ORIGINAL: romex21
we put in for our first ever ML hunt here in N.M. the hunt starts in OCT,, me and my uncle both have Encores 50cal bought at the same time last year we still havent worked up a good load yet guess we better get busy
i like loose powder he prefers pellets, any suggestions on loads for the Encores, were both excited about this hunt and hope we get drawn,N.M. has the draw system and we didnt get drawn for any thing last year were hopefull this will be a better hunting year for us
The Encore ML Manual is here:
http://www.tcarms.com/assets/manuals/current/Encore_Muzzleloader_Manual.pdf
starting at page 44. It is best to get your rifle shooting with what the manufacturer recommends then branch out from there---I would use a ShockWave. After you determine your Encore is accurate with factory recommended loads then you can branch out into something a bit better. For elk I would recommend a
Nosler Partition 300g .458 rifle bullet or a .452 pistol bullet or
a 300g Barnes Expander MZ or
290g Barnes TMZ or a
300g Barnes Origonal.
The Expander and TMZ comes with it's own sabot, you can try that and see if it works for you. Use an Orange MMP sabot with the 300g .458 Partition and Barnes Origonal, use a Crushed Rib sabot with the .452 Nosler. If your familiar with the CF world and you use a favorite bullet in that world, find the .458 rifle bullet of that maker and match that to an MMP Orange sabot. Most guns have a sweet spot for a given weight of bullet, say 300g, and most will shoot accurately at that sweet spot. With the encore that is between 100 and 150g, usually around 120g. My brother has an encore, he shoots 150g of Pyrodex pellets with a Harvester 300g SaberTooth, he use to shoot Powerbelts at 150g but no longer does. Encores are excellent MLing rifles. Chap Gleason