My local gun shop came into a couple Blued Encores. A buddy of mine got the first one, a Vent Rib 45/410. I got what was left a new Blued Action. Now what to do with it?
After a lot of thinking I decided to put my 13" 223 barrel on it for the moment. I had been thinking about selling the short barrel and ordering a 15.875 to replace it, but I wanted to shoot it some first.

Some History: I traded Ed out of this barrel at the Tulsa Gun Show, it was an MGM Encore, 13" Stainless, Chambered in 221 Fireball with 1/10 twist. It looked to be new and unfired. I had 221 Fireball Dies and brass so I figured I could use this barrel. When I got home with it I discovered that I had let a buddy have all my Fireball brass with a barrel I had sold him. Lapua Brass was $1 a round. OUCH!! I also discovered the barrel was drilled and tapped for a Carbine forend. My forend would not work on it as is. After a little pondering I contacted MGM about Rechambering it to 223 and converting it to the BullBerry Hanger Bar System so my existing Tony's Forends would work. I did mention to MGM that I wished the barrel had been longer on the phone. I sent the barrel to MGM they did the work and returned it. I picked up a scope for it, and a scope base. About a year later I decided I really needed to shoot it and get a zero. I put it on my Pro Hunter and did get it rough zeroed.

Back to last night: I installed the MGM 223 barrel on my new Encore and while looking it over I thought to myself, that sure looks longer than a 13 inch barrel. I rounded up a tape measure and guess what, it was 15 inch's. I am guessing that MGM after me mentioning that I wish the barrel had been longer, made me a 15" replacement barrel. I have ordered enough barrels in the last three years that I may be on the Good Customer List.

Now for a new Forend. I e-mailed Tony about making me a Walnut Forend. I figured I would order a Walnut Grip later for it, as factory Walnut Grips are now discontinued and hard to come by. Then I was looking over his Ready To Ship List. What did I find? An Encore 11 Inch Forend set up for the Hanger Bar System in Dark Black Onyx. Barrel Channel was cut for a tapered Bull Barrel. This forend would work just fine with my factory Rubber Grip, and .75 at the muzzle barrel. I sent a follow-up e-mail, and then called Tony this morning. I now have the Onyx Forend on order.
I plan to install a Bubble Level, and probably a better set of Scope Rings for it. I believe this will be my dedicated 223 Encore.

I am noticing a trend. I keep picking up more actions to put my existing barrels on.

Bob R

Sometimes the stars all seem to line right up. Sounds like you have a nice package. Hope it shoots as good as it sounds!

Can't wait to see pictures when it's done.

USPS Tracking says I should get the Forend Saturday. Past experience tells me that next Monday is a more likely arrival date.
I need to do a little brass sorting, and come up with 50 or so pieces of brass with the same head stamp. I believe I have most of my 223 brass pretty much sorted out. I just took a look in a 5 gallon 223 brass bucket. It looks like I have a 3# coffee can of deprimed Winchester sorted out. That should be a good start.

Now what powder to use. RL7, RL10, H4895, 2015BR, H335, H322, WW748, and TAC. All these should work fairly well.

For bullets looks like a good supply of Hornady 50 gr V-Max, Sierra 55 grain Spitzers, and Sierra 63 grain Spitzers.

Now to get some ammo loaded.

Bob

Sounds like a plan! MGM is a great company. I dealt with Kerry when he worked for VVG. He was actually the man with the knowledge. Tony is a craftsman was well. Look forward to your reports.

The Black Onyx Forend did in fact show up Saturday. When I got home from the Steel Challenge Pistol Match it was waiting on the dining room table. About three minutes later I had it mounted on the new Encore, and it was a perfect fit. The Black Onyx was a good color match for the factory Rubber Grip. I have ordered a couple of these in the past from Tony to go with Pachmayr Contender Grips. My brother has his mounted on his original Contender Super 14 22LR at this time.
I am now waiting on a set of Warne Maxima 30mm, High, Vertical Split Scope Rings. I am actually waiting on Three Sets, One Pair for the 223 barrel, and the other Two Pair are for my MGM 15.875" Barrel chambered in 7.62x54R. My MGM 356 Winchester barrel already has two pair on it.

I have not mentioned the scope for the 223 barrel so far. The scope's I have on my other Three Encore Barrels, (BullBerry 260 Remington, MGM 7.62x54R, and MGM 356 Winchester) are the Weaver Classic Extreme 2.5-10X, 30mm, with Covered Finger Turn Turrets, and Side Focus. These scopes claim to fame was the extreme eye relief in a rifle scope. When set to 2.5X this scope is about like using a Scout Scope on a handgun. I found this scope to work well for me from elevated stands when used on sand bags.
I decided to take a chance on a higher power version of this scope for the 223 barrel. For the 223 I had ordered the Weaver Classic Extreme 8-32X. I have a total of Four of the 2.5-10X versions, so I could always take Old Number Four off of my CZ 452 22LR Rifle, and put it on the 223 Encore barrel if the higher powered scope did not work out as I had hoped it would. I lucked out, the Classic Extreme worked out fine set on 8X. With a Drop Chart I can dial in my shots as far out as I care to shoot a 223 Remington Encore Pistol.
I do have some bad news. Natchez was the source on the Weaver Classic Extreme scopes. They are currently showing all versions Out of Stock.
Their are lots of Rifle Scopes being used on Handguns today. I believe this one was about the best for a handgun hunter.

Bob R