Hunting with a SINGLE SHOT (Encore)?

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duck911

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Loveland, Colorado
Hey folks,

Santa brought me a Thompson/Center Encore pistol frame which I plan on also using as a rifle.

I have 2 gaping needs in my hunting rifle arsenal which I hope the Encore can fill for me.

First, I lack a .25 caliber flat shooting caliber for antelope. I am looking at .243 and 25-06 barrels and I'd like to build a rifle around one of those calibers.

Secondly, I'd like a big bore 30 caliber elk gun. I am looking at a 300 Win Mag for the Encore.

Are these calibers accurate enough out of the Encore for my needs?

Does a single shot rifle present any real challenges or issues in the field? I haven't shot hundreds of big game animals, but from my limited experience I have either not needed a follow-up shot or the circumstances wouldn't allow for one.

I also thought I'd read that some guys get so good with their Encores that they can reload it as fast as someone can work a bolt action.

I tend to lean towards "get close enough to make a one-shot kill" versus "take long range shots and keep shooting if you miss". I am also a muzzleloader hunter so one shot opportunities are not foreign to me.

but I am looking for any pros or cons that I have not thought of before I buy an elk barrel for my T/C!

thanks,

--Duck911
 
If you get a chance check out some of the outdoor channels on tv. There are bunches of professional hunters using TC single shots. A .308 or .30/06 would be good all around calibers.
 
Single shots

I hunt with a family that shoots a lot of deer with a TC rifle. Doesn't seem to bother them. I carry a Ruger #1 most days, (single shot in 7X57), and I am trying to think of some time someone took more than one shot at a deer.

It's rare. Not that everyone is a great shot or stalwart hunter, but usually one shot does it. We do tend to light up hog herds a little more- usually get several shots in, but that's not hunting, its warfare.

I think you would be very happy to have any single shot along for the hunt.
 
You need more than one shot to take a deer ?? Perhaps you need some practice .The only deer I have shot more than once was to end things more quickly, they were already gone ! I was trained as a child to shoot with a single shot which is the only proper way. It prevents you from getting the idea that if you miss you can shoot again and again.
 
Duck911,
Any of the cartridges you mention are good for elk. I think the deciding factor is is how far your maximum range is.
I'm only familiar with western New Mexico & parts of Arizona.
Depending on the time of the season, cover, terrain, how good a shape/stealthy your in, determines how close you can get. Here in the October or November hunts 250 yards can be as close as you can get or pass. That's what I tell hunters and it is a rule of thumb that works for me.
 
"One shot---one kill"....

If you get a shot that you are confident enough to make (distance. wind and sufficient power), there's no reason you can't use a single shot. You're shooting unfer somewhat different conditions than I shot (NE woodlands) but even so, a GOOD followup shot is rare(animal usually starts running like all heck). Just know your limits (and the guns),and practice with it.

"Short" and "Long" shots are relative terms. Here were rarely get a shot at a deer over 50-60 yards, and that's fine using shotguns with slugs (which we must legally). But with a accurate rifle I would have NO problem taking a 400 yards shot, UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS. Meaning a very steady rest, no wind, animal standing still and broadside to me, etc. A rare shot indeed (would really like to stay inside 250 yards, or better 200) but doable.

I I'm confident I made the shot, I'll wait a little bit, then go look for a blood trail. From experience, if there isn't a signicant blood trail (I've chased one for MILES that my BIL hit, it was jumping fences, etc. Only one small drop of blood every few yards. Excercize in futility...If it was hit at all seriously it wouldn't make it very far.) As mentions, even it hit solid, they can go quite a ways. If gut shot they may travel for quite some time, but they WILL bleed out. Not the most elegant or humane way to get your deer, but it happens.
 
Are these calibers accurate enough out of the Encore for my needs?
Click to expand...
Yes.

For what it's worth, my 25-06 26" barrel gave me superb velocity and sobMOA performance with a number of 100gr, 117gr, and 120gr loadings. I'd not go shorter than 26" on the barrel length. One of the nice things about the Encore is that (being a single shot) its action is 6" shorter than a comparable bolt gun - this lets you max out the barrel length and still have a managable overall length.
 
My next rifle will be a single shot!

Most likely a TC, but maybe a Ruger No.1. That said, my teen boys both hunt with Rossi single shots. I'm bringing them up on the idea of "if you can't make a good clean kill shot with your first shot, don't take the shot until you can". So far it's working.

I don't have a TC, but friends that have had them are impressed with the accuracy. MOA and subMOA in many calibers.

-Steve
 
Every person I've ever known who used an Encore rifle bragged about how accurate it was, and every one I've ever personally shot was a tackdriver, so I don't think you have too much to worry about when it comes to putting the bullet where you want.

As far as hunting with a single-shot is concerned... it's not my personal preference, but there's nothing wrong with it as long as you're aware of the limitations and have the self-control to function within those limits - and from your post it sounds like you've got a good handle on all of that.

Personally? I swing in the other direction completely, and use a semi-auto .30-06. I like having the ability to deliver a quick follow-up (or 4) without having to take my eye off of the scope. There is, after all, a certain appeal to the "throw up a wall of lead and let 'em run into it" philosophy if the first shot doesn't do what I intended. :cool:
 
I love the Thompson platform, and it's definitely on the list, but I have the same hang-up.

The vast majority of the kills I have gotten have been on the first shot. BUT, at the same time, I didn't walk around with one round loaded either. What the correct answer is, of course, is to practice my shooting skills enough that I DO feel confident to finish with the first shot the vast majority of the time.

.243 and 25-06 are on my list of calibers to get, and expense is exactly the reaosn I haven't. A Thompson would be the perfect way to mitigate the expense.
 
My $.02, but if a contender pistol can shoot 1MOA (I think my .30-30 would with a 4X scope on it, it's 1.5 MOA with a 2X at 100 yards), I see no reason the rifle can't cut 1 MOA which to me is more accuracy than is really required. My step dad had a .25-06 and I've shot a .257 Roberts most of my life that shoots about the same with my handloads. You can't beat it on antelop size game. Excellent and quite flat shooting.
 
Gunstocks, Inc. and Boyds make decent Encore stocks.

I stoped carryin' an Encore when the area I was hunting because overrun with hogs. I was tired of being chased and treed (in these prickly scrub weeds they call trees down here) by a mess o' hogs that I couldn't do much with, seeing as I was carrying a 25-06 single shot Encore. Times like that, a semiauto comes in real handy. :)
 
There are obvious places where a single shot is not advantagious.

I carry a six gun most times when I'm hunting with rifle. Although I don't have hogs to worry about where I live/hunt, I'm sure there are places where a single shot rifle isn't the best thing to have in hand. But in most cases, single shot in the hands of an experienced shooter is quite enough up to task.

Last year my son got is first dear at the age of 13 with single shot rifle. He fired, kept an eye on his target, reloaded without looking away. He was ready for the follow up shot near as fast as he would have been if he'd have been using a bolt action rifle. He needed that follow up shot as it were. -She was standing there suffering. He was ready and delivered what needed to be. He surely wasn't hampered by only having a single shot rifle.

-Steve
 
I can reload my TC pretty quickly. No, not as quick as a bolt, but quick nonetheless. As to TC accuracy........... This is what the TC's are famous for.
 
Does anyone make a .257 weatherby barrel for the Encore? I've scoured the 'net but have yet to find anyone listing this chambering.
 
My .02 cents....

Instead of getting the .300 Win Mag you might want to get the .300 WSM. IMO: Better round..
 
A light weight .300 magnum like an Encore will pound you into next week. You don't need a magnum anything for elk, in any case.
"...present any real challenges..." Yep, but that's the whole idea behind a single shot rifle. One shot before the game disappears.
"...a certain appeal to the "throw up a wall of..." No offense, but that indicates poor shooting. Spraying and praying isn't how it's done. Far too much risk of wounding the game.
 
What's the "Answer" for recoil?

The "Answer" muzzle break seems to be the answer for recoil.

It reduces the foot pounds of recoil by the .300 Win Mag to the level of a .308 Win. It reduces the recoil of the .300 Wea Mag to that of a .30-06. There are alternate muzzle break options such as Weatherby, T/C, and Mag-Na-Port just to name a few. Of the four listed here, the "Answer" break is the most effective, followed by Weatherby and a toss-up between T/C and Mag-Na-Port.

Add to your choice of muzzle breaks T/C's new "Pro Hunter" butt stock, and its 28" barrel, and I venture to guess that one would have in hand a wonderfully effective single-shot rifle.

Personally, if I were looking at a 30 caliber, I would elect the .300 H&H Mag. Grain per grain, the .300 H&H Mag. is one of the world's greatest power houses, and all the while doing so as a most frugal powder-comsumer. Put the .300 H&H Mag, Win Mag, Wea Mag to a side-by-side test. For kicks, throw in the new world order 300 WSM. See how much powder each requires to launch at equal velocities. The .300 H&H Mag will hold its own and exhibit its inherent accuracy.

Doc2005
 
I think you would be just fine with a single shot rifle. I would carry a handgun as backup in case, for example, you stepped on a den full of piglets guarded by an angry 300lb mother, but then, I carry a handgun as backup anyway :).

I've been interested lately in getting some encore stuff (a rifle receiver and pistol receiver and some barrels). They sure look like a good deal, and an easy way to start on new calibers.
 
The rifle I use for deer might as well be a single shot. I have never had the chance to get a good second shot at a deer. The jump too high and run too fast. Ive also just concentrated on making that first shot a good one
 
I had an Encore with a .300 win mag barrel and a .50 cal ML barrel. My honest opinion of the thing was this. It was OK in the accuracy department. Nothing to brag about though. It is not a light weight rifle by any stretch of the imagination. It is a PAIN in the buttock to reload from a prone position. And it just doesn’t give crapolla of an advantage over any decent rifle in any arena anywhere ever.

I think that it is basically a stupid rifle that weighs far more than it should and the break open idea is fine for a rifle that you shoot mostly from standing like a double or a shotgun. But in precision tool that will be shot from a prone rest quite often it’s a total waste of time and energy. And it’s ugly to boot.

Yes it’s true that you see a lot of “pro’s” on TV shooting these abominations but there is only one reason for that. TC pays them to do so. And apparently the advertising is working as I am starting to see more of these trick ponies around. But I’ve never seen a serious for real hunter using one.

I’ve got nothing against single shot rifles. I find the various falling blocks to be quite elegant. The TC Encore is a gimmick with no true purpose in this world. Kind of like the 7MM.

No personal offense to any of you guys with an Encore. I find them repulsive it doesn’t affect the character of the people who own them. I was one for a short time…Then the drugs wore off.;) :D
 
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