Thanks S4. I was meaning I didn't know if the caliber mattered in the difference of the encore vs. revolver concerning the whole pressure difference issue. And I've been thinkin about dropping down to a 10 as well. Did you have a break on your 10" and if so, was it worth doing? By that, I mean a short barrel on a 460 is essentially a muzzle break by default isn't it, at least concerning recoil? Granted, a 10" barrel isn't exactly short, but a break on a 10 would make it an 8 in reality wouldn't it? And I would think ya lose some of the effect of the 460 when you get down to 8" barrels. Like you said, the powder isn't being used to its full capacity in most barrels anyway, so shorter barrels would automaticaly take away some of the potential recoil, and the break would make the shorter barrels even more inefficient. Is it possible to use some sort of powder that burns super fast, or I suppose that increases the pressure to quickly.

Maybe my reasoning is just way off here. Thanks for whatever help you can give me. I don't want to handicap the 460 very much, but I don't want to lug around a telephone pole length barrel either. But then again, a 15" barrel in an encore is probably going to be shorter on the overall length when compared to the 12" S&W revolver simply because of the construction differences between the two.

I'm sure it will be a lot easier to find a holster for this encore rather than that 460 12" revolver from S&W that could double as an anchor! Sure enjoyed it though.