help please

[jmeier1981]

Would the 7mm-08 in 120g be enough gun at 300yds it just seems like a small light weight bullet, once again sorry if this is a dumb question but I really dont have any centerfire experience other than a .223 with prairiedogs. Ok Ernie, I really appreciate your help but if you were to set up a 300 or 300+yd encore pistol what would be your ideal choice overall for a chamber, once again thaks for your help

 

[Ernie]

Would the 7mm-08 in 120g be enough gun at 300yds it just seems like a small light weight bullet, once again sorry if this is a dumb question but I really don't have any center fire experience other than a .223 with prairie dogs. Ok Ernie, I really appreciate your help but if you were to set up a 300 or 300+yd encore pistol what would be your ideal choice overall for a chamber, once again thanks for your help

"Ideal" would be based off of the 284 Win case or the 06 case. Minimum caliber would be 6mm, and then on up.
I used 15.75" 284 Win XP for over a decade from pd's to elk with 1-shot kills on deer, antelope and elk beyond 350 yards. My daughter has taken deer out to 350 yards with a 6-284 XP. My 6.5-284's have done well on deer and antelope as well.

There is not one ideal cartridge.
If you like 7mm (I do), the a 284 Winchester, 280 Remington, or the 280 AI would be my ideal choices for the Encore-Wow, that was easy
Now, getting set-up with a good forend, scope, etc is next.
Then, choosing bullets that will work best for those distances, load development and practice from the bench and more importantly practicing from field positions.

 

[jmeier1981]

Ok thanks again Ill take a look at some of those. It wasnt that I really like the 7mm cause I really dont know its just that its one of the chambers that encore offers as a factory option and I wasnt sure how much more it would be or how long it would take to get a custom in one of the other chamber options.

 

[Ernie]

What then are some of your favorite calibers?

 

[jmeier1981]

My remington 11-87 12g, or my knight long range hunter in .52 To be completely honset thats the only firearm experience I have with deer. I dont really have a preference just anything that I can get for a somewhat reasonable price and not be under gunned for 300yd or maybe a tiny bit farther whitetail performance and not be 6months out. Basically what I meant by that was just simply that Im not a rich guy by any means so I probably cant afford to have a fully custom top of the line gun built, specially for the limited use I will get out of it in a hunting situation. Granted they look like an absolute blast to shoot so Ill probably spend a lot of time at my dads farm shootin in the off season. Im also like a little kid waiting for christmas when I decide I think I need something, just cant stand to wait any longer than I have to. So to answer your question I really dont know, I was just going off of the factory barrel options, and have spent many hours the last few days on midwayusa looking at these chambers and the loads that are offered for them and the ammo reviews. Maybe Im just expecting too much out of this kind of set up as far as trajectory AND energy, sure would be nice if i could get 300wsm rifle performance out of a pistol just dont think its really an option. But if a smaller faster bullet would still be sufficient for 300yd whitetail hunting then Id be more than happy, but since I really dont know anything about centerfire performance specially in a pistol i also dont know if they will be sufficient, once again sorry for rambling

 

[jmeier1981]

The more I think about it as far as real life hunting situations go most of my shots will probably be in the 175-250yd area. But it would be nice to shoot the 3-350yd area as well

 

[Ernie]

If you want 300 WSM performance out of a handgun, get a bolt action specialty pistol in 300 Dakota

 

[jmeier1981]

That just sounds expensive Probably out of my price range unfortunately. Are there any encore options that culd come close to that???

 

[Ernie]

That just sounds expensive Probably out of my price range unfortunately. Are there any encore options that could come close to that???

Yes, the Dakota round could get pricey!
Expensive, but it will attain that performance level and maybe then some.

You can get a 300 Win Mag in a Encore.

I would prefer the 30-06 AI or the 280AI. Most of the time for what you are considering I would go with I would choose a 6.5 or a 7mm before the 30-This is just preference though. All of the above will get you there easily.

Because of the design of the Encore you can't push a magnum head case size as much as you can a smaller case head size. Hence, my recommendation of going with an 06 Improved cartridge over the Win or Rem mag's in the Encore.

 

[jmeier1981]

"Ideal" would be based off of the 284 Win case or the 06 case. Minimum caliber would be 6mm, and then on up.
I used 15.75" 284 Win XP for over a decade from pd's to elk with 1-shot kills on deer, antelope and elk beyond 350 yards. My daughter has taken deer out to 350 yards with a 6-284 XP. My 6.5-284's have done well on deer and antelope as well.

There is not one ideal cartridge.
If you like 7mm (I do), the a 284 Winchester, 280 Remington, or the 280 AI would be my ideal choices for the Encore-Wow, that was easy
Now, getting set-up with a good forend, scope, etc is next.
Then, choosing bullets that will work best for those distances, load development and practice from the bench and more importantly practicing from field positions.

Im having trouble finding ammo for some of these chambers. Ive found 2 loads for the .284 and a few for a 6.5-284 norma, not sure if its the same or not. Also what is AI is it something with the gun, or the ammo, or both, I could only find 1 ammo option for the 280AI and nothing for the 30-06AI.

 

[Ernie]

Do you reload?

 

[jmeier1981]

No, never had the need. I only own 1 centerfire as of now a savage 10fp in .223 and it shoots unbelievable with factory Black Hills ammo, better than any of my buddys full custom rigs. So I guess I need a chamber that I can get good quality shooting factory ammo for.

 

[Ernie]

Sounds like you either need to learn to reload or stick with cartridges like the 25-06, 270 Win, 280 Rem and 30-06.
Since you are not loading, the 7 Rem Mag and 300 Win Mag would be possibilities as well, but I think you will be better off with the first 4 cartridges mentions in my post here than the mag's with a 15 inch barrel.

 

[jmeier1981]

Ok one last question. Ive been looking at all the different factory loads I can get for all these different chambers and there can be a pretty substantial difference in muzzle velocity. Would it make sense buying the hotter loads?Would these kinda loads shoot quicker or will there just be a lot of unburnt powder coming out the short barrel? The reason I ask is I was looking for some quick shooting loads to help the trajectory. I found that hornady offers a light magnum option that shoots the same bullet about 200fps faster than there same round in the standard version, so would it shoot just as good only quicker or does the extra hot load usually hurt the accuracy? I know every gun likes a different bullet, but these shoot the same bullet just at different velocities. Also now Ive pretty much narrowed it down to the .270 or the 30-06, does either one of these tend to shoot better or accurate, once again I know every gun is different just wasnt sure if one was known to be more of a straight shooter