Originally Posted by
falcon
i've scoped and sighted in a bunch of Encores. Never saw an Encore that made consistent one inch groups at 100 yards. Consistent 2-2 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards is the norm.
Encore quality control continues to stink: A gent recently brought me a new Encore and a fine Leupold scope. The barrel was very loose in the action. I told him to send the gun back to TC. The shop he bought the rifle from gave him a refund and he bought a nice Knight...............
My BEST day at 200yds...... (full rest)
Yeah, it looks like I'm promoting the Encore platform rifles but,
I don't shoot them any more myself. Moved on to something different and more accurate at long range.
An issue that can plague any break open, is the hinge. T/C - S&W has had its share of issues with that, and its not that they haven't known about it. Not doing anything, or much of anything, turned many people away. Others knew the issue/s and for a few bucks completely modified the frame and made top shooting rifles from them. Unfortunately, everyone copied the break open action from T/C and break open rifles are not known for the "top accuracy", yet can be good "hunting rifles".
It appears Remington has finally gotten things under control with their Ultimate. Excellent reports are now showing up. Knight, although still having some problems, is producing accurate muzzleloaders. Many now are modifying their Knight breech plugs or actually completely changing them to eliminate blowback. There are a few builders, building rifles that are very accurate BH209 shooters in .45cal. Ultimate Firearms Inc. builds a top quality .50cal
muzzleloader, although expensive for most hunters.
In reality, there's not to many in-lines made today that can't be MOA shooters at 100yds and even 200yds. Some new owners may get extremely lucky and find a combination that works excellent right out of the box. Others may have to spend considerable time getting the right combination. You can take two of the same model rifles from the same production manufacturer, load it them up and one may shoot excellent, while the other shoots like crap and may take a ton of work. For those in love with muzzleloaders, that's the fun part.