Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots T/C Contender -Encore accurate rifles ??

Folks.

I've had a couple of Encore tubes .223 Fox Ridge , a tack driver with the right load ,.270 factory shoots moa . A Bullberry.22K Hornet that is another sub moa , Fred Smith made it for himself , won a shoot with it and chanced it off , cost me $5.00 ! All my tubes including the 209x50 are good shooters

My question is am I lucky ? I've was told they are no good for coyotes or fox and the factory barrels are no longer up to par . One fellow said to just go with a Ruger #1 for accuracy.

What is the experience of the shooters on The Campfire?

Thank you in advance for your time help and consideration.

Semper Fi,
Soup
The war to end all wars started 100 years ago today. I wish they had told scum bag McNamara !!!

I do not have an Encore. But I have had four Ruger #1 rifles. Accuracy and Ruger #1 do not belong in the same sentence. All for of mine were poor accuracy wise.

I've had Contender and Encore rifles for a long time. I always get excellent accuracy when I do my part. I will say that all my barrels are made by MGM.

I had several Tenders and switched to Encores when they came out and now have about a dozen barrels and all are accurate, some are as they say scary accurate. I had a Bullberry 12 inch Tender barrel in 357 x 44 B&D that wouldn't shoot under 4 inches at 100 yds until Fred told me to stop shooting 180 gr bullets and shoot some 158 gr bullets. It was a proverbial tack driver after that.

Steve.......

I have a T/C pro hunter 25-06 barrel along with a T/C custom shop 250/3000 sporter weight barrel, both are sub .75 shooters.

Doc

I have had over 20 barrels and several "receiver/frames" over the years. I've gotten all but two to shoot MOA or better. I gave the 7mm 08 to a friend and he couldn't get it to group either. The second, a 460 S&W MGM barrel I am working on a load for now but there is not a lot of load data for the 460 especially in a rifle length so the going is slow. I have seen some promise using Lehigh "max penetration" lead free bullets so I think with a little tweak here and there it will be good too.

When I do my part... I too have a number of custom Contender and Encore barrels. My 20BR Encore (VVCG) rifle is a shinning example of having to do my part. I have shot a number of groups that were 1/2 an inch wide and 3+ inches tall, which were due to inconsistent lockup of the action. If the action was simply closed it resulted in lockup issues, where if it was "snapped" closed the lockup was more consistent and nice round 1/2 to 5/8 inch groups were the norm.

In addition, every reload results in the rifle being removed from the bags and then repositioned - again consistency issues.

Bottom line - when I do my part! While my Encore is quite accurate, if I add inconsistency into the equation, accuracy suffers.

CraigD
"Bottom line - when I do my part! While my Encore is quite accurate, if I add inconsistency into the equation, accuracy suffers.[/quote]

I agree with you. In fact, I shoot Encores, bolt actions, Ruger #1/#3, pump, leaver and various shotgun actions, plus a BB gun and "I find that anytime I add inconsistency to the equation accuracy suffers."

I have a Encore rifle barrel in 280 and one in 243. Both are more accurate out of the box or with some work than my three bolt action rifles I HAD. After working up load for the 280 with Nosler 140grn Accubonds I have taken an elk, two whitetails and some coyotes.
The .243 is shooting about an inch at 200yds right now with 90 grn Accubonds.
I sold all three of my bolt rifles, 2 Remingtons and one Savage.
I also have three encore pistol barrels and they all shoot just as good.

Contender .35 rem rifle........shot great.
Just decided a break open aint for me when deer hunting.
Like my #1 way better.
Would like one rebarreled to .35 rem.

I've seen .35 Whelens around. For handloaders, there's a free .35 Rem. included.

Couple of 15 year old Fox Ridge barrels and a newish Bullberry for a Contender carbine. They all shoot very well

I have four Contenders with 16" to 20' MGM barrels.
22K hornet, 30-30AI, 7mm TCU, and 300 Whisper.
All are excellent shooters.

One Encore barrel and several Contender barrels...all shot better than I expected.

I was really disappointed in the Encore until I bought an MGM barrel. My MGM in 35 Whelen is all I could ever ask for in a single shot. Now considering a 308 barrel. Between the 308 barrel at 26" and the Whelen, not much a fellow could not hunt.

I have 5 barrels from 50 cal muzzle loader to 300 win mag..
My favorite is a 20 inch stainless bull barrel .308..
pure death on hogs and deer and very handy and light.
I love my .204 too, and as others have stated before, all of them
are plenty accurate if I do my part.

I do have a slightly oversize hinge pin from Bellam which helps I think.
Pain to change barrels tho'....

I've struggled with accuracy on the factory barrels as well as the Bergara barrels. But I rarely have a issue with the customs - MGM, Bullberry, SSK. If I'm looking for accuracy, I no longer consider the factory barrels.

I've had a stainless heavy barrel 22-250 Encore for a couple decades. It has been one of the most consistently accurate rifles I have ever owned. 50 or 55 Nosler BT and a stout load of AA 2460 work nicely. After break-in, the bore was moly coated and all bullets have been coated in my tumbler.
A TC blued 30/06 barrel that I also had would not shoot worth a darn. A lot of powder was burnt in vain trying to find a decent load.

The T/C Contender Carbine menage a trois:

.22 short match chamber, 20" with CCI CB Shorts. It shoots CCI HVHP with the same precision. Typical groups at 50 yards with a red dot sight run .5":




.30 Sneezer runs .5-.7" for 5 shots at 50 yards w/red dot sight. This target was fired at closer range in the course of load development but is fairly representative of performance.:




.30-30 Winchester; 22" barrel, El Paso Weaver K2.5:




In the process of bringing this all together, the receiver was purchased, shipped to T/C for the easy open mod and barrels purchased for the .22 and .30-30 from Fox Ridge. The Sneezer barrel is 19" in length and was crafted by Bullberry. Early on I found it necessary to bed the forend and stock, but once that was handled...shazaaam!

So, what I'm reading here is that everyone that's shooting good groups with their Contender is using an aftermarket barrel. You're making me queasy! It's hard enough getting a Contender into Canuckia. I'm going to have to start sacrificing virgins or goats or something before everything arrives. Luckily, this is farm country and we sacrifice virgins every spring to guarantee a good crop.

All my barrels are factory and all shoot very well. I have a 20 inch .22 K Hornet, 23 inch 7-30 Waters, and 23 inch .30-30 AI carbine barrels. I also have a 10 inch .22 rf, 10 inch .30 Herrett, 10 inch .22 Hornet, and 14 inch 7 mm TCU. All factory and all accurate.

I'm glad to read that. As a backup plan, I have contacted the importer about bringing in an MGM barrel. The price difference is $55, so it's not an issue. I don't want to curse my luck, but barrels are usually a piece of cake to import. Actions on the other hand can be problematic.

Steve, I would share the same thought. The barrels I have that came from Fox Ridge were not custom production, but Thompson Center stock. FR did do limited custom production, but nothing extreme.

The importer has been around for a while, but usually doesn't answer emails for a few days. As I understand it, the purchase is the same as for a firearm. I make the purchase from the seller and the FFL holder is the go between. Once they get on this side of the border, it will come through Canada Post.

The 23" .30-30 T/C barrel I have is quite accurate. I never did a lot of load development with it but 1" groups with 125gr bullets was easy.

That's good to know. I bought a pile of lighter bullets for one of my disaster rifles - an H&R SS in 30-30. That rifle and I were destined from the start to have a falling out. As a result, I have a cardboard box full of pointy 30 cal bullets that I will try in the Contender. I also bought some FTX and GMZ bullets with the gummi tips. I even fired up the camp stove and made a bunch of cast bullets.

This Contender is like the NHL draft when a team pays big bux for an unproven Junior A player.

The .30-30 and Lyman 311041 go hand in hand. Lyman's load data revolves around their vaunted #2 alloy. It is harder than necessary but functional. You can walk the line around 1800-to maybe 2000 fps with an alloy of 11-12 BHN and find remarkable accuracy. Dunno what the regulatory gods have to say about it, but I'd be happy to send some of the Sneezer bullets your way if interested. PM will work on that.

You mean these? I made up a few hundred last weekend.

Indeed. Hard to go wrong with that one.

I had a factory 6.8spc 23" contender bbl that was very accurate. Ended up selling it to fund my 7-30waters MGM custom barrel though. Still working on loads for it. I don't think I'd be too concerned with the factory barrel. Hope it all works out for you. They are a fun little rifle to play and hunt with.

3 factory barrels, 405 Win, 375 H&H and 204 Ruger. All under an inch with handloads, 405 shoots factory loads equally well.

For me at least, it will be whatever barrel is available. I am seeing good and bad in factory and aftermarket barrels.

That's the problem with the Interweb. It's difficult to know if there are any problems inherent in the various manufacturer's work. I should take my own advice. It's about Lee Precision, but is appropriate here. If any of the equipment made was substandard, the company would stop producing it or go out of business.

Steve,

Hope you get a good one! Keep us updated. Funny Tex Avery video, thanks for posting.

My only inconsistent barrel was a MGM in 223.
My most accurate whether I did my pay or not..... Factory 25-06
My current most accurate is a Bergara in 308.
Lock up, sandbag position etc doesn't seem to matter with these two.
Sometimes you just get lucky.

Me too. The title got my attention. I liked the special apparel for th mother in law. Probably not politically correct these days, but still funny.

I have a contender carbine. I bought a 22 lr barrel from fox ridge that was not good it is easily the worst thing I have ever shot.. I have a blue 223 factory barrel that shoots great everything I have tried is a tack driver. I have a factory stainless 30-30 barrel also. It doesn't shoot like the 223 barrel but is acceptable for hunting at the ranges and animals a 30-30 would be used. It is very handy to carry and light. I haven't shot an encore but a contender does have a good trigger.