Sorry I can't comment on the Encore and this post may be a little late but I put a 12 ga barrel on my CVA Optima and bagged a nice Thanksgiving hen at 25 yards on opening day. I used a "balanced" load of 1-1/14 oz #6 lead and Pyrodex (about 80 grains by volume). This is considered the maximum load for the CVA barrel. I have a full set of Carling chokes, including full, extra-full, "turkey," and ported turkey chokes. I patterned at 30 and 40 yards and found the supplied CVA (Carling "turkey") choke to be about as good as any of the others, but opted to use my ported turkey choke. Sometimes, at 40 yards, the pattern barely met the common rules of thumb for pellet count in the kill zone. 30 yards was significantly better. For turkey, I used nitro and fiber wads over the powder and a cardboard overshot wad.
I compared the average of my ML loads to a couple rounds of commercial Remington Magnum Turkey loads (3" / 2oz shot) shot from a Remington pump and recorded by my Chrony at 10'.
Muzzloader 1.25 oz #6: 1039 fps / std dev 10.8 fps
2 oz #4 Remington 1178 fps (one shot)
2 oz #5 Remington 1157 fps (one shot)
So I'm giving up some power to CF, but the muzzleloader is still plenty adequate and I know other muzzleloading shotguns support heavier loads too.
Previously, I'd hunted doves with cut down plastic BPI plastic wads, to protect the barrel from #7 steel shot, but I find the fiber wads pattern better. I only saw one dove that day but the pattern was good with an IC choke and I probably could've bagged the morsel, if I'd been ready to shoot and crawl through 6' tall back berry bushes to retreive it!
. We don't have many doves where I live but I'll continue to use my ML shotgun for turkey. Can't wait for spring!
-Cal
