The Encore is a great rifle. I never realized the barrel was that short. The Encore isone of the best rifles on the market IMO. They are great pellet shooters, but I personally think you can do as well with the loose powders also. Since your first question centered on the use of pellets and sticks I answered it that way.

I would get a pound of looseTriple Se7en and a pound of American Pioneer Powder in 3f. American Pioneer Powder is very course. When you move up to the 3f grade of powder they size of the grains reduce a great deal. You also get a little pressure increase so you have to take all of that into consideration.

When you start shooting your rifle start with 100 grains of loose powder and see what kind of groups you get. Actually this is a very powerful load. About all a person would need unless shooting very large game at some long distances. Still everyone I know everyonelikes to push the rifle a little more, so when you get good accuracy, then increase the powder a little up to the 120 grain range of the loose powder. There is no need to go more then that. It would take out about anything you want to shoot.

Also when you shoot loose powder, stick with some of the lower temperature Remington Kleenbore Primers. It will help control the amount of fowling in the barrel on some rifles. Some it does not matter. If you do decide to shoot pellets I would suggest a Winchester W209 primer. They are a little hotter and pellets need a little more fire to make them fire consistently.