I would never advise anyone to do the things I did unless their Encore was suffering from similar woes. That whole progression of events was anything but a quick decision to do all those things. It was a painful education in what had to be done to get that one particular Encore to be the shooter it should have been out of the box.

Would have muchpreferred it had behaved like another 209x.45 I owned... that one had all blued metal, a nicely done bore and QLA and very good trigger from the start. It was an excellent shooter and the fellow I sold it to is extremely happy with the rifle. Another Encore in blue - a 209x.50, also had no such issues as my stainless model.

Some people buy car model X and never have a serious problem while others by the same model X and have nothing but problems. I believe TC went through a period of VERY poor QC on their stainless muzzleloader barrelsand I happened to get one of those pitiful specimens. The trigger was horrible, you could actually hear some crunching going on when the hammer was cocked and a return to the factory repaired that issue before the rifle was ever fired. The trigger was still too heavy for my tastes so I used Bellms' accessories to get it like I wanted. The replacement barrel from TC was much better done and might have well shot decently if I had left the QLA, but prior experience has soured me and I wanted it OFF.

So yeah, I think you came across a bit strong in that prior post and I'm glad you recognized same. You sorta have to drive one of those Monday hangover assembled brand X cars to know what the other guy has experienced. It was a learning experience though and the end result was really worthwhile. If I don't find a buyer for that Encore, it sure won't hurt my feelings as it is now a FINE rifle - just took a few trips to the mechanic to get it that way.