was helping a firend this weekend, he just bought a new T/.C encore - the nice one with the soft stock, stainless etc. we were trying to season the barrel a bit so he could take it out hunting thursday, but just couldn't get the thing to shoot worth a damn. 2 pyrodex pellets and eith a patched round ball or a 250 gr sabot. best we could get it to shoot was a 2'+ group at 80 yds. Figured it was a bad scope, but changing it and then going to iron sights made no difference. Changing to loose powder etc, nothing we did helped. Only thing I can see is the barrel has got to be bad.

Butch,
A couple of years ago, my dad bought an encore, and it did infact have a bad barrel. He sent it back to T/C and they put a new barrel on it. It does happen.......wapiti7

I'm not a fan of pellets for starters.

First, I'd use granulated powder, whatever I had on hand, and start with 50 grains and a patched ball. Shoot it at 40 yards and see how it does. Then start moving back and if it shoots OK at 80 then start increasing the powder to 80 grains or so. Use patched balls and try to find the patches, there are entire treatises written on reading patches and it may help you figure it out, even if you plan on using sabots to hunt with.

How do the groups look, scattered all over the place or in a general direction? With a new barrel, about the only thing I'd do before sending it back is polish it with rubbing compound over some steel wool wrapped around the rod.

Also, make sure you seat the bullet evenly each time, don't bounce the ramrod. Used to be target shooters recommended 40 lbs of pressure- put the gun on a bathroom scale, see what the weight is, then press on the ramrod until you get 40 lbs more than that. After you've done that a couple times you'll have a good idea of what 40 lbs feels like.

Oh yeah, I'd swab the bore with windex between each shot, at least until I had everything figured out.

How's the weather in Faribault today? Long time ago I had made a charter flight and had to land there due to bad WX, and got stuck there for a week! When it finally cleared up enough to take off it was -28F.

I also agree that pellets are not ideal for accuracy. The patched round ball will most likely not work well at all. The twist rate in the barrel is far too fast for a round ball. Try several different bullets before giving up, some guns are just picky about what they like.

The Encore is not a round ball gun. You need a 1 in 66" twist or slower for patched balls . The twist on the Encore is for saboted bullets and some conicals.

No accuracy problem with pellets here..............wapiti7

mark - sorry to say the weather here today is 7 above and windy. not a nice day.

Try 100gr of 777 and a Shockwave, should prove to be very accurate.


Or call T/C and get a new barrel!

If that barrel has their easy load feature in the muzzle, it won't shoot conicals worth a hoot, if mine is any indication. Forget the round balls as stated already.
We get great accuracy with two T7mag pellets and a 250gr SST or XTP.

quote:

Originally posted by John S:
If that barrel has their easy load feature in the muzzle, it won't shoot conicals worth a hoot, if mine is any indication. Forget the round balls as stated already.
We get great accuracy with two T7mag pellets and a 250gr SST or XTP.

Yep. Getting GREAT accuracy with 2 or 3 pellets. Me and 2 buddies with Encores.

Send it back. My son can beat that accuracy with a thrown rock.