This past fall I bought an Encore Pro Hunter Frame and a 24" Stainless-Steel Encore .30-06 Barrel. The first thing I did was ditch the Pro Hunter Buttstock and Forend and replaced them with the regular Synthetic Encore Buttstock and Forend.

There are 3 stiffening crossbars in the forend, one behind the rear screw post, one in front of the front screw post and one between the two screw posts. Mine were sticking way up above the two screw posts so the barrel was resting on those 3 stiffening crossbars and not touching the screw posts.

I immediately dremeled them down so the 3 stiffening crossbars didn't touch the barrel. That in and of itself helped a lot. However my local gunsmith insisted that he bed the forend creating saddles for the barrel to sit on and put in steel pillars for the screws to pass through.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

I then experimented with forend screw torque and discovered that mine shot the best with the screws torqued to 15 InLbs.

Now it'll print sub moa groups at 100 yards. I do try to keep my rest centered under the rear forend screw so everything is the same everytime.

Larry