rickt300

Well I got this barrel for my Encore. Nice barrel bought used but the bore is immaculate. Previous owner used BH209 exclusively and his favorite bullet was the 250 gr. Shockwave. He hunted deer only and said that bullet worked just fine. I couldn't find any BH209 locally (yet) and bought a pound of Shockey's Gold 3f loose powder. I bought CCI magnum primers because I was looking for the Blackhorn powder and will try them with the Gold 3f. Hopefully the mag primers are ok with it. Now with my inlines I usually pre measure my powder charges and put them in test tubes. With Pyrodex I measured by volume, with the Gold I want to use actual weight and measure with a scale. Where would this start? 80 grains? Bullets I have on hand are the Hornady Flex Tip in .430 and 265 grains, the Nosler 300 grain .429 HP, and the Nosler 300 gr MZ ballistic tip with supplied sabots. This year I will hunt deer and hogs in Oklahoma so can easily use 1500 fps to 1700 fps to get the job done. Of the three bullets which would be the best choice for under 100 yard deer hunting? Next year I am going to southern Colorado to hunt river bottom Whitetails and will probably use the Nosler MZ bullet pushed as fast as accuracy will allow. The sabots I have on hand are CVA Elite green style. They worked well in my older Firehawk and Pyrodex.

super_hunt54

The 2 sabot brands I have found to work best in my TC barrel are Harvester Crushed Rib and the MMP HP's. Don't know why you are limiting yourself to the .430 diameter bullets. Try you some .451's-.458's and you may find yourself some really great bullets. But the key thing about using the .451's and up is the thinner sabots. The thicker the sabot, the harder it is to "release" from the bullet. You want to see those petals "flowered" out really well and evenly. The .250gr shockwaves shot extremely well out of my barrel but the performance on a couple hogs and a couple of deer was just too bad for me to risk using them any more. Had some "blow up" issues with them. If you want a bullet with unmatched terminal performance get you some Bloodlines or some Lehigh Controlled Fracturing. (Both made by Lehigh). These are hunting bullets not paper punchers. They may not "group" the best. Most get an average of 1.5"-2" (I got my barrel to get them right at an inch) but that is plenty acceptable in hunting terms. Out to 150-200 yards those buggers put a flat out WHAMMY on deer. My daughter used some bloodlines this past season to drop a big old 9 point in its tracks. High shoulder hit, large section of spine, gone, lungs, gooie mess, no need for tracking, PRICELESS

BarnesAddict

I've shot thousands of rounds from T/C Encore platform rifles. No doubt the best propellant I've shot through them has been BH209. However T7 worked very well before BH209 became available.
My bullet of choice for the Encore platform, has always been Barnes. Some barrels needed the T-EZ bullet because they were tight, others shot the TMZ perfect. Both the 250gr and 290gr work excellent. They do not fail, only the shooter and his/her shot placement. Harvested many deer out to 250yds with Barnes bullets from Encore platform rifles.

Bill308

Measuring by volume seems to be the norm for both your gun and your Gold 3f powder choice. Here is a chart that shows weight to volume for various powders.

http://www.curtrich.com/BPConversionSheet.htm

It shows that 100 gr volume of Gold 3f is 83 grains weight. So, multiply your chosen volume load by 83% to get to the weight that goes with it.

American Pioneer shows 1823 fps, for 240 grain bullet with 100 gr. volume Gold 3f. Equivalent energy at 300 grains is 1631 fps. I'd expect the 300 gr bullet to be about 4% higher than that, maybe 1690 fps. This is in your 1500 - 1700 range. This is 83 gr. powder weight, so your 80 gr. weight starting point seems good.

Starting with your volume measure around 95 grains (96.4) will be similar. If your goal is improved consistency, it may be easier to work up an accurate volume load, then convert to weight. Maybe it will be more consistent? Let us know the results.

ronlaughlin

rickt300

Of the three bullet you have on hand, my recommendation would be to use the 265g Hornady first, and the 300g Nosler MZ last, or not at all.

We tested both bullets by shooting them through carpet, plywood, and water jugs. The MZ TEST revealed the bullet failed to work, because it plugged up. The 265 HORNADY expanded, penetrated, and destroyed as designed, and seems to be worthy of a hunting trip.

The sabot you have on hand may be too tight in the Encore barrel, and you may want to replace them with green crush rib sabot.

rickt300

I posted a pretty long reply but it's not here now? At any rate thanks Bill for the powder info and thanks to Ron for the wealth of bullet testing he has done. Going out of town for ten days but when I get back I will be getting the Encore ready to test some bullets on our commonly available feral hog. Especially the MZ 300 grain bullet since I have 150 of them. In looking over all of Ron's testing I have to ask, why the plywood and carpet? A piece of raw hide would seem to be better for simulating hide and plywood has little in common with ribs. Maybe if you soaked it first. It seems odd that all the bullets that did not work properly were designed by major bullet manufactures without testing. However I will put some time in and try to get a bullet or two through a fat feral hog in the next month or so.

ronlaughlin

Because they were readily available, and are consistent. The object in these tests was to compare bullets. The 3/8" plywood was used in every test. Carpet was used in every test. All tests were done using the same exact type water jugs. Range to the carpet was the same in every test. The powder charge was exactly 80g, or 50g Blackhorn, in every test.

Hide or bone wouldn't have been consistent. In these tests, all the bullets saw the same.... Some failed, some worked. Failed bullets failed the same test that successful bullets passed. Remarkably, the bullets tested in this fashion, performed the same on animals as they did in the testing, whenever a comparison could be made.

falcon

Exactly!!!

i used to criticize these tests.

Now i sincerely believe they are as real world as one can get outside of tied up live animals all shot at exactly the same angle and the same place.

The best hunter i know takes a couple elk, an antelope or two, several deer and a bunch of wild hogs every year. He uses the two sixty five grain .430 Hornady flat point bullet.

BarnesAddict

The testing Ron does is exceptionally consistent for every bullet he tests. Every bullet is shot with the identical charge and into the identical medium type. That said, the only way to get better statistical information, using the same process, would be to shoot 10 or 20 rounds of each bullet and compare the data. In the end, it always boils down to proper shot placement on game.

rickt300

I put a hog toy out and am waiting for them to start rolling it around, should end up with an easy 40 yard shot. I will run the first series of load testing today to see how good the 300 gr. MZ's shoot and I will try to run the bullet through the most hog I can to try for recovery. I will be shooting from 20 feet up in a treestand so I might be able to recover the slug from the clay if it exits. Probably use this as an opportunity to learn how to post pictures.