mlaubner. My encore came new with the 45-70 barrel. Its a 24 inch barrel but not real heavy. No sights. I may put sights on it but will mount a 2x7 scope on it to start with. Hitting with the 45-70 is no real trick out to 200 yards but after that its a practice practice practice deal. There are rifles that would serve better for large game. But for some of us who shoot the 45-70 a lot, there is just niothing else like it. Out to 150 yards I can hit my target with no adjustment in sighting. I sight most of my loads three inches high at 50 yards. Its about three inches low at 125 yards. Its just another tool for the hunter and shooter. You can duplicate the Garret loads with LBT cast bullets and it don't cost much to shoot them then. For a practice load or varmit load, I load 13.5 grains of Unique behind the 405 grain cast bullet for 1130 fps. Not much recoil with that load.