Yes, 2150 is the best I've been able to do with the 10" Contender. I doubt I could get much out of a 170 gr bullet in this chambering.

I do use the 170 gr Speer 30-30 bullet in the 14" 309 JDJ barrel I have, as it attains 30-30 rifle speeds. The problem is, I'm not happy toting a 14" Contender. I've tried several times to trade the 14" SSK barrel for an appropriate 10" barrel, but no takers. I also thought about having it cut and re-crowned, but I really don't believe 10" is enough to work well with the 444 Marlin case.

Right now Mike Bellm has my 10" 32 H&R Mag barrel and will re-chamber it to 30 Bellm. This cartridge, using the 7mm BR case with the shoulder moved forward, should offer a slight increase in speed over the 30 Herrett. It won't be much though. My real reason for having the work done was to make a useful barrel out of the anemic 32 H&R barrel.