to the best of my knowledge Virgin Valley is out of business... the web site is still there but they quit taking orders months ago and sent back all deposits they had in hand... they supposedly finished production of what was started, but that was it...

I think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone to chamber a Encore to 264 Win Mag because of the chamber pressure they develop...

back to the original question... they rate right up there with sliced bread... I've got 2 of them, with 10 different barrels in 8 different calibers/gauges... from 22 hornet to 375H&H and 45-70's, 20 ga slugger, and 45 cal BP... a true gun for all seasons... the best deal you'll find in our area is at Kinsey's Outdoors... they have a BP on the shelf for just under $500... you can make some seriously good deals on barrels on e-bay, so long as you don't need it tomorrow... other than that the others here have pretty well covered it for barrel prices...

here is a site by a fellow who has done more for the Encore and Contenders then anyone I know of... about anything you'd ever want or need to know can be found here...

http://www.bellmtcs.com/forum/index....b22cb7acf31d2a

http://www.bellmtcs.com/