Encore

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The Encore barrel is known to be a little tighter than most other front stuffers thus making it a chore to load the bullet. So I went with both the Barnes Spit-Fire 250 and 290 grain T-EZ bullet with the blue sabot over 110 grains of Blackhorn 209. These have been the most accurate and tightest grouping loads that I have found for my .50 caliber Encore.
 
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Mine will shoot 3 touching at 100 yards. I shoot 100 grains of pyrodex pellets and a 300 grain Hornady XTP hollow point. I'm shooting the green sabot .44 cal bullets. Probably not breaking any speed records, but it will flat stomp a deer.
 
Mine shoots 1" groups with 100gr Triple 7 Pellets and 250 gr Hornady SST or TC Shockwaves. Them 2 bullets shoot just the same.

If your shooting powerbelt then just throw the gun away. They absolutely suck. I tried 195 gr, 223 gr and 225 gr and they were horrible.
 
I totally agree with rem270. If you're shooting power belts just give up till you can get some quality bullets. Some people really like power belts, but I ain't one of them. Seen several guns that wouldn't shoot a consistent group with them. Steered those guys towards some good ole Hornady sabots and problem solved.
 
150 gr. 3 pyrodex pellets with 250 gr. Shockwave or 250 Barns expander HP. Win. 209 primers. Swab with bore butter between shots. Mine will group three inside a quarter at 200 yards. Clean only with hot soapy water and dry and coat with bore butter. Do not use any petroleum products inside that barrel. You have to get it seasoned in, that is the key to accuracy.
 
Before I converted mine to smokeless, I shot 150 grains of 777 with 250 grain shockwaves. When I bought it, used but in new condition, it was shooting 100 grains of 777 and 300 grain Hornaday FPB bullets. They shot well too as I hunted with that setup the first season.
 
TN Larry said:
Before I converted mine to smokeless, I shot 150 grains of 777 with 250 grain shockwaves. When I bought it, used but in new condition, it was shooting 100 grains of 777 and 300 grain Hornaday FPB bullets. They shot well too as I hunted with that setup the first season.
Click to expand...
Exactly how did you convert your Encore to smokeless?
 
90 gr. 777 behind 270 gr. Powerbelt
buck pic.webp
 
My 45 cal was very accurate even with 777 pellets and the 223 powerbelts, just didn't like the performance for the powerbelts or the crud ring left by 777. Best combination I liked best was 120gn Blackhorn, 195gn Barnes with a light blue harvester sabot. I had it zeroed in with a fouled barrel so I didn't need to clean the barrel before firing again while in the field when using pyrodex or 777. Blackhorn shot the same from a clean barrel as it did twelve shots later is why I used it. I did sell it to a guy who wanted to make a smokeless out of it, but after he shot it for awhile with the load I was using, he decided to leave it alone and has shot several deer with it.
 
I use Blackhorn 209 exclusively, Harvester sabot, 45 caliber, with a 40 cal. 180 gr. XTP or Speer Gold Dot. Back when I was using 777 I found that loose powder would shoot around 200+ fps faster than with the pellets. This was verified through a chronograph. G2 Contender, 15" Custom barrel by Match Grade Machine.
IMG_0281.webp
 

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