Tc encore

[T-Max]

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...

Okie and those giant OK bucks again….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I finally sucked it up and bought a SS Encore frame on Gunbroker. It is one of the original NH frames before the S&W takeover. I had to pay more for it than I paid for entire rifles when I was buying them directly from TC. I will use it to rebuild my .50 cal Pro Hunter muzzy which I cannibalized for my Hankins Smokeless. Once it comes in, I'll clean it up, do another MCARBO spring job on it, and rebuild the muzzy.

 

[Drycreek]

Funny how the unattainable suddenly becomes worth much more. Bad decision to tank the Encore/Contender line on S&W’s part IMO. Although I’ve sold all of mine it is still a good platform, especially the pistols. A different caliber in just a couple minutes without the high cost of a complete firearm was/is a good idea.

 

[yoderjac]

Funny how the unattainable suddenly becomes worth much more. Bad decision to tank the Encore/Contender line on S&W’s part IMO. Although I’ve sold all of mine it is still a good platform, especially the pistols. A different caliber in just a couple minutes without the high cost of a complete firearm was/is a good idea.

No doubt! Since I had all the other components including a nice Leupold scope, and I had already purchased the spring kit before they killed TC, paying the premium for the receiver was worth it as it turned otherwise unusable components into a nice muzzleloader. I probably won't use it in the near future given I have the smokeless, but it will be good to have for introducing new folks to muzzleloader hunting. Also, if I ever go to a state that does not allow smokeless after retirement, I'll have a legal firearm.

 

[yoderjac]

I picked up the encore frame today. I thought I had purchased a spring kit, but I could not find it, if I did. It did not come with a grip bolt and washer so I ordered one of those as well. It looks like it is in reasonable shape. Here it is fresh out of the ultrasonic cleaner.

Hope I can put it back together.

 

[yoderjac]

I realized that this pre-S&W did not have the rotating hammer extension. I ended up ordering an aftermarket hammer extension. With the scope on my muzzy barrel, I really need the offset...

 

[yoderjac]

Ouch! The spring kit and other items came in last night so I decided to do the rebuild today. When I laid out the parts, I had somehow lost the hammer strut! I looked everywhere and even ran a pickup magnet all over the floor. All I can figure is that I somehow dropped it when removing it from the ultrasonic cleaner. I don't see it in the picture above, but I know it was there when I disassembled the receiver.

I've looked on-line and can't find anyone that has one. I guess if push comes to shove, I can take one out of another encore and use is as a pattern to fabricate one myself, but I'd really like to find one. If anyone has any leads, please let me know.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks goodness, I just found one on ebay!

 

[Drycreek]

Thanks goodness, I just found one on ebay!

Aw, what could happen with one little part missing ?. You know you’re probably gonna find it now that you’ve bought another one……..

 

[yoderjac]

Aw, what could happen with one little part missing ?. You know you’re probably gonna find it now that you’ve bought another one……..

Yep, that's seems to be par for the course these days...

 

[yoderjac]

Well I didn't find the original hammer strut, but the new one came in yesterday. I decided to do the rebuild with the MCARBO spring kit. I've used their kit on 2 other encores with no problem. Well, this time things didn't go so smoothly. After the upgrade, as soon as I pulled the hammer back and let go of it, it fired without a trigger pull. I could hear it click into place but as soon as I took the last bit of pressure off the hammer, it fired.

I tore it apart about 4 times and put it back together, carefully watching the instruction video. No luck. I was sure I assembled it correctly. Finally, I called MCARBO tech support to chat. I figured I was doing something wrong and they would be able to quickly tell me what dumb mistake I made. Not so, they told me they had never encountered that problem before with any of their customers. They suggested that I re-install the factory spring as see if it still had the problem.

It operated correctly with the factory springs. I tore it apart again. My plan was to add the MCARBO springs one at a time. With their hammer spring and all other factory springs, it worked fine. When I replace the sear spring with the MCARBO spring, the problem came back. Looking at the difference, the factory spring was quite weak and the MCARBO spring was very strong. Looking at the hammer, sear, and trigger, I could not see any unusual wear. I'm guessing the tolerances were just on the margin and the MCARBO spring was just too much. I noticed that with the factory sear spring installed, the trigger pull was very light compared to most stock guns which are about 4 lbs. Since I bought this frame on-line, I wonder if a previous owner had some trigger work done slightly modifying the hammer, sear, or trigger and then re-blued them. The springs themselves were factory springs.

With the light trigger pull, I didn't really need to use the MCARBO sear spring anyway. I finished rebuilding my muzzy using MCARBO springs for everything except the sear spring.

 

[Drycreek]

Well I didn't find the original hammer strut, but the new one came in yesterday. I decided to do the rebuild with the MCARBO spring kit. I've used their kit on 2 other encores with no problem. Well, this time things didn't go so smoothly. After the upgrade, as soon as I pulled the hammer back and let go of it, it fired without a trigger pull. I could hear it click into place but as soon as I took the last bit of pressure off the hammer, it fired.

I tore it apart about 4 times and put it back together, carefully watching the instruction video. No luck. I was sure I assembled it correctly. Finally, I called MCARBO tech support to chat. I figured I was doing something wrong and they would be able to quickly tell me what dumb mistake I made. Not so, they told me they had never encountered that problem before with any of their customers. They suggested that I re-install the factory spring as see if it still had the problem.

It operated correctly with the factory springs. I tore it apart again. My plan was to add the MCARBO springs one at a time. With their hammer spring and all other factory springs, it worked fine. When I replace the sear spring with the MCARBO spring, the problem came back. Looking at the difference, the factory spring was quite weak and the MCARBO spring was very strong. Looking at the hammer, sear, and trigger, I could not see any unusual wear. I'm guessing the tolerances were just on the margin and the MCARBO spring was just too much. I noticed that with the factory sear spring installed, the trigger pull was very light compared to most stock guns which are about 4 lbs. Since I bought this frame on-line, I wonder if a previous owner had some trigger work done slightly modifying the hammer, sear, or trigger and then re-blued them. The springs themselves were factory springs.

With the light trigger pull, I didn't really need to use the MCARBO sear spring anyway. I finished rebuilding my muzzy using MCARBO springs for everything except the sear spring.

That’s a nice looking rig yoder, what scope is on it ? I think it’s a Leupold in Leupold rings, am I right ?

 

[yoderjac]

Yep, most of my scopes are Leupold VX6's of some ilk. It is a little older scope. It isn't quite as nice as the one I've got on the smokeless, but it is plenty for a smokepole. This gun won't get much use from me. I'll probably lend it out to new guys I'm getting started in the sport mostly. I'm pretty much a local hunter. However, after I retire, you never know. If I decided to try hunting out of state, there are some states that don't allow smokeless and I'll have this one available if I ever travel to hunt.

Here is the smokeless that I scavenged this encore for:

When I first started muzzleloader hunting, it was in PA when only flintlocks were permitted. The muzzleloader season back then was after gun season in the dead of winter. In that cold weather, with patched round ball, a scope did little good. Range was limited, and in the cold, damp weather, it was more often click, flash.....nothing than click, flash...Boom!

 

[Drycreek]

Our muzzy season is also after every other season has closed, usually starts the second Saturday in January and goes two weeks. It is a good time to catch some late venison though, some of the better bucks that made it through start showing up in daylight after most of the hunters have called it quits.

 

[yoderjac]

Our muzzy season is also after every other season has closed, usually starts the second Saturday in January and goes two weeks. It is a good time to catch some late venison though, some of the better bucks that made it through start showing up in daylight after most of the hunters have called it quits.

Here, our muzzleloader season overlaps the rut. It is, by far, the best opportunity to shoot a decent buck.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I did it again! I had been putting in bids on TC frames with no expectation of winning the auctions. One made it through. It is a blued TC frame.

 

[yoderjac]

Finally got around to installing the MCARBO spring kit in this new frame. It is a backup, but If I see a good deal on a barrel I may build another one.