Ideal 10" Encore barrel for deer hunting handgun??

[Mawgie]

Folks -

I am looking to add a 10" barrel to my TC Encore to make an accurate hunting pistol for whitetail deer.  I'd prefer not to carry the extra length of the 15", or even the 14".

What would be a suitable caliber? I'm looking for 150+ yards hunting accuracy; and would like to keep muzzle blast and recoil to reasonable limits.

Here are some candidates I've come up with: 7mm-08; 7-30 Waters.  

I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks-Mawgie

[rickyp]

you can always get it on 30 herrett , 357 herrett, the 7 tcu, 7-30, maybe even the 30-30 (though pushing it)
I prsonaly feel the 10 inch barrels are very well suited for "handgun" rounds  and the 14/15 inbchers are better off for the "rifle" rounds

[Duval]

In a 10" Encore I'd go with the 454 Casull, a 2x fixed scope, and a full bull contour barrel to keep the recoil in check.  The 454 10" bull is a pussycat in the recoil department but a bit heavy to carry, but you don't get something for nothing.  Like Ricky said, 10" barrels deserve pistol/revolver calibers.

Duval

[Gregory]

Folks -

I'm looking for 150+ yards hunting accuracy; and would like to keep muzzle blast and recoil to reasonable limits.Thanks-Mawgie

I've got 10" barrels in 357 Max and 300 Whisper for my Contender.  They'd work in an Encore too.  They meet your stated goals.

[rickyp]

i forgot about the 300 whisper.

[smoky]

I shoot an 11" 7mm BR barrel on my encore.  Very mild recoil, but will out distance the traditional pistol calibers should the need arise.  The downside is you must hand load, but the components are easily had.

Smoky

[billybob hunter]

Smokey,

What kind of velocities do you get out of your 11" 7mmBR barrel with 120gr bullets?

billybob

[Big Gun]

I wanted something like this too - I ended up buying a 7.62 x 39 factory 10 inch barrel.  I think this is kind of a compromise round - you get some of the advantages of a pistol round, and some of the advantages of a rifle round.  I put a 2x Leupold on mine, I think this will be a good pig and deer round although I have not yet had time to try it out on either - only at targets.  Recoil is relatively mild, ballistics are ok, ammo selection is pretty limited, as is bullet selection - but the 125 grainers are fairly versatile.  The other one that I would strongly consider is the 7 Br - seems like a pretty good application for this round although I do not have one of these.

[smoky]

Billy Bob,

I can't answer your question from personal data as my chrony is on the "fritz".  I do plan on performing much load development for this barrel and others this spring so I'll keep you up to date.

I can tell you that my barrel seems to like 27 grains of H322 with no signs of pressure with a 140 grain bullet.  All loads I have tested are less than 2" at 100 yds, and much of that grouping is probably me as I am still a novice pistol shooter.  I think I'll see sub 1" groups when testing this spring.

The Hodgdon data on their website indicates 2092 fps with 26.5 grains of H322 and a 139 grain bullet and 2323 with 29 grains of H322 and a 120 grain bullet.  They state these loads to be max and from a 14" barrel.  I believe max in my speer manual was 27 grains which is why I stopped there.

Hope some of this helps.

Smoky