Encore Rifle Accuracy

[DLEB]

I do not handload. I had a 7mm Mag bl that would not group at all. Thinking of trying something on the lighter end, say 308 or 243. What kind of grouping can I realistically expect shooting factory premium ammo?

[youthpastorjon]

Maybe it is your barrel or maybe you have a cheap scope.  I have never had a problem with my encore and I shoot Remington Core Lokt.   

[Grumulkin]

Here is a photo of my Encore rifle with a 1.5 inch 200 yard group I shot with it.  One hundred yard groups are in the half inch range.  But of course, I handload for all of my rifles.  I've only had one Encore barrel that wouldn't shoot acceptably and that was fixed by Thompson/Center.  If you don't handload, my suggestion would be to try several different cartridge brands with different bullet weights and see which shoots the best.  I would probably start with Federal premium ammo.

[teddy12b]

I have an encore 26" 30-06 barrel that will shoot around an 1" at 100 yards with 150gr remington corelokts.  I know it's not the calibers you're talking about but, that's a factory gun with factory ammo.  I could probably do better with handloads or match ammo, but for hunting ammo that's a decent group.  The 150gr bullets seem to be the sweet spot for that barrel.

[DLEB]

That is what I am looking for. Someone with some experience with factory ammo. 1" groups would be fine with me. 3" groups are horrible. I'm guessing it probably has alot to do with being a magnum and headspacing issues. I was thinking of the 308 with some premium factory 168 match bullets or something similar.

[sa doc]

Did you try different brands of ammo? My Encore 25-06 hates all weights of Remington ammo (2-3 inch groups), but Federal Fusions group 1 inch and Winchesters 120 Positive Expanding points grouped about 3/4 inch.  I wouldn't limit my search  to "premium" ammo . I've got 1 bolt rifle that groups much better  with standard Winchester Power Points than any premium factory loads I've tried. What animals will you be shooting with the rifle?  If its deer, you'll likely get quicker kills with standard ammo anyway.

[JustaShooter]

My .243 Pro Hunter 28" barrel shoots 100 yard 5 shot groups just over an inch with "blue box" Federal 80 grain soft point rounds.  Haven't tried any other factory rounds because these shot so well, and I really just used them to break in the barrel and for the brass to reload my own.

Just a Shooter

[DLEB]

Tried several brands, weights, premium and non premium ammo with no luck at all. Never had a rifle spread bullets like that. A friend and I bought the same 7mm brl and we both had the same problem. Would love to use the frame for a rifle for deer hunting if I can get it to group within reason. I same premium ammo because generally my rifles tend to shoot them a little better.
Has anyone tried a non TC brl ?

[Kurt L]

I have a 300 mag as this compares to your 7mm mag and i just got it back from
getting a muzzel brake and have not loaded anything for it.but I sighted it in at 25 tds to start getting the scope set
and put 3 180 rem core locks in one hole

[teddy12b]

Most of the complaints I've ever read about with the encore barrels have been with the 7mm's for some reason.  You may be better off selling the barrel and starting over with a different caliber, just a thought.

I have about 10 different boxes of 30-06 ammo sitting on a shelf right now.  They are different brands (Win, Rem, Fed), different weights (150, 165, 180), and different types of bullets (corelokts, power points, ballistic tips, whatever).  When I buy a new gun I go through the factory ammo I have setting around to see what it likes.  With my encore 30-06 it became obvious to me quickly that I needed to shoot 150gr bullets if I wanted to brag about shooting smaller groups. 

More than anything else, I recommend getting a mixed bag of factory ammos and heading off to the range for a long day.  I have two 30-06's myself, and have used this process for two other guys 30-06's.  Someday I may buy another 30-06 and if I do, I'll already have the ammo sitting there on the safe.  Then again I bought all that ammo at least 5 years ago and there's been a big difference in ammo prices since then.

[Grumulkin]

Most of the complaints I've ever read about with the encore barrels have been with the 7mm's for some reason.

I must have about the only 2 accurate 7mm T/C Encore barrels ever made.

[teddy12b]

You probably do.  Maybe you should go out and buy a lottery ticket today too!   

[lonemeabuck]

I HAVE ONE ENCORE FRAME AND 4 BARRELS- 50CAL ML, 243 WIN, 7MM MAG AND 45-70 (ALL FACTORY).

50CAL ML AND 45-70 SHOOT VERY WELL OUT OF THE BOX.

I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE 7MM AND 243- MOST I COULD GET WAS 4-5 INCH GROUP AT 100(AFTER TRYING DIFF FACTORY AMMOS AND WEIGHTS).

CALLED TC, THEY TOLD ME TO SEND BARRELS BACK TO TC FACTORY.

IN 6-8 WEEKS I RECEIVED NEW BARRELS BACK AND BOTH SHOT LESS THAN 1".

THEY RECOMMED SHOOTING FEDERAL POWER-SHOCK 150 GR FOR 7MM MAG AND 100 GR FOR 243 WIN(CHEEP FACTORY AMMO THAT SHOOT <1 INCH!)

[teddy12b]

Huh, another guy talking about accuracy issues with a 7mm barrel.  Gee, I guess I must have just been making that whole thing up, or maybe not.

Encore's are great guns, but for whatever reason I've just read about guys having accuracy issues with those calibers.  Lonemeabuck, I'm really glad that TC made it right with you and got you a barrel that shoots well.  That was very fair of them.

[DLEB]

I have owned 243s, 257 weatherby, 7mm mags, 270 wins, 444s 44 mags, 50 cal encore muzzle loader, 17 hmr, 300 wsm, 300 weatherby, and on and on. The two 7mm mag Encores I have dealings with were pitiful. Never had any problem with any other caliber or manufacturer when it came to attaining decent groups. Think what you like, but that is a FACT..........

[poncaguy]

My pistol barrels, on a whole, are more accurate than my Encore rifle barrels..............

[birddog1308]

I recently did the full "Tune up" of my encore from that (I'll save the mod's the trouble) censored guy (for some reason) which included a trigger job, larger locking spring and over sized locking pins. It brought the groups for my .270, .204, 22-250 barrels down dramatically. The .270 was around 1.5" now it's -1/2 inch. the >204 and 22-250 were at 1" now they are 1/2-3/4".

[Striderman]

I have a 26" 308 barrel and it did not like 180s or 165s at all.  They were all over the place.  I would get two touching and the 3rd would be 6" away.  I switched to 150s and I group 3/4 to 1 at 100 yards.

[Varmint Hunter]

I only have one center-fire barrel for my ProHunter. It is a 20" Katahdin in 45-70. I tried 300gr Barnes, 300gr Hornady HP and 350gr Hornady FP bullets with a variety of powders including IMR 4198, IMR 4895 & RE7. None will shoot better than 2" @ 100 yds and most shoot closer to 3".

I have to admit that I expected better accuracy, particularly in light of the fact that many posters seem to get 1"  groups without too much difficulty. The rifle is all stock with the exception of the trigger which was reworked by the censored guy.

I bought some 405gr Rem bullets and a box of 325gr LeverEvolution ammo but I'm really not expecting the accuracy to improve.

For whatever it's worth, the rifle is still accurate enough for bear hunting over bait. It put a black bear down pretty quick with a 350gr FP @ 2,000 ft/sec.