Hi all,

I just bought a stainless encore in .300 Win. Mag. and was wondering if any of you have used the various varieties of light/heavy magnum ammo. in the encore? I have some of the Federal variety, but it often got stuck in my Remington 700 because the chamber was towards the minimum end of tolerances. Any experiences good or bad in the encore would be appreciated as well as if you've used the 30/06 stuff either as I've been debating trying it in my encore pistol. Thanks!

Bob, Every barrel is a little different and one persons experience may not be the same as with your barrel, as your experience with the 700 Rem. demonstrates. I would suggest that you contact T/C with this question since they have the equipment to accurately pressure test that ammo.

Bob,
A good freind of mine (Marc Sheehan) has used the the Light Magnum ammo in his 15 inch 30-06 Encore with no problems whatsoever. As was mentioned, every barrel is different.

I've been shooting light mags in my 308 for about 3 years now and have never had a problem with them. Noticed my bullet dropped quite a bit past 100 but haven't had a chance to play with it to see exactly what the problem is(gun or bullet). I have been very satisfied with the light mag results on game.

If you already have them i would say go ahead and shoot them. They are supposed to be safe in any firearm in the chambering. IF you are thinking about getting them I doubt you will get much over standard ammo but an empty wallet

When this type of ammo came out, I read everything I could get on it; I have an old 303 British Enfield that I like to carry and this ammo gives me 308 punch. The thing I remember as it relates to handguns is this: An interview with a Federal Ammo guy and he said that the pressure is the same as regular ammo, but the curve doesn't subside as fast and the pressure peak occurs when the bullet is further down the barrel. I remember reading that this guy said that this would only be helpful in longer barrels with longer powder burn time in the barrel. I bought a bunch of the Federal High Energy Premium 180 gr Trophy Bonded, about 300 rounds, and ordered an Encore barrel from SSK. The stuff shoots great and the barrel is 26" long. Now that I'm into handgunning, I think that the shorter barrel wouldn't give this special powder mix time to burn properly and would acctually give you a slower bullet speed than regularly loaded ammo. If you already have them, it shouldn't hurt to shoot them, the pressure is safe, but I'd bet you wouldn't get the extra speed you paid for. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the info Chris. Because of lack of reloading knowledge that was a question I've had about the ammo for a while but couldn't find an answer. Mine performed fine at 100 yds but dropped like a rock after that. Thanks for shedding some light on it for me.