Any TC fans here? (Encores): UPDATE - i splurged

[Streetstar]

I have had a TC Encore pistol for years with a 15” 45/70 barrel. It’s largely just been a curiosity in the gun room, but due to the versatility of the platform (if you start out with a pistol ) I added a .50 muzzleloader barrel and stock set to the inventory years ago
Coincidentally the ML has never been fired. When my interest in hunting waned, so did most of my interest in shooting a muzzle loader

That said, for whatever reason, I was looking at this big bore albatross again (the 45-70 with pistol furniture) and thinking tricking it out for some long range silhouette plinking might be an entertaining project.

Never shot anything through it but Hornady factory FTX loads and recoil wasn’t crazy, but I’d like to affix a flat bottom fore end to it in place of the tiny TC pistol fore end it currently wears — didn’t really want to rebarrel it

Any tips for this or places to look besides Bulberry?

Trying to budget time for another trip to the Whittington center and was thinking whacking silhouettes with a big single shot pistol might be fun.

- thx gents for any input either way

[GunnyMack]

I've had 2 encores, one blued the other stainless. My buddies daughter used the stainless to shoot a real monster buck with the 20ga slug barrel. I gave it to her for her Christmas birthday that year. Also had a 1:28 muzzle loader barrel with it.
My blued I bought with a 1:28 but I really didn't like how it shot so I got a Fox Ridge 1:48 barrel and with 245gr black belts it was a tac driver- seems I neglected to clean it at the end of the season and now it's a bit rusty inside- that has me mad at myself!
I tried another Fox Ridge barrel, 338 Federal and couldn't find a load that it liked so I sent it down the road. My buddy got a 270 barrel that was more of a shotgun than a rifle, he sold it as well.

[Streetstar]

I tried another Fox Ridge barrel, 338 Federal and couldn't find a load that it liked so I sent it down the road. My buddy got a 270 barrel that was more of a shotgun than a rifle, he sold it as well.

That’s not very good luck with the rifle barrels at all

I should fire the ML setup just to see how she works but alas, I have little interest in cleaning the thing

[lonesome dave]

i've had a muzzle loader for some 20 years and added an 06, 308, 223, and shotgun. my cup runneth over.

[vancelw]

I'm down to a .50 caliber muzzle loader barrel, a 223 varmint barrel and a 280 Remington barrel.
I've never fired the .280, but ever Encore barrel I've ever owned would shoot nickel-sized groups at 100 meters.
That includes pistol barrels in .308, 243 and .270 and tapered rifle barrels in 243 and 223.

If you don't want that 45-70 pistol barrel PM me.
I might buy it or even work out a swap on a stainless. 280 24" barrel

[Grizz]

I shot a few rounds out of a friend's Contender. 45/70/525g my standard load. It worked but I didn't care for the grip.....

guess that means I'm not a fan, but IDK why

[AJMD429]

I'm down to a .50 caliber muzzle loader barrel, a 223 varmint barrel and a 280 Remington barrel.
I've never fired the .280, but ever Encore barrel I've ever owned would shoot nickel-sized groups at 100 meters.
That includes pistol barrels in .308, 243 and .270 and tapered rifle barrels in 243 and 223.

If you don't want that 45-70 pistol barrel PM me.
I might buy it or even work out a swap on a stainless. 280 24" barrel

Same here on the 280 REM.. mine is a straight 1” with a JP brake on it. I thought it would be the ultimate long range precision one/shot-one-kill gun, but got too busy to mess with it. “Maybe someday… ”

I have a 16” 300 Blk from Precision Machinie and Tool or something like that, and it is NICE. Threaded for my Mystic/Infiniti can.

And a 223. Sold the 45-70 barrel when I got the 500 S&W Levergun since the latter outpowered anything the 45-70 could do and I wanted all my 45-70 loads Marlin-safe.

Sold the 270 Win barrel cuz never used it. Kept the muzzleloader and 223 and 280 and 300 Blk.

The Encore trigger is not as perfect as the Contender, so the Encore isn’t quite as accurate as a Contender, but it’s right nice.

[blackhawk44]

I've bought a couple from Ed's TCs in Oklahoma. He keeps a good stock of barrels and a nice guy to do business with. At edstc.com.

[GunnyMack]

I tried another Fox Ridge barrel, 338 Federal and couldn't find a load that it liked so I sent it down the road. My buddy got a 270 barrel that was more of a shotgun than a rifle, he sold it as well.

That’s not very good luck with the rifle barrels at all

I should fire the ML setup just to see how she works but alas, I have little interest in cleaning the thing

Yeah it made no sense why we couldn't get those 2 barrels to shoot well...

[yooper2]

I've never warmed up to the Encore but very much enjoy my Contender. Currently have barrels in .22lr, 30 Herrett, 270 Ren, and 25 TCU. The 22lr barrel gets a bit of squirrel time each fall but less than it used to since I finished my .32 muzzleloader. Shot a couple of deer with the Herrett barrel and I smack steel with the other two.


Eric

[GunnyMack]

I forgot to mention, not sure if others noticed a POI shift or not when changing barrels.
My blued gun was primarily my muzzle loader and the stainless was ML/slug/ rifle gun. I kept all 3 barrels scoped and zeroed ( I thought) , if I took the rifle barrel off and put one of the others on I saw a noticeable POI shift that would kind of find itself back to zero in a few shots.
I finally put a 'timing' mark on both the pin and receiver which helped to stay close but when I swapped I would bounce the butt on the floor a few times and things pretty much stayed where it was supposed to.

[Streetstar]

I've bought a couple from Ed's TCs in Oklahoma. He keeps a good stock of barrels and a nice guy to do business with. At edstc.com.

Have an appointment to see him tomorrow to peruse rifle barrels and to see what kind of wood furniture he has on hand. My ML setup is camo, and that just won’t do for a project I want to look nice

[Streetstar]

Per my start of this thread -- my Encore experience started out with the 45/70 pistol pictured and i added the .50 cal Katadahn muzzle loading gear when i thought i might use it in -- literally 2009 -- it remains unfired

Meanwhile, the 45/70 is in my top 3 favorite cartridges (maybe top 5 not counting .22 rimfire variants) -- anyway --- hmmm -- 45/70, 30/30, .45 Colt, .300 WBY, 10mm - so definitely top 5

I digress --- the 45/70 in pistol format , even with a 15" barrel - is a bit unwieldy so i had been desiring a 45/70 barrel and Ed from Ed's contenders had one. This one appears to be in a blunderbuss barrel length - perhaps 20" and with an odd looking flash hider, but as soon as i can figure out the thread pitch (i doubt its 1/2 x 28 with a .45 barrel ) i will source a muzzle brake as i think the recoil with a short barreled 6 or 7 lb Encore will be spirited. --- I was pleased that the furniture i sourced has a nice shotgun style recoil pad as well
But kinda' like the 20" ML barrel, the stock Katadahn series barrels are all quite short

I also have a buuuunch of Wolf .308 that my M1A doesnt agree with, so i asked Ed about a .308 while i was there, and he produced a much more pleasing to the eye 24" blued barrel .308 complete with Leupold mount and rings - so i bit

The optics for both of these barrel sets are Redfield which was on sale at Academy Sports --- i recall the hype around these modern Redfield's when they first came to market again a few years back as being Leupold's 1st cousin by marriage , but at a lower price point - I hope they are still regarded favorably, but really, for range queens and not dedicated hardcore hunting rifles, the glass does not have to be perfect as long as the mechanics inside will hold the adjustments properly -- but i sourced a 1x6 for the 45/70 and a 4-12x40 for the .308 . They had models with target knobs and 50mm objectives and the like, but i thought would look really out of place on a trim Encore.


I bought a box of FTX factory loads to cap off the day as i couldnt find my 45/70 stash in my safe room. ITs in there somewhere , - but having more FTX brass is okay by me as i enjoy shooting this load

Havent been this excited about a project in a while so i am hoping the .308 doesnt throw out shotgun patterns ----

I enjoy the concept of modular shooting platforms like this - heck, this is a 12 gauge (or 20) barrel and a .22 lr barrel short of a complete shooting battery already .

Will post back the range report as soon as i have one

[Bridger]

I dont really know anything about the contender lineup, but it has always amazed me how it’s seemingly legal to swap it from handgun to rifle and back and forth but you can’t do that with any other gun….

[Streetstar]

I dont really know anything about the contender lineup, but it has always amazed me how it’s seemingly legal to swap it from handgun to rifle and back and forth but you can’t do that with any other gun….

To have that flexibility, it has to start out as a pistol and be originally sold as a serial numbered pistol or bare frame. Same as an AR pistol. Heck, you can convert your Glock to a carbine and back with a conversion too, as long as one is mindful not to ever be in possession of an unlicensed SBR

[Streetstar]

Kind of a belated update

--- for general purpose use, i have settled on the below configuration as my favorite

For me it is a paper puncher, -- the .308 barrel is a heavy contour, but i wouldnt call it a bull barrell - maybe "light varmint"? -- but the rifle as sits is pretty darn heavy compared to a slim levergun or a modern synthetic stocked bolt rifle -- bipod is a Harris knockoff from Amazon, but scope is a serviceable Redfield 6-12x40

The best part - it eats up the Tula steel case ammo i have a surplus of without a hiccup , while my M1A fails to process the stuff -- it will dimple the primer but not set it off -- a local fellow told me i needed to "turn the gas up" on the M1A , but that is not as simple a process on that rifle as it is on a FAL so i will just burn through the Tula one shot at a time in this rig --- its not very precise, but is fun to plink with

Given the fact that i havent fired good ammo in the rig yet, i dont feel like posting up mediocre target pics , but the Tula out of that heavy rifle will keep them around 2.5" - which is what i would expect the stuff to perform like in an HK91 or FAL

I like it