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Questions about TC Encores

3304 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  bamajim, 
G
I've never hunted with a Muzzleloader, and I'm considering making a purchase either this year or next year. I have my reasons and hopefully I won't bore anyone, this is my first post, matter of fact I just joined 10 minutes ago.

I'm originally from Mississippi and growing up we had the mentality if it was brown it was down. The only seasons that we hunted were gun season and gun with dog season.

I never really hunted much while I was in college until my Jr and Sr years, and at this point I fell in with a group of guys that believed that you only used dogs in hunting to track a shot deer or for hog or **** hunting. So my whole view on hunting began to change. After college I bought a bow and started bow hunting. I can count on one hand how many times I've hunted with a gun in the last 3 years.

A month ago a friend and I went on a guided bow hunt in Kentucky and we've been preparing for a elk hunt to take place in the next few years and we both agreed for our first elk hunt we want to do rifles. The more research I've done the more I tend to think I want to buy a new rifle and not use my old 270 that has never failed me. This is where the TC Encore falls into play. I know it's versatile and I like the fact that I can buy a 35 Whelen or a 45-70 that I can use for primative weapon hunting in MS.. I also like the fact that if I go to another state for a black powder hunt I can swap out the barrells and have the muzzleloader.. And I like the fact that I can swap the barrells out once again and have a nice rifle.

What I have no clue on is how good is this rifle and how hard is it to load and unload a muzzleloader. No one in my family muzzleloader hunts. I've helped break the cycle of the gun/dog mentality and trying to teach my young nephew the joys of bowhunting. I want to learn how to hunt using a muzzleloader. I think it's a great addition to bowhunting and could be alot of fun. The TC Encore is a gun I think I can enjoy in all aspects of hunting, except bow but that's another forum another time. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? I want to hear all points, negative and positive. Is it cheaper to just buy a new muzzleloader and then locate a high power rifle for the later elk hunt or would the Thompson Center fill my needs? Help a poor guy out, ha.
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D
Welcome gdunn to the forum.
I have had an encore for quite a few years. I have a 454 Casull barrel, a 12 ga shotgun barrel, a 45 and 50 cal muzzleloader barrel and I just love this gun. With this setup all my guns have exactally the same trigger pull which is 2.5 lbs, it is crisp with no creep and can shoot better than me LOL but if I have ever missed anything it is not the guns fault. Using a single shot gives new perspective of the first shot is your best shot, it may be your only shot!
Quality wise I feel it is very good, I don't know about customer service as I have never had to use it. As for cleaning I prefer the screw out breech plug and for blackpowder I use the Blackhorn 209 as it allows me in the field the convenience of shooting 5 or 6 shots without cleaning, but any muzzleloader is a little harder to clean than the others. There are others here much more experiencenced than me that have a lot of info.
again welcome!
daddus
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H
You'll never hear me bad mouth TC products so if you go that route then I'm sure you'll be happy. I don't own an Encore but hear good things about them. I do think you will have quite a bit of money invested in getting several barrels so I'm not sure how the $'s spent would compare vs two separate rifles. I do own quite a few TC rifles and can speak to the quality of their products. Being somewhat of a poor man's collector my vote might go for two rifles but then a again having one platform and just changing barrels might be nice???? A difficult decision you have, but a fun one! :thumbup:
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G
Yea it's definately a quandry I've put myself in. My girlfriend rolled her eyes when I started talking about it. At least I'm trying to find a good used one instead of buying one brand new. Holy cow TC is proud of them.
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gdunn,
you found used TC Encores? I'll bet they aren"t giving them away!
daddus
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daddus1 said:
gdunn,
you found used TC Encores? I'll bet they aren"t giving them away!
daddus
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Yea, Gander Mtn's website shows used TC Encores. I'm really hoping to find one that's camo, but push comes to shove, I'll take a synthetic stock or a wood stock, all I've ever had anyway, ha.

Yea they were still proud, I think it was in the $500 range. A place down the road from where our project is has brand new TC Encore Pro Hunters with the fluted 35 Whelen barrels for $699 + tax.
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turner
I've got an Encore with two barrels, .35 Whelen & 25/06. I do not have a M/L barrel at this time, but if I ever wear my Optima out, that's likely the way I'll go. The whole premise of the Encore "shooting system" is a great one, I think. As already mentioned, shooting one barrel is good practice for all of them as you are using the same stock and trigger. If you use similar scopes, your ruse is complete.

It's more enjoyable sitting and shooting a couple boxes of baby '06 than it is a couple boxes of the Whelen, that's for sure. As far as your idea for buying a Whelen barrel, I'll just say I'm very glad I did. I've now owned four .35 Whelens (still own two) and it is one of my all-time favorite rounds. I use it all the time for whitetail deer too. It is simply the Hammer of Thor on deer-sized game.

Good luck finding a nice Encore!

A pic of my Encore in .35 Whelen

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TC Encore

My brother has one and I can say it is top notch. I helped him sight his in when he put a scope on it. I can consistantly place 3 shots touching at a 100 meters from a rest. His is a 50 cal and he shoots trip 7 with sabots. His first season with it he dropped a nice buck at 80 yards with it. He also has an 30-06 barrel for his and it works like a charm.

As far as cost goes, you get what you pay for. Which leads me to my final statement.

You have the guys the brag about taking nice dear and then you have the whinners that wish they would have spent a little more because they lost an opportunity at a nice deer. I choose to be one of the braggers, which do you choose to be. Quality cost.:shocking:
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