I hadn't heard of that rubber washer trick, I might try that on mine. I have a 26" barrelled .308. I dearly love it, it seems like a long barrel but due to there being no action, it is about the same overall length of a 22" barrel or 20" barrel on bolt actions. This makes it very handy to carry. I am not the most accurate shooter in the world, but it does everything I need it to do. I also put one of those pro hunter butt stocks on mine, it sure does reduce the felt recoil a lot. I was thinking about purchasing a pro hunter barrel for mine but I wasn't sure if that would increase the accuracy of it very much. I watch a lot of the hunting shows and stuff and most of the Realtree team hunts with an Encore for rifle and muzzleloader hunts. I don't intend to ever get rid of mine and I don't really see it ever breaking on me, not much to go wrong with it.