Encore Problems - Fixed - Think Again!!! Read This

[Encorepete]

Hi to All,
About 4 months ago, I ran into a strange problem with my new encore rifle. I mounted the scope with QD rings and went to the range. I was getting a good 1 inch 5 shot group at 25 yards, but it was 12-14 inches low. I thought it might be the rings and bases, so I called leupold. They were kind enough to send shims for the rings so I could hunt. Not satisfied, I switched rings to a weaver system. Same results. I also switched scopes. Same results. My scopes didn't have enough travel to make up the difference. In january, I sent an email to T/C and was advised to send the barrel back, which I did. I waited 3 weeks and received it back. The packing slip indicated that the barrel had been re-lasered. A call to the factory indicated that my barrel had a slight bend that had to be corrected by re bending the barrel back to straight. It seems as though this is common as the steel sometimes "springs" after production. I know that I'm not the only one with this problem as many responses indicated by this and other forums suggested shimming my rings or buying rings with shim type systems already there. If you are having this type of problem, your barrel is probably bent also, and may have been produced at the same time as mine. In addition to this repair, my barrel was shot to check it as OK, then shipped. When I stripped it to inspect it, it was filthy!!! The breech plug also now has rust!!!! So here I am, $500.00 for the gun, numerous shots through it, unknown wasted powder, time, and bullets because this thing was bent from the beginning. Now it is dirty and rusted when returned from the fix!!! Thanks a lot T/C!!!! What to do next?!?!?! T/C is not accepting any emails right now, due to high volume. Wanna bet it's not from all the happy customers praising their products. I decided to post this in the muzzle loading rifles forum, but thought it might be appropriate here, too. I thought I was buying from a company made a quality product-wrong!! I thought I was buying from a company that took care of the customer-wrong-again!!! I guess the only thing I got right was paying the bill.....T/C apparently makes no mistakes in that department !!!  :x

[TopGun]

If it makes you feel better, I just bought a brand new 45-70 barrel and the filler screws were so tight I broke the head off one trying to remove them to set up a scope base. Not being able to do the work myself, I took it my smith. He broke the the other three! All four had to be redrilled and tapped. Why in world do they (TC) even have to put these things in, on a scope model? No sites involved. Better yet, why or how did they get so tight? My smith cut me a break, but he said it's not the first time he done this with TC's.

[rpseven]

I remember that I posted about this earlier at least I thought I did, maybe it was on another topic I don't know I will be 40 tuesday so who knows whats going on with my brain. Ok, I had the same problems with the barrel that  I first got with my encore about a year ago. When I ordered this gun I wanted a 7mm RM but my gun dealer said he couldn't find a 7mm so I settled for a 300 win mag. Well I am a reloader and when I started making my rounds for this barrel I couldn't find one that would shoot a group for anything. I tried at least four different types of bullets and that many different powders. I sent this barrel back twice and on the third time I made them send me a new barrel and thats how I ended up with what I wanted in the first place the 7mm.  Before the first time I sent it back I had a friend of mine look at it and he's a gunsmith he checked the head space out and found out that it had to much. Well I sent it back to t/c with a letter stating what was wrong and when they checked it they said it didn't have enough headspace so they gave it more. When I got back I couldn't believe it, but I tried it the same thing all over again it wouldn't group I called them again they said to send it back again this time with the frame so they could check it. So I did and so they did check it this time they said the barrel needed  recrowned so they recrowned it and when I got it back this time it had the top to a box of Winchester 175 gr. PowerPoints which they said shot a 1/2 in. to a 1 inch group at a 100 yds. So I did it all over again, tried all the rounds that I made and they didn't work so I bought a box the Winchesters 175s and he** they didn't work either well by this time I am getting hot. I have already put alot of time and money into this barrel and it still wouldn't shoot. So, they got the last phone call about it. I just told them is wasn't worth a s*** and to send me a new barrel and if they would send a 7mm. They did and sent my postage and handling back to from the last time. What this barrel was doing was this, and thats why I think I had the same problem that you had. On a clean cold barrel it would shoot high and then every shot after that would be 8 to 10 inches low. I hope this 7 mm don't do this the groups so far have been nothing to brag about or my .45 cal MZL. I am really worried about the MZL it has thier 1:20 twist. Good luck :evil:  :drink4:

[DannoBoone]

Hey guys, I had similar problems with a 25-06 barrel. Turned out that it
wasn't bent, the chamber was just .008 too deep. And unless you were
reloading a missile, forget touching the lands. I sent that in, too -- and got
it back dirty, too.  The bore was one of the roughest I had ever seen. It
shot 3" groups. After a lot of work on it myself, it will now shoot 3/4" groups.

  But I solved the crappy barrel problem. Started getting them from VVCG.
Ya know, we can all whine about T/C all we want, but that won't change
anything. Some barrels actually shoot fine, and a lot of guys have several
T/C barrels that shoot very accurately. But when there's a problem, does
T/C stand behind their work of their "satisfaction guarantee"? If all ya get
is a headache out of your barrel, why buy from T/C when others do
such fantastic work. I have a Tactical 20 barrel and a custom 209x50
barrel made by VVCG and the quality is soooo superior, I'll never get
another one from T/C. Why even risk buying another headache that we,
here, have been through?

[rpseven]

Thats the way the chamber was in the 300 win mag barrel that I had. The only bullet that I found that was long enough to even come close to the lands was the Nosler bullet. But when I asked T/C about seating my bullets close to the lands which I like to do they said to just seat them to specs that is didn't matter if they were close to the lands or not that the accuracy should be fine.

[Okiehunter440]

I realize this thread is a little older but heres my 2 cents.  In my opinion, all barrels are a crap shoot as to wether it will shoot to your satisfaction.  I purchased my first Encore with a 22.250 barrel and the best it would do was 3.25".  I actually had a good experience with TC, they had the thing back to me in less than 2 weeks.  Said they had lapped the barrel and recrowned it.  What ever they did worked.  It's a 1/2" gun (barrel) now.  Having had this experience I saved my coins and got a .257 Wby from Virgin Valley.  I have tried factory loads and MANY variations of hand loads and the best I have done is 1.5".  That ain't what I was expectin'.  I will continue to 'work up a load' for this gun before I give up.  Point being, my factory barrel although reworked will shoot much better than my custom.  I'm doing my best to change that.... anyone got any pet loads for the .257?  I would like to hear from you.

[Encorepete]

I tried calling to T/C yesterday and on the third try I got through to customer service. I explained to them the situationa dn was put through to the repair shop?? Once again explained the circumstances to them. The guy on the phone told me that there was no way a barrel left the factory dirty after service!!! Got into and arguement with me over it....I know what powder fouling looks like after all. I explained about the rust and he stated that the plug was made of stainless and could not rust. He then stated that I should just buy a new once since they are cheap!!! :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  Spoke to a supervisor named Mike Wright and he told me to send the thing back to them (the plug) and they would inspect it and if it was rusted, they'd replace it. I asked him about all the postage (with sending the defective barrel and now the plug) and he would not commit to anything. Remember, they put me through to this guy from customer service. I agreed to send the plug (what else can you do?). I later kept stewing over it and decided to call again just to see what would happen. This time, I got through to customer service on the first try and asked for a supervisor. I again explained the situation and the gentleman (Roland? I think) told me that he wanted to take care of me immediately and offered to replace the plug right away :-) . He inquired about the barrel and I told him that if it was fixed, then no harm, no foul. He told me to call him if I had any further troubles with the barrel or anything.......GREAT!!! Although I am somewhat dissatisfied overall, this guy did help me, and I don't really care about the barrel if it has truly been fixed....it did shoot a good group after all. I'll update everyone if there is anything else wrong!! Thanks for the support and responses :grin:

[rpseven]

The times that I have dealt with T/C so far has been pleasent. The guy that I dealt with about my 300 win mag barrel was a guy named ED he worked in repair and he was real helpful and friendly. Now when I called about my .45 cal. ML the guy that I spoke with was kind of negative. He told me that the only brand/type bullet that they test fired in the .45s with a barrel twist of 1:20 was the hornady MagXTP 180gr. and they got good groups with these and he talked as if I didn't shoot this bullet that they would not be able to do anything such as exchanging this 1:20 to a 1:28 twist barrel. I didn't like this to much, I feel if its a good quality barrel it should shoot any type of bullet fairly decent and that I shouldn't be limited to this one type. What happens if they discontiue this bullet then what will I shoot. I think that if they know that they have had problem with the 1:20s that they should replace them no matter what. But thats my opinion and you know what they say about opinions. I'll keep you update to. Good luck :x

[Foxfire]

Bought my Encore two years ago.  No problems.  Dropped five deer with one shot each.

[DannoBoone]

OkieHunter440 - Try giving Steve Stratton a call at VVCG, and explain your
problem to him. You surely know that their guarantee is MOA, and he will
work with you on it.

[Larswildu]

Hello everyone

I am new to this site, Underclocked sent me here, and this is the very reason he sent me here.  I am (was!!!) looking to purchase a 300 win mag barrel for my Encore.  I'm not so sure I want to now after reading some of these posts?  I just purchased my 209x50 back in August and it has been shooting really well for me.  In fact I shot a very nice 6x6 Bull Elk at 100 yds right thru the ticker.  Dannoboone mentioned WCG, can they make a custom barrel for my Encore?

[southern utah]

Bought a stainless 26" 300 wm T/C barrel last year and had great luck. Using Winchester 180gr Fail Safes. Nice buck last year.

[Underclocked]

Lars,
Howdy!  I think they can and you also might check VirginValleyGuns.com , EABCO.com , Bullberry.com , SSKIndustries.com , and edstc.com.  There are several other custom barrel makers for the Encore but those came to mind.

[DannoBoone]

Lars, if ya go to:

http://www.virginvalleyguns.com/barrels.cfm

and click on "Available Chamberings" under the photo, you can see all
the chamberings they do for the Contender, Encore and bolt actions.



Okiehunter, have you been able to get in touch with Steve Stratton?

[Larswildu]

Underclocked & DannoBoone

     Thanks for the help I contacted V.V.C.G. by e-mail.  Hopefully soon I will have an answer from them so I can get my new barrel on the way.  Thank you again. :grin: