JimboHunter1

I just bought a box of the Hornady SST 300 gr bulletts and will try those next. If they had something a little smaller I would have bought them instead, but 300 were the only size SST' s they had. I' m also planning to increase my powder from two pellets to three. My results will be posted here too, hvyhitter.

rem700man

try bumpin yer powder charge up to the recommended 150 gr. charge. from my experience these guns like a max charge & are more consistent groups no matter what bullet we put thru it.

id be interested in hearing if this makes a difference in yer accuracy
Thanx Mike

LouisianaHunter56

I just read this post and I also shoot the 209x50 Encore. I shoot the American Pioneer Powder in 50 grain stick' s along with 240 grain XTP Sabots, this is the bullet that TC recommends. I have only shot it with 100 grains (two sticks) with great result' s at 25 to 100 yard' s. But being a hunter and alway' s looking for better things I just bought a pack of 250 grain PTX' s, I will try them with 100 and 150 grains of American Pioneer Powder.

I can say that after 3 or 4 shot' s my Encore is very hard to load so I just wipe out the barrel and start shooting again. I have tried regular black powder ( I think it was ffg, I was shooting with a friend) with no differentence in proformance just a messy clean up after shooting it.

I am told that the 777 is a better powder? who knows. As long as the American Pioneer Powder keeps shooting the groups I' m getting, I' ll stick with it.

just my .02 cents worth.

sothrdnk

I use the same load you are using. My Encore likes the 295 gr powerbelts on top of 100 gr of pyrodex. It shoots 1 1/2" groups at 147 yds. The only way I can get those results are to clean the barrel every two shots. After that the barrel fouls and it is hard to push the bullet all the way down. It has to be seated the same for every shot. What I did is load my MZ with a clean barrel then mark the ramrod even with the muzzle. That way you will always know when your load is seated correctly. Just clean your barrel after every two shots and you' ll get it on zero.

cardeer

I found out the hard way. Went thru alot of powder and bullets. I found out the secret is clean it after every shot if you want excellant patterns. I use 2 powder pellets and the 295 power belts and no problems ,if I clean it. The more times you shoot it without cleaning any blackpowder gun the think wont shoot tight patterns.

hvyhitter19

OK I shot my gun again this weekend... I bought the Hornady SST 195 gr, and shot them with (3) 50 grain pellets, and (2) 50 gr pellets... Results were so so with both... 4" groups... I also bought the Barnes Expanders 200gr and shot them, and they are what I will be using.. I shot a 4 shot group all inside a 2" orange dot at 100 yards... Didn' t get to shoot it out any further, but I doubt I will get a shot that far... So the Gun is ready I just hope that I am...

JimboHunter1

I still haven' t been able to get out and shoot since my last post on this thread, but I will certainly keep everybody' s advice in mind. Cardeer, if cleaning between each and every shot was the key to your success, there' s no reason not to try it! There are still four 295 grain Powerbelts that I have left so I' ll try those before switching to the 300 grain SST' s. I should be able to do more shooting on Saturday, October 4th...

Thanks to all,
Jim

RandyWakeman

Alright Triple 7, since you are just copying my information posted elsewhere-- I give the whole story.

There is no " new" part # for Encore breech plugs. They all have the same number, and the Omega and Encore plugs are identical. It is a running production change.

The original Encore plugs were deeply concave-- and there was no problem. However, customers using a bit too much force were crushing pellets. They changed to a solid, very slightly dished plug to help stop this-- those are the majority of the plugs on guns sold in the last 9 months. There was never any issue on the original plugs with loose powder.

The solid plugs resulted in a fouling buildup 2-3" from the breech, according to customers. Thompson replicated that-- so changed back to a deeply dished our plug to eliminate it, this time with a shoulder around the breech face OD to offer pellet support.

That' s where we are today.

Farnsworth

Saw several Encores last year that did not group well last year and seeing occasional guns this year. Solution seemed to be to shoot them. One in particular would not shoot 6" at 100yds with anything. After it was shot about 200 times (that was expensive) it began to cloverleaf anything.

Anyone else seen this?

herman

No I have never seen that.I have a 45 and a 50 cal encore,the 50 cal has had at least 500 shots through it in the last 3 years and the 45 probably has somewhere near a 1000 shots in the last 2 years.Still haven' t found a decent load for the 45 but the 50 has allways shot good.
But I do agree that after shooting it some that it smoothes the barrel out ,if it has any burrs in it.In all my guns I use the JB' s to do that before shooting them the first time.
Sure wish my 45 would clover leaf after 200 shots,one thing about shooting the muzzleloader it is fun to shoot but it does get pretty expensive if you shoot alot.This week I shot the encore 50 cal 25 shots and a savage 140 shots and a knight 10 shots,$$$$