Do you need to have a FFL to buy a encore action without the barrel? ..I would like to find one cheap on the net and not have to send it to a dealer, if so I would just buy it from one ..Thanks Bill

Yes you do. The Encore is a modern firearm and must be sold within Federal regulations.The action or receiver must be shipped to a FFL holder. Basically it's the same as buying a complete gun,even though you're just buying the receiver.Barrels can be ordered without a FFL.


Ruger Redhawk

Ruger-Redhawk is right. The Encore action has the serrial number and that is what is entered into the dealers book ( where it came from and where it went)

Thanks .. I will look local rather than paying the fee ..Bill

So, do you need to go thru an FFL for a complete encore when it's a BP gun? BP guns do not require a 4473 or FFL, do they???

Yes because they all use the same frame for the rifle, shotgun and ML.

It's not the barrel that is on the frame it's the frame itself. Just like puting a ML barrel on a mossberg 500. It is still a shotgun frame.

Question-- I have a Encore, a 50 cal muzzeloader. Can I put a pistol barrel on it and hunt with it. Some people have said that it is not legal because the gun was purchased as a muzzeloader. That to put a pistol barrel on a Encore legally it must have been purchased as a hand gun to start with.

trailhound, I may be wrong, but I think that the same deal goes for rifles as shotguns. The barrels have to be at least 18 inches in length to be "shouldered". Like I said, I may be wrong so It'd be better to check with your DNR or a warden to get the facts. I think that it says on T/C shoulder frame box, not to be used with barrels under a certain length. As far as that goes, all you have to do to shoot a pistol barrel and to be legal, is to buy the barrel and a pistol grip, the frame is the same. I use the same frame for my pistol, shotgun and rifle barrels.

Unless the laws have changed which I'm sure they didn't. A shotgun min 18"bbl and a rifle min 16". There is an overall min lenght.I forget but I believe for a shotgun it's 26" overall.
Ruger Redhawk

When I go to buy a hand gun I must have a permit from the sheriff. Without it I can't buy a handgun. When I purchased my Encore I filled in the paper work just like buying a rifle or shotgun but did not have a current handgun permit and was not asked if I had one or not. The Encore was registered as a muzzeloader rifle. All this so far is ok. Now I am told that I cannot buy a pistol barrel for that frame because it it regestered and a muzzeloader rifle. I'm going to talk to my local sheriff and see what he has to say today and post his answer. If he can give me one without going to ATF.