Given I havent fired my brand new Encore frame with .243 barrel I cant say its inaccurate, yet I can say I'm a bit concerned about the tooling marks on the rifling and how that may affect accuracy, but most of all I am worried over the seemingly sloppy fit between the barrel and frame, given the slight lateral play. The trigger? well....if I decide to bear the Encore, given my current ordeals, I certainly will order the custom springs from a fellow Oregonian, cuz the factory 5lb pull won't cut it. The "good" thus far is that the walnut stock is handsome, despite the inlay job where the frame tang top was clearly suppose to rest on what was broke off at the factory, leaving a "U" shaped gouge in the wood. My short and displeasing experience with Thompson Center just reaffirms that American craftsmanship quality is second rate, most likely due to socialism and/or excessive union power. All this and I havent shot the rifle nor contacted T/C. It took me about an hour to disassemble and reassemble everything in this very simple firearm, thanks to the instructions of that fellow Oregonian who sells springs, and I commend Thompson for making it that way. I love the concept and appearance of the Encore, but the lack of quality control just boils me. I will not go through the several month wait in sending a brand new rifle back to them. I will take the beating and dump it at a local gunstore and get back 50% of what I paid. The message must be sent to T/C and all businesses who have a bad habit of letting poor quality products be shipped out of their factory....YOU LOSE OUR BUSINESS! Fortunately for T/C, most hunters/shooters are convinced that any company who has a large advertisement layout in a popular gun magazine must be worthy and reputable. I too fell for it. Just remember: the money a company spends on those pricey advertisements has to come from somewhere. Answer:either overcharging the customer to pay for the ads or cutting back on quality control. I, seemingly, am experiencing the latter.
