Hey there guys,

I havequestion for those of you who are up to speed on TC's Encore guns. I am considering a new purchase of either the Encore Pro or the standard Encore. What big advantage does the pro have to merit the extra cash?

I have an opportunity to purchase a basic Encore with a rifle barrel, syn stock, blue barrel, for $400.00. IMO that's a pretty good deal. I'm trying to crunch the numbers, get all the facts, and figures before I "pull the trigger".

What do you guys think with regards to the Encore line?

This is an aside, but with the recent purchase of TC by S&W, do you feel the design will drastically change making it impossible to buy barrels for these guns ten to twenty years down the road (thinking of my son)? Thanks.

"I am considering a new purchase of either the Encore Pro or the standard Encore. What big advantage does the pro have to merit the extra cash?"

$400 is a good deal on an Encore.Personallydo not believe that the Pro-Hunter is worth the extra cash. To me the stock feels all wrong.

My Encore isbluedand walnut stocked. It was bought with a .50 M/L barrel. That gun is deadly accurate with the 250 grain SST/Shockwave bullets and110 weighed grains of JSG FFG.The gun makes three shot groups smaller than one inch at 100 yards with that load.

"This is an aside, but with the recent purchase of TC by S&W, do you feel the design will drastically change making it impossible to buy barrels for these guns ten to twenty years down the road (thinking of my son)?"

Do not think that the design will drastically change. Additionally, there are several well known makers of after market barrels.

You can put any barrel the pro hunter has on the regular encore I upgraded mine to a flex tex stock and 28 inch 243 barrel for a very reasonable price and I payed 400 for a stainless encore 50x1/28

What big advantage does the pro have to merit the extra cash? [1] it is 2" longer than the ENCORE ..[2] it has a swing hammer ...[3] easy removable breech plug with no tools ..[4] a LIMBSAVER recoil pad that gets the job done ...do i want one no thanks ,i bought a stainless ENCORE .50 cal .muzzleloader ,and bought the PRO HUNTER stock [very happy with my new set-up ..

You can't loose... I have the Pro Hunter and to me it's worth every pennyI paid for it. I'm getting 5/8" 100 yard groups and killed three deer with it this past year. If I bought the standard Encore, by the time I was finished with the Simms recoil pad and everything I was going to be pretty close to the PH price anyway. By the way the PH is so easy to clean it's almost funny!