Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Encore Barrel problems?

I bought a used encore rifle barrel in .460 s&w. 20" version. 2 issues
1. Had to shim the scope mounts because it still shot low after my scope ran out of adjustment. 3-9x40 Leupold

2. Getting a lot of soot on the rear barrel face and on the brass when firing the gun. Also quite inaccurate with the one load tried. Federal fusion
I contacted previous owner (a Campfire member) and he didn't recall having this problem. He only shot the Hornady flex tip load and got softball size groups at 200 yards.

Anybody had similar issues with Encore barrels? Any fixes?

Thanks

Excessive headspace can be a problem with Encores. The lock-up on the actions can introduce some slop. Mine always shot much better with reloaded brass fired in the chamber.

That, and the custom hinge pins from Bellm that tighten up the action:

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/

I had a 25-06 Encore barrel that had a bad habit of not going bang when the hammer dropped. Seemed to occur very randomly. I guess it could have been my handloads.

I sold it to a dude on EBay. I never heard back from him so I guess I worked for him.

Other than that it seemed to shoot okay. Not earth shattering, sub-MOA groups, but somewhere around 1.5 inch groups.

What kind of scope mounts are you using? I would make sure the rings are the same height.

The rings are the same height. I switched them front and back and the scope still pointed the same place on my boresighter

I contacted Mr. Bellm and he said the Federal Fusion loads may be too hot for this weapon. Said they run hotter than the Hornady. Hmm...

I know Bellm is a guru on the Encore, but I can't imagine any safe revolver load being too hot for the Encore. Any elaboration here?

Good point. And since it headspaces on the rim, cancel my comment on headspace. Seems to me that choosing a straight-walled revolver cartridge wouldn't be the best choice for accuracy in a rifle, for that reason.

Doesn't a 45-70 headspace on the rim?

Yep. Not saying headspacing on the rim=inaccurate, just a general observation.

Update: borrowed an mgm barrel and shot same ammo. No black soot on barrel face. Didn't have to shim scope mounts as I did with the tc barrel. Used same base and rings

Bought the mgm barrel. Wondering what to do with the TC barrel. May contact the company??? I'm told that customer service is slower these days.

Anybody have a contact there? Thanks

I was in search of a taller front sight blade for my Encore 12 gauge barrel and contacted their customer service number. The nice lady told me she'd have one of their barrel/sight techs get back to me. The guy called back within a few minutes, understood what I needed, but couldn't locate on their website, and had the correct blade shipped to me that day.

It had been a long time since I had contacted the T/C folks, sometime back in 1997 or so rich after the factory fire, and I was greatly impressed with their performance.

The bad thing is they're probably going to want your whole gun for testing instead of just the barrel.

How recently? Thanks

Why not try something totally out of the box and give them a call?

https://www.tcarms.com/contact

Lat fall. Like smokey said, can't hurt to call.

Called TC recently about one piece intregal scope mount for a Impact muzzleloader and reached S&W Holdings phone number, and then transferred to TC. Sadly the guy on the other end knew less than I did. Good Luck! Hopefully not all the knowledgeable people exited TC.