Antler Eater

I am seeking help to try and make an informed decision. Do any of you guys convert your Encore muzzleloader to a rifle by the simple barrel (forend) switch?

If so, how accurate was the rifle barrel?

Anyone here have any experience (good/bad)with thisthat can help me out?

ENCOREMAN

Antler Eater,
I have 2 Encore's and I switch one of themback and forth from ML to cenerfire. I have the 7mm-08 (rifle)and .454 Casull (pistol)barrel and they are both excellent shooters. I have a friend that switches barrels too and we've both had very good luck with them. Changing the barrelsonly takes a few minutes and there are racks you can buy or make to store them in a safe place.
I know that it's just a matter of time before I buy more barrels for mine.
I'm sure if you buy an extra barrel you will be very happy with the way it shoots.
My 7mm-08 barrel is capable of 1", 5 shot groups @ 100yds. with factory ammo. I just started reloading for it and I'm sure that I'll be able to shave more off this.
What caliber were you interested in.....there are so many to choose from.

txfireman

I bought a Encore 209x50 with the intention of having other barrels to shoot. Especially for my boys. I am getting a .223 barrel for the boys and I have shot one previously and it was tack driving on. I also found out that Thompson Center is comming out with a 28" Fluted barrel thats called the Pro Hunter. Cabelas is already carrying it in their catalogs at $315.00 a pop. The other ones range from 240-260. There are other sites to look at that sell barrels and you might get a little cheaper. I've heard nothing bad come from people that change barrels. You do have to buy a foreend for a rifle and thats all other than the barrel. Then its just pull the pin, change barrells, replace pin and put on the forend. The 24" barrels come with sights and the 26" and 28"Pro Hunter are heavy barrels with no sights. Of course you will have to get scopes for each barrel. Talley makes an awesome scope mount set up. They are one piece. Ive got one on my 209x50 with a 3-9x40 and it is tack driving at 100 yards. Checkthe T/C websight for calibewrs they have available. You can also go custom fromFox Ridge which does all T/C's custom work.

Antler Eater

Thanks fellas I really appreciate the feedback especially since it is firsthand experience.

I am getting the muzzleloader for my son and being we callcoyotes I thought I would get a rifle barrel for it too. I am considering a .223 or a .22-250 bull barrel at this time.

I was interested to see what folks had to say... I posed a similar question on the gun forum and didn't get much of a response. Of the responses I did get, surprisingly there were more than acouple that werenegative which has me kind of second guessing on spending the money for the extra barrel.

RedRiverHntr

Buy one and don't look back!
I have the .223 for mine and change from the ML barrel. Easy to do and accurate. The Encore is a quality piece of equipment with whatever barrel you are using. A buddy of mine has added the .204, a 25-06 and is looking to add the .300 win mag as soon as he can find one. That 25-06 is very nice. As are they all.
Stick a Leupold on top, adjust the trigger down around 2.5lbs and lookout. Now that myhunting buddies are getting used to the gun,starting tofeel like it will replace some of the olddeer/elk/varmint guns.

Pittsburghunter

Besides the 209x>50 that came with the rifle I own a 22-250 and a .308 barrel and all three barrels shoot exellet.

I never owned a varmit gun and shooting the 22-250 is a real treat. I have never hunted with it but it is a lot of cheap fun on the range. 40g Vmax bullets shoot real nice out of that gun.

Encore50

Give this site a try, its Mike Bellm's forum. He knows the T/C Encore inside and out. Very good information for any of your questions.

http://www.bellmtcs.com/forum/index.php?s=541b52d07b9821553823fbe9f6b6766d

Pittsburghunter

Encore 50 He does seem to know some things about the rifle but I do not like his hinge pin sales pitch. I do not believe what he says about the loose pins from the factory. Once you lock up the barrel to the receiver the pin is along for the ride. I would worry more about checking to make sure the stock is tight to the receiver. Then again I don't go out to make 1000yd shots either.

m.t.hands

i have 2 encore's one is strictly a pistol frame the other started life as a 209X50 (i have 3 other barrels for it now) as mentioned all shoot reasonably well, better than i can shoot anyway[&:], as far as mike bellm and the pin issue, one thing i can tell you is when i would change out barrells my poi would move (very little), i started indexing the hinge pin to the same position everytimeand it rectified the very minimal changes that were happening, i always had tight groups but they were moving, my 260 barrel would change from shooting 1.5" high @100, to dead on, the only other thing, my trigger was horrible, bellms took care of it, i would have swore the thing was 9#[:@], they are a great little gun, like a bad habit though[:@], enjoy

keith

Pittsburghunter

I've heard the later Encores had stiff triggers the one on my rifle I would guess is about 3# with little creep and breaks better than any rifle I own except my Savage 110.