ORIGINAL: blackheel
My only comment is a buddy of mine and I both have Encores that are identical. He was shooting 2 t7 pellets over a 250 shockwave and I was using 110 grains of ffg t7 with a 240 grain XTP. His gun did not seem to have the knockdown power with 2 pellets that mine did with only 10 more grains of loose. On one hunting trip, he lost 2 deer and I know on one his shot placement was good. With my load, the farthest a deer has gone is 150 yards (1 time, big buck) with all others dropping within 20 yards of where they were shot.
Loose 777 is 15% more powerful than pellet 777, so you are in effect shoot about 125g of 777, which is 25% more powder and therefore a lot more powerful. The loose 777 burns faster and more completely giving more power. As for the 240g XTP, I have heard reports they loose their jackets and fragmentif shot too fast and hit too close, say a 25 to 30 yard "bow shot", see here for more details:
http://dougva.proboards34.com/index.cgi?board=Savage&action=display&thre ad=1183417227
This thread has an interesting discussion of the SW. Chap Gleason