Quick question for those that have an Encore or one of it's variants. When you guys clean yours, do you break it all the way down, seperating the barrel from the frame or do you leave it all as one piece and clean that way?
Also, in my Pro Hunter When I run a patch I the barrel right at the end where the breech plug meets the barrel is incredibly tight, to point where I have put most of my weight on the rod to get a patch through there. I can't start a patch from the breech end its so tight. Is it just mine or do you all have the same problem? I JB'd the whole barrel when I first got it. Do I just need to spend more time with JB at that end of the barrel or is that just the way it's supposed to be?

Every 6 month or a year I break it down and check the mechanism to see if there is any dirt there [ never found any yet] and I clean out around the firing pin, unless I have been using some of the shorter 209 I have not found much there either if I have been trying to shoot up the STS I bought to try then there is a little soot in the firing pin chamber.
No my barrels are the same diameter all the way, I have never heard of one that was not. maybe you should do the cotton ball test for burrs TC uses cut barrels not buttoned barrels and from time to time there are some burrs showing up.

I do the same, i break mine down completely twice a year. and like lee, my barrel seems to be the same all the way thru.. I have noticed the patches catching on the threads in the BP area but still will go thru without much fuss.

i have other barrels for my prohunter that i use, so i end up breaking mine down several times a year to switch out. As far as the tightness goes, mines like that too. At the range i tried using a 50 cal brush with a seasoning patch wrapped around it and it wouldnt go in, have to move down one size in the brush.

My Omega X7 has a constriction like that right at the face of the breech plug.

too much patch could be the problem? the threads make the hole a lil smaller?

Mine patches easy from the breech.

Thanks guys. I haven't actually dropped the trigger mechanism or pulled the firing pin out yet. I'll probably wait until after hunting season then do that. Is something like CLP the best to use to clean all that? I know you don't want something that's going to stick and gum it up in cold weather.
My barrel definately has a constriction. I don't think I can start a patch from the breech end. The question is, do I work on that with JB's? It would be a lot easier to clean it without having to remove the barrel from the receiver if I could clean from the breech end. As it is now I have to pull the forearm and remove the barrel to clean it. Not that big of a deal, just kind of a pain.

Funny post as just last week i took out the pro hunter for the first time since last year to sight it in. I couldn't break the darn thing open no matter how hard I tried. I had to take the barrell off and clean out the mechanism. I always clean my guns completely but I must say, I've owned the encore for2 seasons and never cleaned the mechanism that lets it break. LESSON LEARNED!!!!! I never even thought to clean it, I will now for sure