That’s how I do mine...snug
I just sold my TC Ecore .50 caliber muzzy a couple months ago. Before I sold it I checked the completed sales on Gun Broker and was surprised at the prices. I probably made a 75% profit on that gun. Better investment than the stock market !I'm sure disappointed that S&W killed the TC Encore line. I scavenged the frame/receiver from my 50 cal muzzleloader for a smokeless build and was planning to just buy a frame to rebuild the muzzleloader. After they quit production, the cost of a frame on the secondary market skyrocketed!
We only have a two week muzzy season here, and it’s the very last season, but I did replace the Encore with a CVA. I like it better than the Encore, it’s a better design IMO. The breechplug removes by hand and the trigger pull is way better than a stock Encore. It’s nitrided stainless, so you get the corrosion resistance without the shine. Best of all, I had money left over.
Yes, you can make them better with a spring from Mike Bellim, or like I did with Bulberry Barrels. It’s a shame you have to spend more money to get what you should have had to begin with though when you’re spending that much money. Same with ARs, every one I have has an aftermarket drop in trigger.I did a trigger job on my Encores with a kit from MCARBO. Very crisp now!
I have always found the TC's to be quite good off the shelf and even better when customized. I had a pretty good deal on price directly from TC when they were making them. Being used to that pricing, It is especially hard for me to swallow the price of a used frame today to rebuild the 50 cal. So far, I haven't seen anything priced where I can justify buying it.Yes, you can make them better with a spring from Mike Bellim, or like I did with Bulberry Barrels. It’s a shame you have to spend more money to get what you should have had to begin with though when you’re spending that much money. Same with ARs, every one I have has an aftermarket drop in trigger.
My Encore came dull nitrided stainless, the breech plug is slightly challenging to remove but the thing that can’t be replaced is the fact that every animal I have squeezed the trigger on has died no matter what it was. i will just stick with it because confidence is very hard to replace...We only have a two week muzzy season here, and it’s the very last season, but I did replace the Encore with a CVA. I like it better than the Encore, it’s a better design IMO. The breechplug removes by hand and the trigger pull is way better than a stock Encore. It’s nitrided stainless, so you get the corrosion resistance without the shine. Best of all, I had money left over.
100 grains of Shockeys Gold and either a shockwave or a Powerbelt will cloverleaf at 100 yards. I shoot power belts and have never lost an animal and I would venture to guess that I have killed more big deer with a muzzleloader than I have with a center fire rifle...I could never get my Encore to group well with anything except Powerbelt bullets and I’m not particularly fond of them. I never tried loose powder and that’s probably why. I used three Pyrodex pellets, that was before all the different powders were availble. I bought that gun simply to take advantage of the extra season for antlerless deer on the lease I had in Central Texas. We had too many does and tried to kill twenty of them per season, and sometimes struggled to get it done. After I gave that lease up I used it one more year to take a doe in East Texas. After that it was just in the safe for ten years or more. I actually had a .280 Rem barrel on that frame for a few years and hunted with it. After I had my custom .280 built it has been my go to rifle for deer and I had no use for the Encore, the .280 barrel, or the .50 caliber. We still have a late muzzle loader season so I bought the CVA for about half of what I sold the Encore .50 caliber barrel and forearm for. Win, win !
100 grains of Shockeys Gold and either a shockwave or a Powerbelt will cloverleaf at 100 yards. I shoot power belts and have never lost an animal and I would venture to guess that I have killed more big deer with a muzzleloader than I have with a center fire rifle...