I am looking into buying a new barrel for my encore pistol and I am between the 500 S&W and the 45/70. I already have 308 and 243 barrels.
Any pros or cons in the two?
Thanks

Either round is quite potent, mainly going to depend on whether you want to shoot a .458" or .500" diameter bullet.

Diameter is no real concern I was just wondering if for a given bullet weight and velocity if there was any noticable pressure or perceived recoil differences. I am already tooled up for the 45/70 as I have several rifles in the caliber.
Thanks

If diameter is of no concern, what is the debate about? Do you plan to hunt? I would say if you load both with heavy for caliber bullets, the .500 will recoil more heavily, but there are some crazy loads out there now utilizing 500+ grain bullets in the .45/70.....

I guess I have to ask what the intended purpose will be in order to rate one against the other.

Now I like big holes, and I have an Encore in 500 Mag. It is a great shooter and also a handful, but it can be loaded to tame the recoil some. I also had a Encore in 45-70, it can be loaded from mild to wild. Either round will take anything on the North American Continent, I have a BFR in 45-70 and it is a blast to shoot. The 45-70 works under a lot less pressure than the 500 Mag. If bullet diameter does not matter to you, get the 45-70, it will do everything you will ask of it. But if you want something different, get the 500 Mag.

Thanks Redhawk,

I thought you have or had both and hoped you would give some input on the subject.

Thanks guys for all of the info.
I will probably get the 45/70 because I already load for it. I just was wondering if the 500 gave any advantages over the other.

It does in that it makes a bigger hole.......

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
It does in that it makes a bigger hole.......

Indeed it does make bigger holes. Also in some States there reg's say, for handgun
hunting, it has to be a straight wall "pistol" cartridge, the 500 Mag fits that, but the 45-70 does not,because it was designed as a rifle cartridge.
The felt recoil of the 45-70 and 500 Mag are more in the Encore than in a revolver.

I have settled on the 45/70 barrel.
What experience have eveyone had with TC barrels as compared with SSK or Bullberry for accuracy and such.
All have a 6 week or so turnaround.
Thanks

I got rid of my TC's years ago. My experience was that they fouled both with lead and copper very badly. I don't know how they are now but I would lean towards a better barrel.
TC chambers were also all over the place with rifling origin, etc. Some had no throat or ball seat at all.
My opinion of them was that if they opened the gun and there was a hole through the barrel, it was good to go.
My friend has one in 7 TCU and it is great and deadly accurate but I was never that lucky.

My .45-70 barrel is a SSK. It does well with both jacketed and cast bullets.

I don't find a thing wrong with T/C factory barrels, I have a few of them and they work great, no lead fouling or copper fouling problems.

Most of my barrels now are custom Encore barrels, either OTT or Gary Reeder. And they work great.

T/C barrels seem to be hit or miss in the quality department. Often times they make great candidates for a re-chamber. On the other hand I've had a few custom aftermarket barrels, and some have been steller, and others shot on par with factory tubes, if that.

The reason everyone else gets bad T/C barrels is because I get the good ones. In several dozen T/C barrels I've had, I had to send back exactly one for an accuracy problem and it was fixed with no problem.

The two barrels I have that foul the least and are by far the easiest to clean are a T/C 460 S&W Mag. and a T/C 500 S&W Mag. barrel. The 460 barrel easily does less than 1 inch 3 shot 100 yard groups while the 500 barrel puts them in to 1 to 1.5 inches.

Gary Reeder makes fine encore barrels and his prices are very reasonable. The barrel will shoot well or he will replace it. Not much risk in this decision.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
Gary Reeder makes fine encore barrels and his prices are very reasonable. The barrel will shoot well or he will replace it. Not much risk in this decision.

You got that right, he stands behind his barrels, and a good price for a custom barrel.