StevenA

I have a stainless Encore muzzleloader that i just purchased a 7mm-08 barrel for. I put a 3-9X40 Leupold on the barrel and could not get the bullets from going all over the target. Then I put a 4-12X40 Leupold on it and it did the same thing. I have tried Remington factory loads loaded with 140 grain ballistic tips and 120 grain hollow point and handloaded 120 grain barnes x bullets. They will stay in a group about 8 inches, but it is impossible to get it sighted in. WHAT DO I DO NEXT??????

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Steven, frustrating isn’t it. So I’m not the only one with this problem. I have the same problem with my 7mm Rem. mag except I had 3” groups at 100 yds with the new Leupold scope... I had posted my problem a few months back and couldn’t get much help either. Every one praised the gun, on how well it shot and how accurate it was...Maybe you and I just got stuck with lemons?

I would suggest to call Thompson Arms, ask for a gun smith and tell him about your problem. He might ask you to send the barrel or the entire rifle back for them to test. I know I was asked to do the same thing but being north of the border I can’t send the rifle back, I can only send the barrel....

I had decided to returned my rifle back to the store where I had purchased it from. After six weeks of waiting they brought the rifle to the range and tested it... The guys from the store told me that they couldn’t return the rifle because they got 1” groups with 150 grain bullets and that was except able. I’m going to try and find the bullets that works best for my rifle. Lucky I reload my own shells. If I can’t get a decent group I will then send the barrel back to the manufacture...I guess that’s next years project. Good luck with your gun..

James B

I don' t know what to say for sure. I have had many contender barrels and all shot groups equal to most rifles of the same caliber. They are however much harder to shoot well. Any movement as you fire will translate into drastic misses. If the scopoes are mounted good and tight and you have a good rest you should be able to fire good groups. I would doubt that any fault would be with the barrels. At least I have never found an inferior TC product. Check your mounting again and start your shooting at 25 yards. Either scope you mentioned should be fine.

ktscontender

Like James I' m into the contenders, haven' t got the encore YET
Might pose your question over at the Specialty Pistols group, good bunch of guys and quite a few encore shooters there.

http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/6...m&s=9066056864

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JamesB, Could you tell me why you say that the T/C Encore is harder to shot? Is it because it’s a single shot and you always have to reset after every shot ?

I know that movement on the tripod when squeezing the trigger will translate into poor groups but this is not the first time I shot at the range... I installed my new scope on my old 7mm Rem. Model 700 and was getting 1” groups at 100 yds with 160 grain Sierra bullets and getting 1/2” groups with 140 grain Barnes bullets so I know it’s not the scope.

I’m just very frustrated as Steven must also be, when you spend allot of time and $$$ and not get the performance that you should be getting.

Josh Sorensen

I had an extremely finicky 2506 barrel for an encore that just refused to shoot anything except 120gr winchester and 117 Federal premium loads. The 117gr load would shoot under an inch and the 120gr load would shoot about 1 1/4-2" but anything else I tried to shoot thru it wouldn' t group better than 4" and hornady light magnums wouldn' t stay inside 8" . I sent that barrel down the road. I would try selling it and getting a nice custom barrel for it, Virgin valley, bullberry, on target technology, or similar. The encores are very nice and of the several barrels that I had it was the only one that gave me such fits. I had a 223 barrel that would shoot .5-.75" all day with winchester 50gr Ballistic silivertips. Another fix sometimes is to get one of the hanger bar forend mounts and better forend. There is a lot of nice work you can do to a encore to make it shoot with the best of them.

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Josh, would you know of a gun smith or manufacture that would rechamber and rebore the barrel? I talked to Virgin Valley and they only rechamber existing barrels. If I can’t fine tune my barrel I would consider to have it reworked to a larger caliber. I would then consider ordering a barrel from Virgin Valley. I’m impressed with the accuracy guarantee of 1” group consisting of 5 shots at 100 yrd. Thanks

ktscontender

For all your Encore or Contender rechambers or new bbls try On Target Tech. Mike is one heck of a nice guy and top notch smith
http://www.mbmco.net/Merchant2/merch...Store_Code=OTT

StevenA

Finally got the gun to shoot, and shoot it did. I reloaded 120 grain Ballistic Tips and the three shot group was one big hole at 100 yards. Just hate to think this is the only bullet I can shoot. I did notice however some scratches in the lands at the muzzle. Kind of looks like the cutting tool got carried away. Could this be the problem???

PaJack

Now that you got the Encore to shoot,try getting a trigger job done on it. My groups were cut in half after mine was done...

www.virginvalleyguns.com