I just joined this forum to get some help and your post goes along with my problem. I just recently purchased an encore with a 7 mag 26" barrel. It shot horribly with several different types of ammo. I loosened the front forend screw and it shot noticably better, but still not good. It seemed to want to string everything out. I traded the barrel for a 7mm08 barrel (24"), and tried 3 different types of ammo in it. It is not as bad as the 7 mag barrel, but still the best I can do is 2". Still wants to string everything out. Does anyone have any ideas that might help me? I'm pretty anal and can't accept that type performance