I am thinking of a 15" fullbull barrel in the .338 WSM for my Encore.I don't like muzzel brakes do you think the fullbull barrel would work?

T/C Nut,
The 338 WSM would work. I think without a muzzlebreak the recoil would be stout to say the least. I think recoil is percieved a little different by each shooter. I have a 338 V.V.C which is a 45-70 necked down to 338. Without the brake and shooting 185 Nosler ballistic tips the recoil for me is tolorable, but not fun. The barrel is .800 at the muzzle and is fluted. This tends to make the recoil felt a little more. I am working up my skill shooting bigger bores. I am still working on the 338 before moving up to 375.

VV Dave I am looking at a Full 1" tube.Im shooting a non-braked 15" '06 and a 12' .445 SuperMag and can handle these easy.

V.V.Dave, how close is your 338 to the 33 Winchester? Have been toying with the idea of a 33 in a carbine bbl lenght for th contender but not sure it would work.

T/CNut,

I have been shooting the 338 WSM for about a year now, not in an Encore but in a custom 15" XP-100. Before that I played around with the larger cases in the Encore barrels such as the 7.21 Tomahawk and the 7mm RUM with less then good results.

My Tomahawk barrel was made by Virgin Valley using a 15" Stainless Lilja blank. Accuracy of this barrel is amazing but I have had continual problems with very short case life because of case head stretching and seperation.

I figured it was just because the Encores frame was not strong enough to handle the bolt trust of these large diameter cases but from talking with the guys at Virgin Valley, they say they have very good luck with this size case head in the Encore so I am suspecting I have a problem with my Encore frame and not the barrels.

I will say that Virgin Valley does a flat out top notch job with the Encores and they even asked me to send my Encore to them to see if they could figure out the problem for me. I just need to get it sent away.

About the 338 WSM, I did about a year of research looking for the one round that would meet my goals for the ultimate long range handgun round.

I wanted the trajectory to shoot deer out to 400 yards and the power to hunt elk out to 300 yards with ease.

It all came down to the 338-300 WSM wildcat. My deer load is the 180 gr Ballistic Tip driven to 2950 fps using RL-15. My heavy load is the 200 gr Ballistic Tip driven to 2800 fps using the same RL-15.

Accuracy with the 180 gr load is scary. I have shot enough 3/8" groups for three shots at 100 yards to know the gun will do it all day if I do my part.

I harvested two deer with it this fall, A doe mule deer at 178 yards and a 350 pound 4x5 mule deer buck at 317 yards. Both were one shot kills and neither deer traveled more then 25 yards after the hit.

I suspect that the Encore will not handle the loads I am using in my XP but I am sure that you could easily reach 2800-2850 fps with the 180 gr bullet.

On game performance is unreal for anything I have seen out of a handgun, including the 454 and 50 A.E. Encores at close range. It is an awsome round.

Good Shooting