Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Re: TC Encores

I need a little guidance on Encores. I'm looking at one that is wearing a custom shop barrel. I have two basic questions: 1. Apart from obvious condition issues what do I need to look for? 2. Are Encores predictably good shooters out of the box or do they often/usually require tinkering and tweaking to shoot well?

Thanks,
Dave

The Encore has never been my primary hunting rifle but I have owned and shot several of them over the years and currently own multiple frames and barrels.
If it locks up tight and there is no play in the frame and barrel, chances are you are good. Most issues I hear people talk about revolve around headspace issues or related lockup issues.
I would say the chances of it shooting good are pretty high. There's not much to tweak other than the trigger and locking springs. Others here may well have additional info to add.

OSU - thank you. That's what I'm looking for. It wouldn't be my primary rifle but it would get regular use.

OSU covered it well but I will add one thing. If the barrel is a muzzleloader, be aware that some of the barrels give problems because of alignment problems with the QLA (the unrifled portion of the muzzle). Usually lopping off the QLA gets the accuracy back with a slightly harder to load barrel.

I've owned and shot Encores since they first came out in several calibers including .17HMR, .17 Fireball, .22 Hornet, .223, .243, .260, and 7mm-08. All barrels are either T/C or MGM and all have been very accurate.

The Encore has been my primary hunting firearm on many occasions.

1. The headspace issue is way overemphasized in some quarters. With multiple barrels and frames, I've never had this problem.

2. If there is play, i.e., movement, between the barrel and frame, it's easily remidied by changing the hinge pin. I would not use an oversized hinge pin but rather an adjustable one such as one can get from EABCO.

3. Pretty much all Encore frames can greatly benefit from a trigger job. I don't know how handy you are with tools, but it's a job one can do by ones self with a kit from Mike Bellm. I got tired of paying $80 for a trigger job so did the last two myself with very satisfactory results.

4. As far as accuracy goes, well over 90% of the barrels I've had have been very good. I had one 30/06 barrel that wasn't; I sent it back to T/C and they fire lapped it and recrowned it and it now shoots very well. I had another 30/06 barrel, the Pro Hunter version that I couldn't depend on to do better than 2 or 3 inches at 100 yards despite a lot of fiddling with handloads. I sold that one. Surprisingly, I shot the best 3 shot group of my life with the latter barrel; a one holer (LOL).

I learned something from your post. Thanks!

I have MGM barrels that are exceptionally accurate, including a 257 Roberts and a 6mm Rem.

If you reload, just follow the resizing process Mike Bellm describes on his website. I have owned the Contenders for over 25 year and a Encore Pro Hunter for over 10 years. Great all around rifles that shoot MOA or better. The key to the headspace deal is measuring the clearance between the frame and face of the barrel. Then when you size your brass, size until you have .002" clearance between the case head and the frame. This allows the disconnector to operate properly. When I started reloading for these rifles, I would neck size only like I did with my bolt rifles. On a bolt gun, the worst thing that will happen is a tight bolt close. My experience was that doing the same procedure for the Encore would cause you to not be able to cock the gun. Simply would not work. If the gun closes with distinct effort, the headspace is incorrect. I have never had a factory cartridge that would cause this, only reloads that haven' t been full length sized enough. The most accurate rifle I own, and I do own a few, is a Pro Hunter frame with a 28" MGM 6.5-.284 barrel. All the trigger work via Bellm kits and parts. Also on the older Contenders, I would recommend the new stiffer spring from Bellm for the locking lugs. Your gun will snap shut and sound like a bank vault shutting!!

I too am a fan of all new springs from Bellm. Took a bergara 30-06 barrel and frame that was a 2.5-3" gun and turned it into a 1-1.25" gun with factory loads. Just replaced locking lug springs, hammer spring and hinge pin with 1x pin.

I have heard the horror stories of loading for an encore. Maybe I am just lucky but I set up my FL die from measured once fired like I do all my rifles. Light bump and ran it. To be honest, I was more concerned about missfires from excessive headspace so I kept things on the longer side. Never a problem. Not one misfire, not one failure to lock up.

I added a bellum hinge pin and the one and only encore I own shoots boringly well with my handloads.

I have always free floated the fore ends on my center fire barrel's and use marine-tex to build up a pressure point at the fore end tip.

I have found the head space issue to be over stated, I have had no issues.

Doc

As Doctor Encore stated, don't forget forend pressure. I went a different route and bought a pillar bedded forend for my 17 MachIV. Turned a 1.5 inch shooter into one that shot into the .2s and .3s regularly.
I also had no head space issues.