Maybe I've missed it somewhere in this epic clusterfug, but what was the muzzle velocity of the 85 grain load? What was the mv in the manual for their max load? Surely it must have been chrono'd and been "slow", or why the heck would you keep adding powder after book max,without a clue as to what was really going on?
As to the two Encore frames and half dozen or so barrels I load for, only one has a "belted mag" size .515ish chamber diameter, a custom 300 H&H - I never felt the need to push it, my normal load for it is actually about 2.5 grains below max in the data I used. Call me crazy, that's where it grouped best at.
I grew up reloading with a Hornady manual that in certain higher powered calibers that might be encountered in drillings or other break action guns, cautioned to reduce book max charges by 10 percent. This was before the Encore came along, but I fail to trust it to be stronger than high end European break actions, so I've always treated the Encore with caution in the larger chamberings.
If I was worried about facing an angry bear, and limited to an Encore, I'd be a lot more concerned with a possible extraction problem from a "hot" load than that 200-300 less fps would make any difference to the bear...
