I have owned Contenders for a long time. I have barrels in 22 LR, 6mm Bullberry Improved, 6.5X30 JDJ, 35 Bullberry, and 357 Maximum.

I have a CVA Scout in 357 Maximum, and a CVA Optima 50 Cal Muzzle Loader.

I also have my trusty 480 Ruger Super RedHawk.

Well yesterday I picked up a Stainless Steel Encore Frame with the Black Rubber Pistol Grip, and worthless factory forend.

I know that I will need to make an order to Tony for one of his forends in about a 12", equipped with a bipod stud. That gets me to the barrel.

Doing an inventory I have reloading dies suitable for White Tail Deer Hunting with an Encore in:

260 Remington
6.8 SPC
270
7-08
7mm Magnum
308/307 Win
30-06
358/356 Win

I have also thought about 7.62X54R with a 308 Bore.

I would think that pretty much everything listed should work at least reasonably well. The 7mm Magnum is probably over kill using a pistol scope, but I do have a 20X Super Sniper with no home at the moment that I could mount and try out.

One consideration might be a super good buy on a used 15" barrel, or a rifle barrel that could be cut off and recrowned to 15".

I have no plans to hunt anything other than White Tail Deer here in Missouri at this time, and steel targets at the Range. I have one Deer Stand that I can shoot out to 300 yards from. I have been limiting my range to 200 yards with a handgun scope so far. At the Range I can shoot all the way out to 800 yards. With a Log Book with Drop Chart Data to 800 yards, I am confident that I can scare our Steel Silhouette at 800 yards with a round that shoots flat.

Lets hear your thoughts on a barrel.

Bob R

My 15 inch 308 and 7-08 barrels are my favorites in bottle neck rounds. I also have Pachmayr grips and forend on mine. The forend has the stud on it.
If I bought a rifle barrel to cut down I would go longer than 15 inches. But that's just my opinion.

I have a 15? 7-08. It is a nice accurate barrel with 120 nbt. I took only one deer with it at around 250yrds. I always prefer the contender to hunt with.

The 260 sure would be sweet.

If i were doing one now.......id get a 6.5 creedmoor. You are just a die set away. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I'm partial to the .308 and it's brood. . ..260, 7-08, .356 and would love to own each in a 13"/15" barrel. All except the .356 Winny would suit you well for that 300 yrd. shot especially with range time and well constructed bullet. This is a tough decision, but I'm leaning towards the 7-08. Good bullet selection (not that there is not for the .308), sweet on recoil, easy to load for and common components make it hard to beat. Just my $.02.

Happy July 4th to all and be safe!

Out of the rounds listed I would go with a .308 Win. I have a 15 inch .308 Win barrel that's very accurate with 165gr NBTs past 300 yards. I haven't used it on game though since I'm usually in the mood to carry a revolver when season comes around.

Between the 308, 7mm-08, and the 260 you have it covered.

A 3-12 Burris BPlex makes most of those rounds good to 500 yds. Highest velocity will shoot the flattest. .30-06 is probably the winner.

Bob, Got an MGM 260 Rem barrel that is most accurate. Great round with premium bullets available. You already have dies. The next time I head to Big Piney I'll bring it along if you'd like.

Bob, I was mistaken - it's a Bullberry barrel with muzzle brake.

Bob, sent you a PM on a barrel you might be interested in.

Mark the 260 should be a good chambering in an Encore.
I may need to see if I have brass to go with my die set.

bobhanson1 I am doing some research.

I am very partial to 7-08. Killed a mule deer and antelope with it a couple of years ago. The 260 Rem. & 308 win. are also fine cartridges

Those are all good cartridges, so it would come down to personal preference. If it was me, I'd take the 270 as my first choice, followed by the 7mm-08 as my second choice, and the 260 closely behind that.

7.5 or 8 Twist 260 Remington.
Go with a MGM or similar quality, and the deer and the LR will be easy

BOB R.... If you go with the 260 and need some brass,,, Grab some 243 brass and Neck UP If you neck DOWN, most times you end up with a donut inside. You probably already know that..
Lapua makes the best 260 brass but it's up to you which way to go.

+1 on the 7.5 OR 1-8 twist

I picked up Marks 260 Encore to play with this morning.
It is a Bullberry 16.3" Full Bull with Integral Break. One in Eight Twist, with a 10" Bull Berry Forend. His is 189 earlier than mine.

I will need to decide between putting one of my Burris 2-7 pistol scopes on it, or giving my 20X SWFA Super Sniper a try on the Encore.

Danny Lee from near Dexter was at the range shooting his 6.5 Creedmore Encore Pistol this morning. He had a Break with a Can on it. Talk about SWEET, No Recoil, and about Quiet enough to shoot without hearing protection. He took it out to 600 yards with under a 6" group. Not Bad At All. That is the kind of inspiration you need when working with something new. I put a couple in the steel at 400 yards with it. I was impressed.

I have several 6.5 bullets on hand to play with from 85 grain to 129 grain. I am not sure if I let all of my 140 and 142's go with my 264 Mag Tactical Rifle. I will need to look a little harder and see.

I may get a few rounds loaded tonight to shoot after the Defensive Pistol Match tomorrow. I have my chronograph in the truck.

Bob R

Before shooting a 6.5 creed CHEAP rifle my cousin had bought.....i was unimpressed with the thought. Super accurate and pleasant made me reconsider rather quickly. I could see myself with one.....even if i dont need it lol.

I only have 2 Encore pistol barrels. 7 mm-08 with variable scope, and a 45/70 open sights. I really like the 7-08 but the Contender in 30/30 is a nicer package for me here in KY. If longer range (200 yards+) no question that the 7-08 goes with me. I mostly use a revolver when still hunting or woods bumming. The open sight 45/70 is for "bow hunting with a bang"! MK

Mark fixed me up with 10 pieces of new Starline 260 brass, and 1 piece of Hornady for comparison.
I mounted a spare 20X SWFA Super Sniper rifle scope on Marks Encore. Scope height was 2.0"
I decided to start with light bullets and loaded my first 11 rounds with 42.5 grains of RL15 under a 95 grain V-Max seated about as long as I was comfortable with.
With only 11 rounds I was not expecting a lot.
I set a target up at approximately 25 yards with a 1/2" White dot for an aiming point. Adjusted the Super Snipers parallax until I had a clear target.
The First Round was way low. Up one full revolution. Second shot Up another full revolution and Right about half a revolution. I was fairly happy by the 4th shot. I had my brother watch the 200 yard Steel with his binoculars to see where I hit around the target. First round hit a little High and Right of center on the 14" X 14" steel Plate

. A little adjustment, and the Second round was just left of center.
Down to the Hi Power range to set up the Wichita Rest at that location.
I then put a couple on the 300 yard steel holding on the top edge of the plate.
I then held about 1/2 Mill over the 400 yard steel and connected on it. Down to 2 rounds left. We set up the chronograph to go through it while trying for the 600 yard steel IDPA Silhouette.
Holding 2.5 Mils over the top round One was a hit. I fired the last shot and another hit.
Velocity readings were 2865 fps and 2898 fps. Temperature was approximately 90 deg, 1200 feet altitude, and fairly high humidity. I was expecting about a 370 fps loss in listed 24" Barrel velocity when fired through the Encore Pistol. Looked more like about a 300 fps loss in velocity.

WAAAAAAY More than I expected for my first outing to get a rough zero.
I will need to work on my RCBS Full Length Sizer die a little. It is not sizing the 260 cases down enough for the Encore to snap shut.
I have some 107 SMK bullets I may try next. I will need to run by Carters and get a box of 120 Nosler BT bullets some time next week.

The Bullberry muzzle brake is a little louder than expected. I had only fired one round through a rifle scope mounted on a pistol before today. That was on the Nosler M48 Mark has been playing with. That also worked out much better than expected. You definitely can see much better through a 30mm 20X rifle scope than a 2-7 pistol scope.

More to come.

Bob R

UPDATE:
It looks like I will adopt Mark's 260 Bullberry Barrel complete with Bullberry Scope Base, and Bullberry Forend.

I also made an order with MGM for a 7.62X54R barrel with .308 bore last night. I have it ordered in 15.850 Inch length and 1" Full Bull configuration. Twist will be 1 in 12 for 110 - 168 grain Bullets. It will come drilled and tapped for a 6 screw base. It will also be set up for the Bullberry forend hanger bar system.

I also have a Bullberry 6 screw Scope Base on order along with a Bullberry forend hanger bar for the MGM barrel.

I will need to get a couple dummy rounds of 7.62x54R ammo loaded to send in to get the throat optimized or my seated bullet depth.

I am still on the fence between running 125 grain Noslers or Sierras, or the 150 BT Noslers.

I pretty much always wait for a broadside behind the shoulder shot. The 125's work pretty well for this shot in my past experience with rifles. The 150 BT would shine if I did need to shoot a buck from an angle other than broadside. I could see this happening if a huge buck presented a shot that I could not pass up.

Looking up loading data for the 7.62X54R I was surprised by what I discovered. I really expected the 7.62X54R to end up being a 308 with a rim. What I discovered was it is a lot closer to being a 30-06 with a rim.

7.62X54R with 150 grain Spitzer Max Load 49.5C of H4895 for 2938 fps from a rifle with 46,300 CUP

30-06 with 150 grain Spitzer Max Load 47.5 grains of H4895 for 2863 fps from a rifle with 59,700 PSI

30-06 ENCORE PISTOL 15" Barrel
150 grain Spitzer max loaded with 51.0 grains of H4895 for a velocity of 2721 fps at 48,500 CUP.

I believe the .308 Bore 7.62X54R round will be one very impressive deer killing piece of machinery.

I plan on having a local Bench Rest Gunsmith install a 4 Chamber Radial Muzzle Break on the barrel when it comes in. Not sure about Glass just yet. With a 4-6 week wait on the barrel, I have time to make a decision on glass between a Burris Pistol Scope and a Rifle scope. I sure would like to test an SS6x42 30mm SWFA Super Sniper rifle scope out to see how impressed I am with it on a handgun. The SWFA SS20X42 30mm Super Sniper scope makes a fairly impressive long range scope on the 260 barrel, but is way more magnification than one could stand deer hunting at under 100 yards. It shines pretty well from 200 on out however. Very nice to be able to Dial In your come-ups.

This is where I am at, at the moment. I got my Encore Action back this afternoon with a Trigger Job. The 260 Barrel is on my action as we speak, ready for more load development when I get time. I have 3 storm doors, a new patio door, and 7 new windows that I will start installing on the house next week. That will be eating up my spare time for a while.

Bob Roach

Awesome!

Now you can save yer $ up n get another encore action to keep both set up n ready at all times. 😂 ?needs? never end. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Since I bought my 30/06 Encore Pro Hunter in 2009, it has become my #1 hunting gun, edging out my previous favorite, a Savage Super Striker in .308 Win.. You will definitely not go wrong with the 30/06 topped with a Burris 3-12 Burris Ballistic Plex. Ammo is universally available at competitive prices.

You've just done what I did years ago. I tried a 260 & a 7mm-08 out here in Colorado for deer and antelope and stuck with the 260. Seems to always have better penetration on larger bodied muleys.

I just got notification from MGM, my 7.62X54R barrel is about TWO weeks out from shipping.
My 6-hole Scope Base and THREE Forend Hangers are getting close to shipping from Bullberry per todays e-mail.
I stopped by Hunts Long Range this morning to pick up the 4 Gill Muzzle Break, but he was not open.
I picked up a new set of RCBS Dies from The Missouri Gun Company. Picked up 100 pieces of brass and a Shell Holder from Cyrus Carter's Gun Shop.
Mike Russell "Legacy Gun Cases" will be e-mailing me some pictures of build options for my new gun case for the Encore.

Things are coming together with about 75 days left until the Missouri Deer Season.

Bob R

Hey Bob I have a MGM 7.62x54R I had mine made at about 18? but I really like this barrel. I would have to check but I believe mine is also a 1-12 twist but I haven?t gone above 165 gr bullets. I shoot 150 Nosler AB in mine and it loves these bullets but to be honest I didn?t go down to 125?s. I am running the Lapua brass and using Varget powder and in my setup its a REALLY good combo. I can tell you that I was a little surprised at the velocity I was getting out of this setup, its closer to the 308 in a rifle than anything else, and what maybe a overlooked point but something that I can tell you is really nice is the fact you can get ahold of those rimmed cases with your fingers to pull them out a lot easier than the rimless. I have had a barrel in 308 and 7mm08 and while they were also a good chambering, I would take 7.62x64R over either of them based on that alone.

30-06 works well.

NeHunter I am glad to see someone else thinks the 7.62x54R was a good idea. Reading what Mike Bellum has to say about it, I believe with a .308 bore it might be more correct to call it a 7.62x53mmR Finnish.

I got an e-mail from BullBerry today telling me that my Scope Base and Hanger bars have shipped.

My two weeks are up since MGM told me the barrel was still two weeks out. I suspect it will show up shortly.

Bob

Just checking back in with you Bob, how?s that barrel working out? Just got back from a Wyoming antelope trip with mine, one shot one animal! I have only shot a couple with those accubonds but they are still continuing to impress me hope you have as good as luck with your setup as I?m having with mine.

NeHunter I just checked in with MGM. Andy informed me that they had ordered a Special Reamer for my build. I sent in a couple dummy rounds. A 150 BT and a 125 BT both seated to the same depth. I am guessing that the reamer they had on hand cut the throat too deep for my bullets.
I should have the barrel in the next week per Andy.
I have my 4 Port Muzzle Break on hand, ready to install when the barrel comes in.
I still have 52 days until the Missouri deer season. Plenty of time to work up loads with the 7.62X54R.

I may hunt with multiple handguns during the season. I have several hunting handguns that need love and attention.

Bob R