I have had 3 encores. They have all been decent shooters with some being exceptional. My only complaint has been that the wood stocks will break. They crack at the back of the action. I have had 3 stocks crack, all while using the 209x50 barrel. I imagine that its not the act of firing that cracks the stock but the stresses exerted on the stock while loading. I now stick with just the synthetic stock until I can get either a kevlar or nice wooden stock from virgin valley. THey have the aluminum bedding block in the butstock to help with that problem.

I have a 24" 22-250 barrel and a 209x50 barrel for my encore. The 209x50 will shoot 250gr Barnes MZ sabots with clear shot pellets into 3" at 150 yards. The 22-250 barrel will shoot under MOA out to 300 yards with several loads, including the Remington UMC 45gr HP load. Its always nice to have a load you can buy over the counter for under $12 a box that will shoot 2" groups at 300 yards.

I have found a few tricks that will help your encore shoot better. Number one is that using small neopreme or pvc washers between the forend and barrel to get a good free float and using the same amount of torque each time to the forend screws. It is also good to rest the rifle closer to the reciever than the end of the forend for better groups off the bench.

The single best thing about the encore is that it is a fairly lightweight, compact, and handy. With its lack of an action the overall length is fairly short even with longer barrels. The 24" sporter barrel with light synthetic stock and compact scope make just about the best walkaround or high country rifle that I can think of. I had a 24" 25-06 barrel with 3-9 burris that was an absolute joy to carry all day and deadly on whitetails at all practical ranges.

If I could have only one rifle it would be an encore.