While it is legal in most states to posses and use suppressors most of them do not allow you to hunt with them with out a lot of red tape.
Big Bulls you might want to take another look at the 45 Colt. I can push a 255 grain Keith style bullet out of a 45 Colt rifle at close to 1800 fps. And that is nothing to sneeze at. That is a 45 caliber hole(almost 1/2" before any expansion) at close to 1800 fps. Very deadly combination at 200 yards on a deer. Very deadly.
I'm not saying it can't done. Just saying that it certainly wouldn't make my top ten of 200 yard cartridges. And I did quote a 300 grain hard cast bullet which is what I would want at that distance to drive as deep as possible.
However an Encore with a 28 inch barrel would really be able to push a 45 Colt cartridge.
Yes it would provided it is loaded properly. The problem is that unless you reload you aren't going to find ammo that is loaded with the proper powders to take advantage of this length of barrel. I honestly don't know if the 45 colt has enough powder capacity to make much use of a barrel longer than about 18 inches.
I also believe a longer barrel makes for a quieter rifle. I know my gallerly loads are considerably more quiet out of my 34 inch barrel Sharp's when compared to my 22" barreled Encore. Tom.
I completely agree. Not only is the muzzle considerably farther from your face but the gasses are leaving the barrel at a lower velocity. The longer the barrel the lower the pressure curve and the slower the gasses will be moving as they exit the muzzle. However, I believe that the distance away from your face is considerably more important if you want to lessen the noise you hear.
Here is a link I found that tested different barrel lengths of different cartridges. The difference is noise levels was very minimal with a longer barrel.
http://www.freehearingtest.com/hia_gunfirenoise.shtml