Encore Consistency

[DWGriffith]

:unsure: I'm new so you giuys take it easy on me. I just bought an Encore rifle with a 30-06 and .280 Remington barrel. I use the Leupold QR base and rings, which work great. Don't be afraid to try them. Anyway, the accuracy was not what I had hope for, but I can think of a bunch of variables induced by dissasembling and reassembling the rifle.

Sooo, my question is this. How tight should I tighten the forearm screws? Really tight, sort of tight, or just tight enough to keep the arm from falling off?

Are there any tricks to ensuring consistency after reasembly? If this thing won't shoot after reassembly, it defeats the purpose of buying multiple barrels. Also, who does a good trigger job for Encores? SSK gets $95, seems like a lot, but if that is the only choice, I'll have to go that way.

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Runs with Scissors]

I also have an Encore in .270
There are some polls on the Graybeard Outdoors forum about accuracy problems in factory TC Encore barrels. As it turned out, a bit less than 20% of the respondants had accuracy problems. Almost 7% had a sloppy fitting between the barrel stud, hinge pin and frame.
These facts support your concern of accuracy after reassembly, particularly if you are among the percentage affected.
My Encore had the loose frame problem. It went back to T/C for warranty and was returned in the same state it left along with a note that it "was adjusted to factory specs". In my opinion, had T/C established "factory specs" as loose as those on my Encore, the Contender line would have failed.
I ordered a 1X and 2X oversize hinge pin set from Bellm. There's a lot of information about T/C barrel-frame looseness there, and enough demand to support a growing business.
Anyway, the 1X pin was a bit tighter than the stock pin. You had to push it in with your thumb. The stock pin dropped in (and also fell out).
Bellm's instructions are to use a hinge pin that you have to tap in. The 2X was tight enough to require tapping it flush with a brass mallet.
It solved the problem. My action now both locks up and sounds like a Swiss safe.
The barrel no longer drops open when I pull the loading lever. It now takes gentle pressure to both open and close the action.
A tight fitting action is even more vital to a break-open gun's accuracy than the forearm pressure on the barrel.
I've read that a lot of Encore shooters float their barrels by placing a rubber O-ring over the forearm screws between the barrel and forearm. They then snug the screws up. The O-rings apparently float the barrel and isolate contact to the screws themselves.
You should be ready to expect that your factory barrel is only going to give you 2" groups. Unless you are lucky, the performance barrels capable of 1/2" or better don't come from T/C.
On your trigger, check out Virgin Valley. Their trigger jobs can go down to just above 1lb and cost $55. The one-week turnaround is great-so is the quality of their work.
If you detected my disenchantment for my Encore, you are right.
The gun has been away constantly for some sort of service or mod since I got it just before Christmas. I never had any trouble of any type in my long term relationship with Contenders and multiple barrels.I think, however, I finally have everything sorted out with my Encore. I was getting 2" groups or better the last time I was at the range. I think It will do even better when I try my new 1.5lb trigger out.
My .270 is my deer rifle. It will be fine next season. I do plan on another long-range varmit barrel (probably 25-06). I would expect it to do better than 1/2" at 100 yards. It will come from Bulberry or Virgin Valley.

Bill

[Citizen]

Never experienced any of these problems and I have 3 barrels. I have to tap the pin in all of the factory barrels and accuracy is just great.

[Thebear_78]

I have found that the easiest way to improve accuracy of encore barrels is to free float the forend. I use 3/16 flat neopreme washers between the forend and the barrel. They work great and only cost about $0.10 each. So for less than a quarter you can usualy decrease your group size by half. You can get them at home depot. My 24" 30/06 barrel will regulary shoot sub 2" groups at 200 yards. My 22-250 barrel will shoot regularly under 3/4" for 3 shots at 100 yards. Before I floated the barrel the 22-250 shot around 1.5" with same loads. I also use a boyds laminated stock set that I glass bedded the reciever in and added a sims recoil pad. All my barrels have been T/C factory barrels, I have never had a custom barrel but the success I have had with the factory barrels makes me wonder what need there is for spending the extra money for custom barrels. The only factory barrel that ever gave me trouble was a 24" 25/06 barrel that was unbelievably picky, there was only one bullet it would shoot well.

Eabco.com does some very nice gunsmithing work on the T/Cs. I have had them do some barrel work for me and was very pleased with their work. Virgin valley went out of business a few months ago.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid142/p454c3a05149f5fe42d009b5caa9fc80b/f6b441be.jpg

[cataway]

i have had some problems with two center shot barrels ,one was a 300win,the head space was roung sent it in ,they sent me a new barrel, the head space was roung on that one to sent it back with a letter saying what i expected from them then they got it right ,now i have one fine shoting 300win mag. the other barrel was a 708 that barrel was just bad ,sent it back they sent me a new one ,i dident even take it out of the box, went to the big sport store and traided for a 7mag ,dident like the 7 mag so i sold it. i do have a fox ridge barrel in 7.62 X39,it likes just one load that i worket up ,and i tryed alot of different powders every pullet i could get my hands on,then one day i found the sweet spot and now that thing is a tack driver,it likes 2460 &125gr bullets ,and thats all it likes , it just took two years to find what it wanted.then theirs my 209X50 i dont know if i will ever like that thing just cant find the sweet spot , but it dose work better than the shot gun,eney one got a great load for one of them? i wount be happey till the holes tuch

[guncats]

Hi cataway, is your 7.62x39 barrel a 308 bore or 310 bore? How well does it shoot with factory ammo? (I don't mean wolf or such, I know they are bad for contender/encores).

Thanks