Hi All,
First, I have to say that this is my first TC but I have been shooting rifles and pistols for years. I am usually pretty accurate. I have even won awards at some local shooting competions. I need some advice. I am new here and have recently bought a NEW TC Encore in 7mm-08 in a 10in barrel. They don't make the 10in in this caliber anymore but I found a shop that had bought some of the last ones from the factory. I thought the smaller barrel would be easier to deal with in the woods. The trigger breaks at 3lbs and is very crisp. I put a Swift 2-6x32 on it. There is a over the counter exchange on the Swifts so if there is a problem I can get a new one.
I have been out to the range 4 times trying to sight the gun in. I used sandbags and went on calm days. The first 3 times I tried some basic Remington and Winchester ammo. Neither perfomed very well. Giving me 2 inch groups and larger at 50 yards. Moving out to 100 gave me 5 inch groups. I then tried some of the Premium Winchester stuff. I got the same accuracy. My groups are large and they keep moving. I am also getting lots of flyers that are going 6-7in high and some going 3in left and low. Basically they are all over the place.
I did some reading on this site and decided to check my fore-end. I found that it needed to be bedded so I pillar bedded it using the washer method. I went out today and I am getting the same results. This is very frustrating. I have been waiting to get a TC for about 10 years and now that I have it I am disappointed.
Just to convince myself that I have some shooting skill, I got out my Dan Wesson .357 8in barrel with a Millett red dot and did some shooting at 50 yards from the sandbags. The groups were less than an inch with 2 shots almost through the same hole in 2 different 3 shot groups using Winchester 180 gr. Supreme® Partition Gold® ammo. I tried alot of factory ammo and this one is far superior in accurracy to anything else I have shot with this gun. Perhaps I am not handling the Encore correctly?
I do not reload as of yet. Although I will probably start. So I am stuck with using factory ammo for now.
My questions are these:
1) Where should I go from here? It could be the scope, ammo or even the barrel.
2) It could be the scope. Is there any way to check if the scope is bad without removing it and trying it on another gun? I can try it on my .357 to check it if neccessary. I hate to do this because I have my .357 sighted in great.
3) Is the 10in barrel in 7mm-08 not as accurate as the 15in? Is it a finicky barrel? Does anyone have experience with it?
4) I would expect to get better accuracy out of even the cheap factory ammo that I am getting. Is this true?
5) If it is not the scope how do you tell if it is a bad barrel?
6) I also want a 15in barrel in .204 Ruger. Maybe I should buy one to see if the accuracy problem is in my handling of the Encore? What do you think?
6) What have I missed?
I know there are alot of questions here butany help would be greatly appreciated.
