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OK all you Encore shooters, I need some advice. I recently bought an Encore with 24" .280 Rem. barrel. After a careful breaking in session, I am having a problem with accuracy. I tried handloads with 3 different bullets - 140 Nosler Balistic Tips. 140 Barnes and 160 Nosler partitions. These are loads that have shot well in all other .280's I have worked with. In the Encore, the chronograph showed good velocities and very low SD on all 3. The problem is the gun is stringing vertical groups - roughly 1/2 inch wide but 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches top to bottom. If this was a bolt gun, I would just glass bed it. But with an Encore, is there a solution short of a new barrel? Help. | ||
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Your barrel is junk ! Improperly stress relieved ! put a ramrod or broom handle in front of a window or a lamp stand back 10/15 Ft hold barrel up and look threw barrel and you will see 3 black shawdows inside barrel or as I call them broken lines , every time your barrel is shot the molecules move from heat and string bullets . Barrel is Junk ! and the people at T.C. are not Qualified to reconize this problem ! as I am an example of their ignorance . Don't take the chip ! | |||
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I think you could very well have a bad barrel but I'm confident T/C will make it right if you send the barrel to them with a description of the problem. Make sure it's not a scope problem though. I had a problem with a T/C 30/06 barrel that sent the first shot from a cold barrel wild. I sent it to the factory, they lapped the bore, recrowned the muzzel and it's now a very accurate barrel; including the first shot from a cold barrel. | |||
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You might just have inconsistent barrel to forend contact. You can, in essence, float the barrel on an Encore by using a few stainless steel washers placed on the barell bolts between the barrel and the forend to "push" the forend away. That technique made quite a difference in a .223 barrel on my Contender. _____________________ A successful man is one who earns more money than his wife can spend. | |||
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I have read about using a barrel hanger but I have no idea what they are talking about or how to use one. From what I have read it sounds like a possible fix for the problem.  Swede --------------------------------------------------------- NRA Life Member | |||
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The hanger bar system is a very simple concept that does work. Go to www.matchgrademachine.com; these guys will get you set up with a forend and hanger bar. Aside from that, though, an oversized hinge pin from Mike Bellm (www.bellmtcs.com) will help tighten groups and improve your consistency in the accuracy department. Lastly, have you checked the headspace? TC is infamous for oversized and mis-aligned chambers. Without actually checking the headspace in your barrel, there is no way to gauge your reloads in terms of optimizing them for top performance. Bobby Μολὼν λαβέ The most important thing in life is not what we do but how and why we do it. - Nana Mouskouri | |||
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How are you sizing your brass? Check your frame to barrel gap. Most factory encore barrels will have between .004" - .010". Adj your dies and size your brass so you have about .001" less than the frame to barrel gap. For example, if your frame to barrel gap is .007" size your brass so you have about .006" protruding out of the breech. The other issue is that t/c may have cut the chamber too deep. I had this problem with a 25-06. In order to obtain proper case length, I necked down 270 brass to creat a false shoulder a few thousands farther out, thus getting the "headspace" needed for the .001". | |||
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+1 on correct sizing technique. Having inconsistent pressure, often caused by cases not being sized enough, can result in vertical stringing. Jon Larsson - Hunter - Shooter - Reloader - Mostly in that order...  | |||
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I use the hanger bar system from Bullberry. It works very well to relive pressure difference between the two barrel mounting screws. I also only size the brass enough for the rifle to reliably close and fire. These are Contender carbine barrels but I think the system works about the same. | |||
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One thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet is gun placement..... Encores need to be carefully set and shot from the same rest point every time when you're shooting a group. I generally set my front rest just forward of the trigger guard, on the rear fore end mounting screw..... Same place every time = good groups..... Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy....Benjamin Franklin | |||
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Thanks for all the advice. My experience with bolt guns steers me towards barrel bedding as a cause. I figured the advice of putting washers on the barrel screws between the forearm and the barrel was something that was easy and cheap to try. I tried both neoprene washers and stainless steel washers. They both worked well. Groups settled to sub-MOA with both - using one of the loads I had tried previously. This now gives me a baseline to start experimenting with loads. I will try adjusting headspace on my dies as suggested. But the good thing is I have a great place to start. Even if I can't improve on what I did at the range today, I can hunt spring balck bear in a couple of weeks as is. | |||
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T/C is famous for sloppy chambers. Many are misaligned with the bore. I recommend folks get a barrel of the same bore but samller cal & re-chamber it to the caliber they want. The vertical stringing though, might indicate a bedding problem. I full contact bed the forend with epoxy on contenders & have ecommended it to some of my Encore owning customers who have told me it helped them. I never liked hangers unless you had to have them (ruger #1 etc) but they might work too. I'd check with T/C before doing any mods though. If S&W hasn't adversely influenced them, their customer service should still be good  ."You can lead a horticulture, ... but you can't make 'er think" Florida Gardener | |||
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I had a problem with a 338/06. I would clean it and then take it to the range it would shoot all over the paper. Quit cleaning it each time I shot it and I am now getting 1 1/2 groups at 100 yards with the same amno. It would probely do better with a cross hair scope. I have a 3-9x40 Trijicon accuview on it and I don't think the aiming point is as fine. | |||
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I washaving an accuracy problem with an Encore 25:06. I had my gunsmith look at it and he said the crown was defective. Sent it back to the factory and it now shoots great. | |||
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Check to see if the fore end is really tight. Some fore end let the screws botttom out in the holes in the barrel. | |||
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