I was going to pick up my cousin a 26" Heavy .300 Win Mag barrel for his Encore and was wandering about the muzzle flip and felt recoil? He does have a Simms recoil pad installed. And how about the accuracy?

Thanks

I guess I should restate this. Is the .300 Win Mag cartridge too much for the Encore to be comfortable?

What kind of Encore does he have? My Encore has the wood stock and with a heavy barrel makes for a fairly hefty rifle. The Encore already has a pretty good recoil pad and Im going to take a leap and say it should be comfortable enough to shoot for the average person.

Accuracy wise, the encore is a fairly accurate gun and I would expect 1MOA groups as average.

I shoot the 375 H&H in my encore with no trouble.

I'm considering getting the 416 Rigby.

I have a laminated butt stock and I had it glass bedded.

The plastic stocks are too light and have more felt recoil.

My cousin has the wood stock and he just put on a Simms recoil pad. He wanted a do everything rifle barrel and he was considering the .25-06 in the 26" barrel, but if some day down the road he wanted to go elk hunting or perhaps join me in going to RSA, I thought maybe the .300 Win Mag would suite him better. I just don't want him to be intimidated by the recoil. I have a stainless synthetic Encore with a 24" 12 gauge rifled slug barrel for deer hunting and there's quite a bit of muzzle jump. The 26" .300 WM barrel will be quite heavier. Hopefully, reducing felt recoil along with the recoil pad.

JME...300 win mag is a sharp jab and a 375 H&H is a prolonged push type of recoil....the 300 Mag hurts me, where I can shoot my 375 H&H Sako carbine much easier and better.

For up to Elk and plains game, a nice 270, 280 or a .30-06 barrel with good bullets will handle them fine. In the hands of a good shot, a .25-06 will probably do it. The .280 or a 7x57 or a 6.5x55 is really hard to beat!!

Have your cousin get a .338 WM barrel it will shoot from 160 to 300 grain bullets and won't hunt his body , he can reload to suit his needs for painless shooting .If I only had one rifle it would be the .338 !

I am looking seriously at getting a 25-06 barrel for mine but I already have a 300 win mag in a Ruger 77

Thanks Brent and make it home safely. You can actually get a 26" barrel in .25-06 for the Encore. I just noticed that Midway special orders the .280 Rem in a 26" barrel for the Encore. This may be a good alround choice too without as much recoil. What do you think?

I have had as many as 8 Encore bbls and currently own 6...all rifle calibers. In my experience, the 300 winnie was fine in the recoil department, but all of the belted offerings can be problematic when inserting a round into the chamber as the belt can hang up on the extractor. If you are concerned about the speed of a second shot, stick with the non-belted rounds.

Thanks Sabot and everyone else.