I own several contender pistols and one Encore rifle. The differences are like night and day. Contender will only work with pressures around 45,000 psi. 30-30, 35 Rem, 223, etc. The encore can handle just about anthing. 308, 30-06, 300 WM You get the picture.

The factory grips on the Encore pistol make it very uncomfortable to shoot for me because I do not have very large hands and I cannot get a good feel of the trigger. That is why I do not have one.

The Contender is capable of killing anything that you want to hunt with the right chambering. I have a 375 JDJ and I would not hesitate to shoot anything with it.

So if you like the Contender and do not mind reloading then there would be no reason to buy an Encore unless of course you wanted one.