realistic expectations with encore's

[georgeinohio]

 i am curiouse as to what i realy should expect out of my  15 in .460 encore

being brand new  to shooting handguns  at any range over  25 yds  i  realize that my expectations shouldnt be very high  due to my own  ignorance  ,  and i am not at all  disapointed  in the groups i have managed to get so far.

 i shot a bit yesterday and offhand  with my 2x scope,  i shot 3, 10 shot groups   averaging  about 8 inches  , not great  but i kept every shot on paper  so i am very pleased 

 i then shot  2 more 10 shot groups  prone  and realy suprised myself  when  the first group came in right at 4inches  and the second  group was roughly the same size  except i had 2 fliers open it up to 6inches 

 now keep in mind  that  i have fired  a grand total  of exactly 100  rounds with the encore and the first 25  was to sight in and play 
i also  havent done  any load development  yet so i may be able to improve a bit there  also

 but i got off subject a bit , so what i would like to know  is what you all  would expect  to get for groups both off hand and prone  with your encores 
my goal is to maybe try  my hand at handgun sillohette later this summer , provided i improve enough to not embaress myself

[asquires2]

Im not a pro by any means but I started out about a yr ago with a Encore 243 now I have a Contender 30.30,35 Rem ,223 and a Encore 7.08. My 243 and 7.08 are printing 3/4" groups @100yrds. My Tenders I havent shot for groups yet. The 243 and 7.08 I had a friend put togehter rounds for . I also had trigger work done on but frames. I havent shot them offhand just from the bench. If you practice alot you will be surprised at what the Encore can do. What round are you shooting?
 
I missed the part on the 460, WOW! I shouldve mentioned all of my barrels have muzzlebreaks too. The 243 shot 3/4" groups without a break too.

[georgeinohio]

asquires 

i  havent loaded anywhere  near to full on .460 magnum  velocities  , if i had to take a wild guess im around 1500-1600  fps  with a 200 grn bullet .
recoil is fairly mild , but i suspect  once i start creeping the loads up i may wish i had a brake
     my bench is set up to shoot rifles  ,  im hopeing to change that with some warm weather   so i can  develop some loads 

[asquires2]

I actually shoot off a shooting bad. I tried a couple pistol rest and it just wasnt for me. Ive been told you can take a leg off a pr off jeans and stuff it tight and it will do the same thing. For me the shooting bag added more stabillity .I also have pacmeyer decelerater grips on my frames.

[Grumulkin]

Just for a frame of reference, Les Baer sells 45 Autos with a 1.5 inch accuracy guarantee at 50 yards.  From an excellent rest, a scoped Encore should be able to do better.





Shot with my scoped Encore with a braked 15 inch barrel.





An approximately 1.5 inch group shot at 200 yards from the bench.  Muzzle velocity is about 2,350 fps, i.e., not a wimpy load.

[georgeinohio]

 grumulkin 

 i have a question  or two  .
first one bullets ..  could i expect better avuracy by moving up to a heavier bullet  , im using the hornaday 200 grn ftx  right now mostly just due to easy availability 

 second  ,  would i be better served by increasing velocities , well what i mean is should i take the ferrari  out of second gear an open the baby up 

 last  , are you using a tc barrel or a aftermarket 

[kynardsj]

Every gun has it's likes and dislikes. Bullet weight, type of bullet, kind of powder and how many grains of powder all come into play. Sometimes .5 to 1.0 gr of powder difference can mean the difference in a so so accurate gun and one that you wouldn't sell for anything. I lucked up on my latest Encore barrel and a load I already had shoots so good in it that I'll still own this one when they throw the dirt on me. Good luck to you on finding that perfect load.

[Grumulkin]

grumulkin 

 i have a question  or two  .
first one bullets ..  could i expect better avuracy by moving up to a heavier bullet  , im using the hornaday 200 grn ftx  right now mostly just due to easy availability 

 second  ,  would i be better served by increasing velocities , well what i mean is should i take the ferrari  out of second gear an open the baby up 

 last  , are you using a tc barrel or a aftermarket

1.  The advantage with heavier bullets is that they can be seated out closer to the lands so yes, you might get better accuracy with a heavier, i.e. longer, bullet.


2.  With the particular bullet I use, I had to use a hot load to get acceptable accuracy with it.  Another bullet or another barrel could be different.


3.  I'm using a T/C Custom Shop barrel.  The Custom Shop thing doesn't mean it's any better than other T/C factory barrels but just that they made it especially for me.

[jbj-displays]

First off shoot steel this summer and every year from here on. It is only going to get better with practice and you will be a better shot when that big Ohio buck is in the scope and your heart is pounding.
The 460 may not be the best round to use in that sport but shoot what you have. My 460 is a T/C custom that is 15" then had the factory brake added making it 16 1/8". It does not like factory Hornady loads and had to use the .452" XTP 250's to get her to purr.
A good trigger is a must if you want to shoot the smallest groups too. My best group that I ever shot in the handgun length tube is 1" 5 shots at 200 yards off
 bags. Total custom barrel in 300 savage improved. I can hit 6" steel plates at 200 off hand which are much small than 200 meter rams.
Just have fun and you will enjoy your T/C like all of us!!
Justin

[georgeinohio]

 i did a bit more shooting today  , i loaded  a bit hotter then last time , groups shrank just a tiny bit .
and recoil was noticeable  .
i dont see me going much higher  on the charge without swapping my walnut furniture for something more recoil friendly  .

 i also tried some of the 300 grn hornaday m/l    bullets  with a starting load of 2400 .. results werent pretty  ..

anyone shooting a gas checked cast bullet ?   if so  i'd like to know what bullet your using 

and triggers ...  im not sure if i got lucky after reading about some of the encore triggers or if mines been worked on , but mine has a nice smooth and  crisp release ..  no creep  , and a pull of about 4 1/2 lbs 

[Keith L]

Lots have acceptable to good triggers.  We hear about the bad ones...

[hunt-m-up]

i did a bit more shooting today  , i loaded  a bit hotter then last time , groups shrank just a tiny bit .
and recoil was noticeable  .
i dont see me going much higher  on the charge without swapping my walnut furniture for something more recoil friendly  .

 i also tried some of the 300 grn hornaday m/l    bullets  with a starting load of 2400 .. results werent pretty  ..

anyone shooting a gas checked cast bullet ?   if so  i'd like to know what bullet your using 

and triggers ...  im not sure if i got lucky after reading about some of the encore triggers or if mines been worked on , but mine has a nice smooth and  crisp release ..  no creep  , and a pull of about 4 1/2 lbs

Gotta agree about the trigger, mine surprised me(literally) the other day when I was sighting in my new 30-06 PH barrel. Switching from another gun w/ a RRA 2 stage. No creep for sure.

[spinafish]

if not doing so already, you might considered a pair of shooting gloves..I use a pair of landscapers gloves from Walmart..they have padded palms and pads on the back of the fingers..really takes the sting outta of those heavy loads..

[Grumulkin]

I use weight lifters gloves myself and to keep the skin on my thumb, I wrap it with tape (masking tape works fine) before shooting.

[georgeinohio]

i did a bit more shooting today .. i ditched the scope and went iron sights  , after i got sighted in  things went well  , 4 inch groups at  100  was average  ..  im very pleased with acuracy 

i guess i need to aneal my cases though  as  30 grns of 2400  wasnt enough to seal them up in the chamber ,  roughly half sooted up  the case  , and are hard as nails in the sizing die  ( second fireing)

[irold]

This really has nothing to do with your question , but for safety sake, ought to be brought up.  Not sure of your experience at the loading bench , but be careful with using just any bullet in the .460.  Its generating a lot pressure that ordinary handgun bullets can't handle.  I know with the Hornady bullets .. the 240 and 300 grainers that are meant to deal with high pressures are designated " magnum ".  As in 240 XTP/HP Mag .  When I was loading for my 460 , I had contacted ( through e-mail ) several different manufactures ( ie. Speer , Sierra , Hornady )about their handgun bullets suitable for the 460.  Can't quote now who said what ....but point is  , out of those companies there was only a few bullets that they would recommend for " full House " 460 loads.  From what I'm understanding this pertains to jacketed bullets , the gas checked cast bullets may be different.  Good luck and be careful
 
regards , irold

[georgeinohio]

irold 

after this morning  i am starting to question my reloading skills ...  i am by no means an expert !

 i had some free time this morning  to put a few down range ,  i got set up let the first one loose and extracted the case ...  the first thing i noticed was the primer had started to flatten which threw me for a bit of a loop as i had loaded these a couple weeks ago  with 28 grns of 2400  not  the 30 grn loads Ive been shooting  with the  200 grn ftx bullets  ,..  neither these or the 30 grn loads  had showed any  sign  of the primers flattening   before  .

 being cautious  i  pulled bullets from 5 random cases  and weighed the charge  ..  my scale showed  spot on  at 28 grns  ... double checking even that   i reweighed on my digital scale  .. again spot on  at 28 grns  so i went back out  feeling safe  to shoot these  .

25 rounds later  they all showed the slightly flattened primer   , and   a shotgun pattern 
out of 25 rounds   only   10 managed to stay  on  a 3 ft square piece of cardboard  at 100 yds  none  hit the  target  .

 i have no idea  what the heck i screwed up  on ...  same can of powder  same box of bullets same lot of primers  and cases  loaded  with the exact same charge  and same oal   that up till now shot  pretty darn  good