shooting the encore in 243

[RONNY]

Does anyone have any info on how the 243 15" encore bbls shoot? Let me hear your loads and how they shoot and preform on game. Thanks Ronny

[Paladin]

I'v had one for about four months and have not had a chance to shoot it. haven't a scope for it yet, have dies, brass,primers,bullets and powder. when the weather gets better I plan on finding out what it will do, until then I know about as much about it as you do, maybe someone else has had some first hand with it and will enlighten us

[Farmboy]

Ronny.
 
 I have one and I shoot only factory loads. Mine will shoot the Rem.100gr core-lokts and the Winchester P.P. about the same 1" to 1 1/2" at 100yds. The Federal Premium 85gr HPBT load will shoot a little tighter. I haven't tried the 100gr Nosler Partition Federal load yet. I believe that the 85gr Nosler Part. would be the load to use on deer out of the pistol barrel if I reloaded my ammo. While I have heard of people using the 85gr sierra BTHP with good results on deer. I have taken alot of deer with a 243 in a rifle, but I haven't used it in a pistol yet.  :grin:

[Rol Page]

I have the 15" .243 Win. Encore and found that heavier, (100gr.) bullets would not group well.. Reason being the 1 in 10" twist in the factory barrel is too slow for the longer bullets in the 15" barrel.

On RealGuns.com you can use free software to calculate the velocity needed to stabilize a given bullet at a velocity.  With the 15" I needed a 1 in 8 twist to stabilize the heavier bullets.

85Gr and lighter would hold +/- 1" in the .243.  I still have the barrel.

I researched and found that the factory .260 Rem. has a 1 in 8 twist, and from personal experience, can say it stabilizes 120gr bullets for less than 1" groups if I do my part.

The 120 gr bullet also does a nice job on Whitetails without a lot of extra recoil from the larger calibers.

Hope this helps,  Rol

[TopGun]

Let me tell you what a 100gr Nosler Balistic Tip over a stiff charge of 4350 does to a deer. Quartering towards me, an honest 125yds, head in full sneak, looking at me--cross hairs on the right front shoulder--BOOM! Flop! Exit was about 1/2 way back left ribcage, lung and blood all over the snow, BAAAH, and she was dead! No bullet recovery, no pieces either, blew up every thing inside and the exit hole was a ragged 4". Right shoulder was broke outright so I am guessing the bullet still had enough mass to hammer this deer and exit. It was absolutely the worse damage I ever saw. I do pathology/autopsy for a living. I see forensics. I don't know how far this load will kill a deer, but I'm betting on atleast 250yds. I do know (read THINK) it is way too light for anything bigger. The Partition load would maybe be another story.

[Selmer]

Top Gun, do you have the 15" with 1-10" twist?  Above it says the 100gr. bullets will not stabilize in a 15" barrel, let us know what you've found out.
Selmer

[TopGun]

Yup, and for some reason it shoots the Nosler Balistic tip way better than my Ruger #1 sporter, and even some of the other brands of bullets.  The TC doesn't shoot other heavies as well, but who cares. I usually find a powder/load combo for a particular barrle and stick with it. I do it this way cuz I have too many load for and to shoot alot with testing all the time I went this route. I can buy bulk bullets cheaper than a box a time and so on. I know it's fun to test but to me, it's fun to have 200rds that shoot well instead of taking months to load 20-40 of each different wt and test all the time. Sight adjustment changes and I like to know where a particular goes when I touch it off. I have many different barrels for different game or scenarios. IMR4350 and the Balistic tip extremely well out of my gun. I started at 33 gr? and worked up. I'm pretty sure it won't stabilize at that load. I haveonly shot my 243 out to 200yds so I don't know if it groups at 300? Maybe not. It may slow down too much? Good luck. PS- I am substantially over the 33gr. but the cases still drop out of the gun