RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

I do use bore butter as bore protectant. I don't quite buy into the seasoning deal and certainly do not let any of it build up in the bore. I did try breakfree CLP, and no matter how well I swabbed the bore out of oil, the fouling was much worse (w/triple 7). I thoughly dry out the barrel with 2-3 patches and snap some primers off before shooting. I might try Birchwood Casey sheath in the future, probably in the off season.

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

If its shooting with no problems and you're on target, i wouldnt touch that bore. Ive never had to do any lapping on my rifle barrels.

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

Well this evening I took the gun out and did some more shooting. There is a noticable ring around 2" up from the breech plug (just a guess but somewhere in there), and when I run a wet patch down they are catching up down there and I had to get a pliers on my ramrod to break it free (the last shot the patch came off my jag and I had to take out my breechplug to get it out. Then I did the hot water an soap cleaning, and man that barrel is clean. Then I took some gun oil an ran a patch down the barrel. If I am going to be consistently shooting my rifle do I need to put oil/butter in the barrel, or is that just a storage deal when you aren't shooting it much?

The gun really does make a mess out of pumkins at 100 yards :D

I am going to order up some harvester crush sabots and some other stuff from Cabelas tonite probably, anything else anyone can think of that I need to get.

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

You know what works great as a cleaning patch? cotton socks. I cut up old CLEAN socks into 1" squares and its a really tight fit and cleans out that gunk fast. Last time i shot my winchester i fired 8-9 shots with pyrodex RS. After scrubbing with the bore brush, i got that sucker clean with 4 of those sock patches and windex/rubbing alcohol. You ever spray pure windex on a part thats covered with powder crud? That stuff breaks it up in a blink of an eye. I started using Rem oil on a patch, run it down the bore and then another dry patch to soak up the excess. Works great so far. I got tired of bore butter rusting my barrel.

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

The only sabot that works well with a seasoned barrel and bore butter is the TC Breakaway and it is not designed for magnum use a 100gr or so is all they can handle;though they do have their good points in my thunder hawk[ which is not a magnum any way] by having the barrel seasoned and re dipping the felt wad to add more bore butterI can shoot pyrodex all day with out wiping the barrel.
But with what is considered a normal sabot today [the all plastic ones] they are supposed to work best with out any lube of any kind,some of us have looked long and hard without being able to improve on that.
Due to barrel sizes you will usually find Shock Waves or MMP HPH24 will fit an Omega or Encore best; of course because of the wide tolarances commen in the muzzleloading industry there will be a lot of exceptions. Lee

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

Again... sabots and that buttery stuff are generally not a good mix. Most inconsistency comes as the weather gets cold & the butter gets hard - thus changing flight patterns sometimes.

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

I agree,
Stay away from the butter. It may have worked for the old guns, but you have something different. Besides, most people use way too much. Between shots, all you need is a spit patch for a couple of passes and a dry patch for a couple of patches. Save the swabs of "pick your gunk" for cleaning after a hunt or range session. For storage, use a good quality gun oil after cleaning. When you are ready to shoot again, pop off a couple of primers and use a dry patch for a couple of passes and you are ready to go.

The best way to "season"new barrels is to shoot the heck out of them. Once you find a good load that works in your gun, shoot it and shoot it some more. After a while, I think you will find that the barrel will load more smoothly.

I use a product called Ballistol to clean all my guns with. It was invented in Germany before WWII, I think. It is big in the BPCR and other real black powder circles. Many claim it will season a barrel as well. I used to sell it and have allot of left over stock, so I use it since I have it. I am not trying to sell it, but I personally really like it. It is a great cleaner and lube. My barrel may have become "just asseasoned" had I used wd-40 or even crisco for that matter.

My personal load is 130 grains of loose 777 and a 250 grain shockwave. Absoloutly devestating. I did buy a box of the 200 grain bonded shockwaves on a whim, plan to check out their ballistics and maybe shoot one with them to check out terminal performance.

Put yourself a good scope on that baby and shoot the heck out of it!
Hank

RE: Shot my new Encore Today
 

I would put a scope on it, but it is illegal in the South Dakota muzzleloader season to use a scope. Open sights only. Tomorrow I will hopefully get a little time to do some more tweaking/shooting with 'er an get it all dialed in for my mule deer hunt next weekend!

Forget the bore butter
 

Respectfully disagree about the bore butter. Every day Thompson/Center keeps pushing this stuff discredits their outstanding reputation. I can't understand how they can keep a straight face while telling their customers to "season their bores" with this whale blubber and pig lard.

Unless you plan on frying some chicken or baking cornbread in that Encore, skip the natural grease. Keep that bore clean and protect it with a non-slimly product like Birchwood-Casey Sheath.

RE: Forget the bore butter
 

Rammer,
Too bad about the laws in your state not allowing scopes. But, that is what you have to live with.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the Shockwaves. But, if you can't use a scope, I would stick with the XTPs or a similar hollowpoint. My reason is this. The whole advantage the shockwaves have, in my opinion, is thier improved ballistics with the pointy tip.
Inside 125 yards or so, the XTP bullet and the Shockwave are probably pretty much the same ballistically. Where they differ is in terminal performance. My kids have killed three or four deer in the past two years using 300 grain XTPs and I am very impressed with thier performance. Big hole in and huge hole out. Lots of blood trail and quickly dead deer.

So, just my opinion here, if you aren't planning to shoot past 100 yards or so, I would stick with the XTPs over the shockwaves and I would also stay with a nice heavy, 300 grain or so, bullet as well.

Also, I would not go much over 100 grains of 777. Why knock the snot out of yourself when you don't have to? 100 grains will push that 300 grain XTP pleanty fast for open sight ranges and you will notice a huge difference in recoil. Also just my opinion.


Good luck
Hank