I went and looked at an original Encore a guy has for sale.........And the gun was loaded. (Glad I checked).. He said its been loaded for a few years. Will the 777 pellets hurt the barrel? Its a stainless version and he wants $450 with nikon omega scope.

I was always under the impression that as long as the barrel was clean when loaded it should be fine... but i would say unload and really give it a going over to make sure there is no pitting or rust.. if not, thats a good deal, if its what you are looking for.

Yikes. it very well may be damaged. pull the BP and use a light to have a look..ray

triple 77 really draws moisture I would suspect to see a problem. Pull the breech plug ,clean it and inspect it is the best solution

Ditto .... 777 like all "black powders" will wet. It is one of the challenges using black powder. Unload the rifle, clean the barrel and take a good look. If there is heavy pitting anywhere in teh barrell I'd pass. The guy should at least give you the opportunity to inspect and test fire for accuracy. If he will not, even at $450 for rifle/scope combo I'd move on.

or you could look at it like the frame and scope would cost you 450 or better......if it is pitted or rusted, show him talk him down to as low as possible and by a bergara barrel. probably still come out on a plus.

Go with what IRB said... if it were cleaned prior to loading it should be just fine - especially ifn it were in a dryer climate.

I leave mine loaded for months with loose powder - has not been a problem at all, unless it got wet on an uncleaned barrel. T7 is not corrosive - T7 residue is.

Depends on a few things. In my experience, if the gun was clean prior to the pellets being put in, and was stored in an area with little moisture or humidity, then it is probably okay. However, T7 does attract moisture and so if this is in a humid part of the country or stored in a dank basement, then you could be looking at some corrosion issues.

A friend of mine after hunting season left his cva loaded (no primer) until the next year,when he fired it,it was dead on but after that it wouldn't hit a 2'x2' backstop at 15 yds,we put a borelight down the barrel and it was all ate up. Ruined.

My daughter was born at the end of hunting season a couple years ago. In all the commotion my Disc Extreme got put away loaded (no primer) and I kind of forgot about it for almost a year. It hadn't been fired. When I pushed the load through it looked as good as it did before. Still shot fine too.
I would say it depends on the climate and if it was put away loaded on a clean bore or not. Either way, even if the barrel is ruined, if everything else is in good shape I would say it's still a decent deal. Put a Bergara barrel on there and you're still going to be getting basically a free scope.