My new FA 2008 S.S. is due in tomorrow.

[waterboy]

Two days BEFORE I leave for my AK trip. Bob tried though. I guess I about have to give it a go. I'll slap on a Weaver 2.5-8X, and run a couple boxes of .375 Win through it. And I WILL take it with me. I wanted to be the first to take a Blackie with one. You never know.

Another friend and I both thought the same thing, to have it instantly re-chambered to our pet much larger .375 round and have the barrel shortened a touch with a brake added. He did it first and the recoil even with a brake was a bit much said he. I shoot lots of cast so I may still do it. His report was superb accuracy however.

But that .375 Win. is not bad. I have a Win. Big Bore 94 in it. In 2007 I think I was at the Y-O when a friend of Bob's shot a good sized Eland with a prototype in .375 Win. and factory 250 gr. bullets. Two of them.

Last Dec. Bob was running around corking stuff with a 6.5X55. I think Mr. Taffin's is in that cal. too.

To do it over and stay with factory cal. I'd look hard at that .338 Federal.

[waterboy]

It's here. I will slap a 2.5-8X Weaver on it and sight it in. Leaving day after tomorrow for AK, guess I'll take it. This is a .375 Win. and I have some 220 gr. Hornady handloads using H322. We'll see.



Bob is excited. This is the second wave of them, the first ones went out Feb. 2010. Reported that the .223 and 6.5X55 are the most popular chamberings. They have ordered a 6.5X55 Ackley Imp. reamer to toy with too. That should be a dandy.

I'll let you know how it handles before I leave.

[Tom Richardson]

If it shoots as well as the 6.5x55 that Bob let me play with, this time last year, you will have a shooter.

[waterboy]

Yes indeedy it is accurate. I can easily shoot 1"-1.5" 100 yd. groups. And I'm hopefully average. Even punchy I could keep them all in 2". That is a hasty put together handload .375 Win with a 220 gr. Hornady at 1900 fps. Factory 250's were only 50 fps faster. I used H322 propellant.

I got the better trigger pull option and it really has a fast lock time for a hammer gun. But you already knew that.

Best to sum it up this way. The FA is a target gun you can hunt with and the Encore is a hunting gun you can target shoot with. The FA and hard SA type grips do not mitigate recoil as efficiently as the Encore with Pachmayrs. Much more HP would be salty.

Recoil is brisk in .375 Win. but not too much for a seasoned shooter. A break or porting would help and be worth the effort. It will be a serous tool for the LR shooting guys with med. cap. rifle ctgs.



The Custom encore is a .378 GNR (.405 Win. necked to .375) and indeed pushes a 260 gr. Nosler to over 2300 fps from 14" of rifling. recoil is not really a bother. The 20% more weight, brake, and different rubber grip angle all work to your favor.

[rigby]

Surprising, by the looks of it I would have thought the FA weighed more.

[AxeHandle]

Pictures? Encore with a Reeder barrel?
Dag nab it... I have a neked stainless Encore frame sitting in the shop... Better start looking at Gary's Encore barrel Deals a Little harder..

[waterboy]

Well, that's a tapered heavy profile 14" with a 2" brake. Using Andy Rowe's CPE loaded .378 GNR ammo the 260 Nosler Accu-bond clocks about 2310 fps. I took a nice Y-O Whitetail a while back with it. I was sick as a dog and used this as it was almost too easy a 100 yd. shot. I came, saw, and did.