Encore Shooters

cavtrooper94

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
284
Anybody shooting an Encore in 7 Rem Mag, or 280 AI? How do they shoot? Can they go 5-600 yards. Anybody shooting 168 or 180 VLD's out of either of these cartridges with good accuracy? Also what barrel do you shoot?

gun)
 
I had a Encore Pro-Hunter in 7mm Mag. I had the TC barrel. I really liked the gun but it was just to inconsistint for me. a deer killing machine. But I am one of these EXTREME accuracy guys that likes to see small groups on paper. Don't get me wrong I had mine shooting 1/2"groups. BUT I would take it out one night and it would group like a machine but then I would take it out and group it another day, usually happening when I would shoot at night versus day, and groups weren't as good. Don't now why it would group so good at night and not during the day. Maybe a temp. thing. But people say when you shoot them the sand bags need to be as far back to the reciever as can get.

I shoot Reloader 19 threw mine with 140 grain Nosler ballistic tip. Smoked a 350 lb. hog with it.

So quality is really good for a lot of people just not for me. Kinda a bolt guy anyways. Not much on the single shooters.

But if thats your thing then yea, I would say that there shouldn't be a problem with them 5 to 600 yards. Especially the 7mm cartridge. AWESOME long range shooter.
 
Last edited:
I've got a 270 win. Bellm trigger job and a 28 bagara barrel with a Harmonic Balancer. I shot 130 grain vlds with a Leupold 6X30X56 VXL with a Varmint hunter Reticle. It's deadly, by far the best rifle I've got. It shoots sub MOA at 400 yards. My daughter hit a steel 4 inch disc this weekend with the first shot at 400 yards. I've shot it to 700, and can easily hit at deer with it at 700. But the energy is falling off very fast. I wouldn't shoot past 600 with it. The varmint reticle is dead on the money to 400 and a little hight at 500. So you can shoot to 400 without dialing.
 
what type of modifications did you'll do to your t/c's to get them to shoot so far so good. i have a .270 ss for mine. I want to get another barrel or it and shoot longer distances. what caliber do you'll feel is a reasonable long range(600yds) cal.
 
I've shot 3 different cartridges (barrels) on two different frames and they all shot the same - very inconsistent. An occasional good group would be achievable but then not reliably repeated. Both guns had Bellm trigger upgrades done by Bellm.

I tried floating the forend on both which "seemed" to work at times, and then again not. I kept the 45-70 only because I use it for bear hunting over bait where 100yds is considered a long shot. The 7mm mag would shoot 4" groups @ 200yds whenever it wanted to. Load development didn't make much difference in overall performance. Even the 30-06 was an occasional performer with consistency never a reliable quality in this rifle.

Oddly enough, the 209x50 barrel is more consistent than the centerfires. It shoots a consistent 1.0-1.5 moa most of the time with a favorable load.

All in all, the benefits of readily changable barrels is way outweighed by the unpredictable performance of this platform. Just my observations and I actually like the Encores. I only wish I could get them to shoot.
 
I have had good luck with a .223 barrel in SS. It shoots .5 groups at 300. I might have got lucky, but i clean despirately and always use moly coated bullets.....Friend has a .300 Win mag that wont group, but he is too cheap to practice.
 
No i havent but i sure give those pesky coyotes at run. Really, that is the best factory barrel i have ever had, those .5 groups at 300 isn't a fluke either. I consistanly do it. I have tried to take the barrel from my buddy, .300 Win Mag and try to get it to group, but he won't budge. Just wants to complain. He is too tight to shoot though. He is one of those,"its close enough guys".
 
For the past three years I have been having trouble getting a Pro Hunter (28" Encore) in the 7MM Rem Mag to group. Had a top of the line scope that was sent to factory twice about this and was sent back with a good bill of health. Have put all kinds of rounds down range and many trips to the range to resolve the problem and even tried different ammo's out. I knew it was not the shooter because the 209 Muzzlelaoder barrel that shoots on the same frame shoots 1" groups at 100 yards all day! Took the 7MM and scope back to the guys that sold it to me and installed the scope several times also and they could not find any proplems with it. So finally I had a new scope put on it. Still it would not group at 50 yards. Took it home and my neighbor who is a half way gunsmith took the scope and rings off down to the rail. We noticed that the rail was being hammered out by the recoil lugs that are on the bottom of the rings. The lugs were moving in the rail slots at least 1/16". So we made some shims out of Reynolds Wrap and filled the gap on both ring mounts. We also noticed after putting the scope back on that the ring clamps only had about 1/32" of clamping surface on the bottom rail. So we took a file to the angle at the top of each side of the rail where the the ring mounts to it. And cut the surface down enough for the rings to seat down farther on the rail. This gave the ring clamps 1/8" of clamping surface. Put it back together with the shims and took it to the range the next day. It now shoots a 3/4" group with factory ammunition at 100 yards! That is good enough for this old soldier! I guess the moral of this story is that Magnum recoil needs to be nailed down with a solid base before it will work. Oh, this barrel is a factory Thompson Center that has had a bunch of bore cleaner and patches run through it at the range and at the house. The results I am getting now are out of a clean barrel.
 
That very well be what is wrong with my buddies gun. I will take a look at that also. Thanks
 
With any TC don't forget to full length size the cases you reload.
I talked to Mike Bellm one day about some inconsistencies I had and I after full length sized the groups were very good.
My 7-08 shoots 3/4" groups at 100 yards. I haven't shot it at longer ranges because normally when I am using it the ranges are pretty short. I have killed several deer and a hog with it.
Nice pack gun.
 
Believe it or not, on this one, .223, i have never reloaded one bullet, i only shoot Winchester Supreme .223 Ballistic Tip 55gr ammo in it. I have had more than great results, but this could be one in a 1000. I tried several rounds in it when new, found the WS to work exceptionally well, so i stayed with it on that barrel.....
 
Never had a Encore, but I like the idea of the 28" bbl on them. ANd they seem like they might be light to carry for a good mtn rifle. I thot they were really accurate but reading posts here it seems not. The other thing about them is that every jamoke on the hunting tv channels that doesnt have a inline black powder rifle to hunt with has an Encore, so they must be cheap to make and give away for promotionals.
 
I have had several Encores with the 26" barrel and also have the Pro-hunter with the 28. Also have had (gave to family members as gifts) and sighted in several T/C Omega's. Both the Encores and Omega's would shoot 1" groups with a 250 grain Shockwave (black Sabot, yellow tipped) with two 50 grain triple Seven pellets. Have never tailored the load with loose powder, but feel that they all would be close to tack drivers if a person did! The groups I was talking about were 1" at 100 yards. I have also shot Cecil Epps special breech plug and primer and his 260 Grain Deadcenter's with the same results. Those two bullets with Sabots work best for me. Also the T/C 240 grain XTP .44 Mag black sabots work well in these guns for out to 100 yards. Tried to shoot the Magnum loads (150 grains) but they were not as consistent in accuracy. But will definitely push that bullet a fer piece downrange! Have not tried this new Buckhorn 209 powder but hear that it is has got some exceptional results. Am sure that all of these guns would shoot better with a tricked out trigger and barrel, but just how accurate does a muzzleloader have to be to get the job done? I use them for deer and their vital organs make a pretty big target!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 14 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top