Sawfish The barrel was 15.875 before adding the Four Gill Muzzle Brake. Talk about a huge improvement reducing recoil. I believe this was the first barrel I put a brake on. Since then all of my centerfire barrels, except my 223 have a brake installed.

Reflex264 you are getting some impressive velocity numbers.

I am not sure exactly what pressure numbers are maximum with this cartridge in an Encore. The back of the case head rounds forward away from the breach face on the edges. The actual Rim Foot Print in contact with the breach face is .443 from my measuring. The 7.62x54R has a lot of case taper also.

I have been neck sizing only through several reloads. So far the Encore snaps shut on every cartridge I put in it. No signs of any case stretching so far. I would think that any action springing at all would show up with the neck sized ONLY Cases.

The last loads I worked with were with RL17. I went past 2600 fps with no problem.
Powder: RL17
Primers: WLR
Bullets: Speer 150 Pointed Soft Point Flat Base
The powder charge that made just a hair over 2600 fps was 55.5 grains. This load shoots very accurately in the Encore. At 200 yards I dialed in 2 MOA UP, at 300 I dialed in 5 MOA UP. It is shooting under MOA to 300 yards with a 10X scope.

Bob R