemade maple buttstock
Gonic GA-90 45 cal w custom stock sm.jpg
I don't have experience with BH 209 but I find 777 to be very consistent. 80 grains is plenty!
 
Thanks guys, for the kind words
I've been trying to get better with these.
I've got a SS GA-93 in 50 cal. and once you figure out what bullet she'll take, it'll shoot like no other!
I love the Gonics.
 
The prior photos are of my 16" 45 cal. Gonic GA-90 barrel on my older contender frame wearing the forearm that Fred Rodney designed and a grip that I built inspired by the lines of a Dave Dolin grip I acquired a few years back. The lead conicals were cast from a Lee mold weighing 340 gr.
I have a 20" barrel of the same model. (shown below)
Forearm is modified from an Encore 209x50's.
20 inch GA-90 in 45 caliber sm.jpg
 
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I doubt that Gonic ever made Encore barrels. I've never heard of any!?!
They went out of business.
The TC Encore 209x50 barrel is a fabulous muzzleloader.
My Gonic carbine barrel sports an Encore forearm only because the original one was unavailable and improvisation was required.
The barrel was never applicable to the Encore.
I dig working with wood also.
My latest is a 30-30 combo
Nouveau furniture.jpg
 
I have an incomplete .45 pistol barrels and a fancy wood stocked GA-87 in .50 and a basic model 93 .50 mag. Fred was a smart man, nice guy and built a great rifle.
Nit Wit
 
Fred was special.
You are one of the lucky ones to have known him.
His contribution to the sport lives on in people like us.
Gonics .50 caliber bores are tight by comparison but Fred was generous with his 45 cal. bores as .458" bullets load with reasonable resistance
Your GA-87 sounds like a jewel.
What a treasure!
Love to see it
 
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Fred was special.
You are one of the lucky ones to have known him.
His contribution to the sport lives on in people like us.
Gonics .50 caliber bores are tight by comparison but Fred was generous with his 45 cal. bores as .458" bullets load with reasonable resistance
Your GA-87 sounds like a jewel.
What a treasure!
Love to see it
What diameter
bullets do you use in your fifties? Do you have any pistol barrel parts?
Nit Wit
 
50 cal Gonic barrels require .500" bullets.
What parts for 45 pistol barrel do you need?
I don't have any but believe the breech plug can be fashioned from plumbing components.
 

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