by B.B. Pelletier
The Tech Force Contender 87 is a big, powerful underlever.
Well, the first moment of truth has arrived for the big Tech Force 87 Contender. I think you’ll be surprised at what it did. I know I was.
Cocking effort
Remember in part 1 that I said I thought that the cocking effort of this rifle was at least 40 lbs.? Well I measured it this time. There are two distinct parts to the cocking effort of this rifle. The first is the mainspring compression and the second is when the rifle is setting the sear. When the lever is pulled down and back, the spring force builds rapidly after the halfway point. The force required to complete the cocking stroke increases to 39 lbs. just before the sear is set, then it stops. But it takes 43 lbs. to set the sear in a very definite second step. So make no mistake about it, the Tech Force 87 is hard to cock. And new owners are going to have problems with this until they acknowledge how the rifle works.