i have the same Encore. The bore of my gun was very rough. It took two sessions with jewelers rouge to smooth it out. Bought one box of 777 pellets and quickly discovered my Encore did not like them at all. The problem may be that deep recess in the front of the breech plug. There was vertical stringing, a sign of inconsistent ignition. Pyrodex pellets gave much better accuracy in my Encore. The gun also liked 777 granular much better.

The old black and red four petal sabots that came with the SST/Shockwave bullets load very hard in my gun but they give the best accuracy. Those sabots have a stepped base.