I picked up an unfired 24" .30-06 barrel for my Encore. Any reloading tips to get best accuracy would be appreciated.

Trade it for a 308..

Swamp - Try H414 behind a 165 grain Hornady Interlock.

60 grains H4831 and 180 grain Hornady Interlock FB is a good load in my Handi-Rifle. YMMV

why would he want to trade Down?

The tree -o -ate rules!

57.0gr IMR4831 CCI200 150accubond .294" 3shot@100yd 28"barrel

57 gr. IMR 4350 165 gr. of your favorite bullet.

Will neck sizing the brass help the Encore's accuracy.

Doubt it helps much,these rifles need tweeking mainly at the hinge pin,springs and triggers.We have two Pro Hunters,a 300WM and 338-06Imp and have tuned both actions which closed groups.Throwing another together for a pard and ordering all after market bells and whistles to tune his up.Most don't group that well right outta the box just don't know how picky you are in MOA.

I also have a 24 inch 30/06 Encore barrel and it's quite accurate. My load:

Brass: Lake City military from fired CMP ammo. I sort out and discard the brass with off center flash holes.

Powder: Varget

Bullet: Barnes 165 or 168 grain TSX crimped with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. The bullets don't really need to be crimped but this is one of the few loads in which I've found crimping to be of benefit accuracy wise.

Primer: Federal 210M

I've tried neck sizing versus full length sizing in a variety of cartridges to be fired in Encores and can't remember one instance in which neck sizing helped accuracy and, in fact, with one cartridge neck sized with a Lee Collet Die, worse accuracy resulted.

My barrel came today and I mounted a Leupold VX-2 3-9X40 on it in low Burris Zees. I like it alot.