The invention relates to a cu-cr-copper composite contact material and the method for making the material, the cu-cr-copper composite contact material mainly comprises a cu-cr layer, a layer of copper is compounded on at least one surface of the cu-cr layer, and the thickness of the cu-cr layer is 1.5-2.5mm, the thickness of the copper layer is 1.5-4.5mm, and the total thickness of the cu-cr layer and the copper layer can be arbitrarily controlled between 3.0-7.0mm according to the requirements. The making method comprises the following steps: firstly, preparing powder materials of the cu-cr layer, secondly, preparing powder materials for the copper layer, thirdly, pressing composite materials, fourthly, carrying out the sintering, the repressing and the after-burning. The manufacturing method has the following technical effects: firstly, the thickness of the cu-cr layer is greatly reduced, the inner electric resistance of the contact material is effectively reduced, and the performance of a vacuum switch tube is improved, secondly, the difficulty of the welding technique of the copper layer and a conducting bar is reduced, the welding is easy and the quality is reliable, thirdly, the dosage of chromium is reduced, thereby the cost of raw materials for manufacturing the contact materials is reduced, fourthly, common silver-copper solder can be directly used, one time sealing and exhausting can be realized and the manufacturing cost of the vacuum switch tube can be greatly reduced.