Just bought a 22-250 26" bull barrell for my Encore. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Anybody able to tell me what kind of accuracy I can expect? I noticed that the forearm screws directly to the barrel with the wood making contact. I was think if accuracy was not acceptable, I could take off the forearm, put small "O" rings over the screws between the brl and forearm. This might give it a floating effect. Anybody tried something like this? Would like any tips or opinions.

I put a 204 barrel on my encore. I had to free float the forarm with the a hanger system and had to have it centered with the action. I then had to have the barrel hinge and action hole where the hinge pin goes milled to match within .001". I thne had a oversized hinge pin put in. Before it shot 2MOA, after it shot 0.7MOA consistently. I don't believe o rings are going to get the job done. Do it right, if your going to do it.

Thanks for the tips. I have not heard about the barrel hanger system, could you give me some more info on it?

I got it from bullberry. Basically a long strip of metal I got my gunsmith to mill out my forearm and glass bed it in.

I have one just like you described....well, I think, mine is heavy, stainless, 26". I had to work on the forearm also.
The hanger system can be found used on ebay and Gunbroker.com alone or with a forearm occas. you might want to look there. Bullberry has lots of encore goodies. You can find them on the web, you might also want to check out eabco.com (E. Aurthur Brown and Co). . Mine did about 2moa oob. It is now shooting about 3/4" groups of 5 shots. My only complaint is it's on the heavy side.

Good Luck and let us know how it shoots

Dave in WV

If you are serious about getting the most out of your Encore accuracy wise. Then Mike Bell's website is required reading.

www.bellm-tcs.com

Plenty of good articles regarding Encore/Contender accuracy, trigger work, barrels, reloading your own custom ammo, and a forum full of helpful folks who are true experts on all things Encore.