Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Encore Barrels

Being fairly new to encores, I've got a few questions on barrels. Is it an advantage accuracy wise to the pro hunter barrels over the 24" standard barrels? I prefer the 24" blued barrels personally but am curious if there is much of a difference between these two. I did order a 20" Katahdin pro hunter 45-70 barrel that I hope to have by the end of the week; I just don't have any experience with these yet and they are kinda spendy so want to make an informed decision. What are your experiences with these two barrels accuracy wise?

I've never owned a 28 inch pro hunter barrel. I've had several 26 inch barrels. I've heard and read about some 28 inch ones not grouping very well. After being cut off a few inches they grouped really good. I've always preferred the balance of the 26 inch over the 24 inch. They seemed easier to shoot off hand. Go to bellmtcs.com and he talks about cutting down the 28 inch barrels to make them more accurate.

I have a Katahdin .50 barrel. It's as accurate as my 26" barrel. But, man, it takes some getting used to- it's short. It feels funny to carry, at first, but I got used to it.

One thing that drives me crazy is I cannot set the butt on the ground and hold the barrel, while deer hunting, like I'm used to- it's too short.

I have had bunches of Encore barrels; actually, still have a bunch. Lengths have ranged from 10 inches up to 28 inches. For rifles, the length I've come to like the most is 24 inches but that's not because they're more accurate.

I've had two 30/06 barrels; one 24 inch and one 28 inch. Neither shot well when I got them. I sent the 24 incher back to Thompson/Center and they recrowned the barrel and lapped it and viola, it now shoots very well. I sold the other barrel to someone satisfied with "minute of deer" but suspect T/C could have fixed it as well. I doubt shortening a barrel is the reason for improved accuracy but rather any improvement is from correcting defects in the crown, etc.

A 28 inch 300 Win. Mag. barrel is probably the most accurate Encore barrel I own but the shorter barrels I have also do very well.



A 28 inch barrel.



A 26 inch barrel.



A 24 inch barrel.

That's some damn good shooting, Grumulkin. Well done!

I have an older Encore 280 , 24" that I got from a Pawn Shop. They were eager to get rid of it since that was the only thing they had for an Encore, no frame or anything.
Crown looked good so I ran a box of Remington Core Lok 150's through it and liked the way it shot. I bought a new Burris 4x16 Ballistic Plex and mounted it.
At one time I had an old Remington 280 but traded it for a pistol so I had the dies, brass. I found some 140grn Accubonds since that is what I shoot in most of my single shot pistols and rifles.
Loaded some rounds and took them to the range. Here is what I got and since I have taken a Bull Elk, and one whitetail myself. I loaned the rifle to a friend and he took two antelope with it.
Mike

I run that same H4831SC load in my 280 Wby UL. It is equally accurate.