encore help

[billy]

I have a encore i got 5 years ago and have never really got it to shoot very accurate, lucky to get 3 inch group at 50 yards.Have tried differant loads both powder and bullet .What are you guys shooting and how is it doing for you?

[Biff Mayhem]

How many bullets and powders have you tried? Name the bullets and grain sizes you tried. Name the powders and grain volumes you tried with these bulllets.

Is the Encore a 45 or 50 caliber?

Do you season your bore or use a lube while shooting sabots?

[billy]

I have tried 90,100,120,150 grains of powder with 44 cal.,245 powerbelt,295 powerbelt and 300shockwave in that order.

[Biff Mayhem]

I have tried 90,100,120,150 grains of powder with 44 cal.,245 powerbelt,295 powerbelt and 300shockwave in that order.

I can understand subpar groups with 44 caliber bullets using that much powder with those green sabots. I've read countless reports of subpar groups in T/C guns using Powerbelts.

But what I don't understand is the subpar performance using T/C's own 300 gr Shockwaves.

Contact the manufacturer and ask them to examine & field test your rifle. They will ask you questions -- just answer them as you did here. All you pay is postage & insurance one way..... roughly $16 thru Fed-Ex. T/C should reimburse you - if they find any fault with the ML.

[billy]

Also why is it so hard to load the sabots in the encore ,the shockwaves did shoot the best of the loads i tried.Do you need to use a speical jag to load the shockwave?

[davestewart38]

The  new Shockwaves come with a yellow colored sabot which loads a lot easier than the old black ones.In my rifle,the new yellow  one shoots at least as well as the old black ones.I swab between shots with an alcohol patch followed by a bore butter patch.If you shoot the Shockwave bullets or any of the spitzer bullets I suggest that you purchase one of the jags that are designed for them to prevent damaging the tip of the bullet.l   

[kb]

I had the same trouble with mine.  I finally got it to shoot 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards off the bench.  The problems I was having ranged from damp powder, to loose scopes. 

Make sure everything is tight (scope), get some fresh powder (Im using 80g of Pyrodex 'P'), and make sure each load is seated with uniform pressure.  Some guns like a fouled barrel for best accuracy.

If worse comes to worse, send it back to TC, and let them figure it out.

Good luck,
kb

[Redhawk1]

billy, I have tried a lot of different combinations in my Encores, I had to do a lot of shooting to find what worked best in each of my 3 Encore muzzleloader's. In my 45 cal M/L I use the 195 gr. Barnes Expanders and 100 gr. of triple 7 pellets and get 1 to 1/12 inch groups at 100 yards. In my Encore 50 Cal, I use a 195 gr. Precision Rifle duplex sabot dead center .357 bullet and 90 gr. of loose triple 7 powder and get the same 1 to 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. In my new Encore Pro-hunter I am using the 250 gr. bonded shockwave over 120 gr's. of loose triple 7 powder with sub MOA at 100 yards. At 200 yards a 4 inch clay target is history with that load.

Like I said, I worked many loads and bullets to find what worked up to my expectations.

[McD]

 With 3" groups @ 50 yrds being the best I would look at the optics you are using first. Make sure everything is tight and try a scope you know works well.
I did lots of work on my encore when I owned it. The first one was returned after first day,the barrel bore was inconsistent....the second one shot sabots fine but conicals was like your groups looked like a shotgun pattern at 100yrds...I removed the qla and it went down close to moa with conicals and sabots improved also. I replaced hing pin from bellm and I did a trigger job...made a new stock set..in the end was a good muzzle loader that would do moa with sabots or conicals.
The 250 or  300gr bullet and 90grs of powder should be close to cutting the same hole at 50
I found the pyrodex seemed to have a limited use once opened bought new supply each year. Would have fliers that would dissappear after switching to a new lb.
The triple 7 seems to work better.