range cartridge choice?

[troy_mclure]

i am looking for a new barrel for my encore.

it will be a dedicated range barrel. low recoil, cheap to shoot, at least 100yd capability.

im thinking of .22lr, but what would be some good center fire options?

[Wayne Smith]

25-20 or 32-20, both rimmed rounds, cast and shoot very cheaply. More effective than the .22 lr at 100yds.

[82nd airborne]

Anything you already load for.

[Johnch]

One of the rimmed pistol rounds that I already had dies and brass for

I shoot my Contender 357 mag carbine a lot
Easy on the wallet
And more than enough pop for 100 yd use
I have even taken 2 deer with it over the years in Mi

John

[redneckdan]

Depends. Everyone needs a low cost plinker. I also believe every needs that one barrel they can keep stuffed down in the bottom of their range bag with a few rounds. Now I am not talking just any barrel. This is the oohhmygawwwdwwaaaaadaaaheeeeckwasthat!! barrel. Mine happens to be a contender in .357 mag chopped at 6" with a couple rounds of 110gr JHP with as much H110 as will possibly fit. This puppy only comes out when the guy known as soomdood shows up with a kirnkov and proceeds to blast away while standing mere feet from my head when there is plenty of range open. I had planned on reaming it to .357 herret and putting a JP break on it but cooler heads prevailed. It is effective enough as it is without requiring the shooter to wear sun screen.

[Doc Highwall]

For center fire my vote also goes for the 357 mag with both plain base and gas check bullets. The Encore being a single shot and no constraints of OAL you will be able to shoot 200+ grain bullets.

[Wayne Smith]

The problem with anything without a rim in the Encore is that the cartridge tends to slip in ahead of the extractor. I have this problem with my 500 S&W barrel, the 45-70 is much more fun to shoot because I get guaranteed extraction.

My choice, but not a cheap plinker, would be 9.3x74R, but no one chambers this round that I have yet found.

[nighthunter]

You might want to consider the 22 Hornet. Cheap to load with cast bullets and very accurate with cast bullets. I've owned several Hornet barrels and they have been the most accurate barrels out to 150 yards. 35 Remington is accurate but can get to be a hand full in extended sessions. I had a 218 Bee barrel many years ago that I wish I still had. I think its only available in custom barrels now unless you can find a used one. My 2 cents worth.

Nighthunter

[EDK]

22LR for cheap ammo, etc. etc.

Do you have a center fire pistol? I'd get a Contender in 357, 44 or 45 Colt. A 357 is ideal, but I like the 44 Magnum...had an early Contender back in the 70s in 357, 44 and 45/410. DON'T get the hot loads for the Contender mixed up with ammo for the revolver!

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[troy_mclure]

ive got a ruger sbh in .44mag if i want to shoot pistol rounds at 100yds.

my real goal is cheap shooting, followed by low recoil(getting rid of a .45/70 bbl for this reason).

[troy_mclure]

dupe.

[runfiverun]

something like the 30 herrett would fit the bill.
big enough, small enough, and cool enough.

[WILCO]

You might want to consider the 22 Hornet.

Yep. My thoughts too.

[HeavyMetal]

I have a 45 auto barrel for my Contender, one of the 8 inch octagon jobs.

With cast and Bullseye I can shoot this as cheap as a 22 long rifle and still be scary accurate at 100 with decent scope mounted on it.

22 hornet is a fun barrel to have a 10 Inch Bull for that one.

[JIMinPHX]

Depends. Everyone needs a low cost plinker. I also believe every needs that one barrel they can keep stuffed down in the bottom of their range bag with a few rounds. Now I am not talking just any barrel. This is the oohhmygawwwdwwaaaaadaaaheeeeckwasthat!! barrel. Mine happens to be a contender in .357 mag chopped at 6" with a couple rounds of 110gr JHP with as much H110 as will possibly fit. This puppy only comes out when the guy known as soomdood shows up with a kirnkov and proceeds to blast away while standing mere feet from my head when there is plenty of range open. I had planned on reaming it to .357 herret and putting a JP break on it but cooler heads prevailed. It is effective enough as it is without requiring the shooter to wear sun screen.

Oh, that IS good. :drinks:

[Larry Gibson]

Hard to argue with the .22LR for use to 100 yards with the brick price of the cheaper stuff back down to 3 - 4 cents per shot. Reloading even the smallest cartridge will still cost pretty close to that. I'm going to suggest the mundane old 30-30. With a Lee 6 cavity TL314-90-SWC you can cast lots of bullets very quickly using scrap or recovered alloy. Even straight lead with 1 % tin works very well. A Lee .311 sizer and the bottle of LLA will do thousands of bullets. You might even be able to just thumb seat the .314 lube bullets without sizing the necks, just deprime and reprime the cases.

Load them over 2.7 gr Bullseye (that's 2,592 shots per pound:-) ) for 800 - 850 fps and excellent accuracy. I plink with them at 200 yards all the time, great fun.

With the 30-30 barrel you can then load up to full throttle for a very good cast (many believe the best) cast bullet cartridge. With jacketed bullets the SS rifle opens up the use of appropiate spitzer shaped bullets for improved ballistics also. Lots to be said for the old 30-30 in that Encore for what you want. I really do like my 21" Contender carbine for all the reasons mentioned.

Larry Gibson

[Mk42gunner]

My vote goes for something on the order of the .32 Magnum/ .32-20 class, on down to the .22 Hornet. You get low recoil and low cost for components, yet easily capable of 100 yard shooting.

Robert

[Blammer]

30-30 brl, you can shoot the 311316, the 115gr wt with some small amount of powder for a good plinker, that's cheap. Nuthin is as cheap as 3030. :)

Plus you can load it up full tilt and have a good 100 yd load.

since it is a range only gun, 30-06 would be cheap and pleantiful too.

[bearcove]

7-30 waters. Mild but good for deer size and smaller. 30-30 brass is cheap, so are dies

[TCFAN]

I have a 30-30 barrel for my Encore.Larry Gibson's post above and Blammer's is right on. It does everything they say.
Mine barrel is a 24 inch rifle with a 12X scope and it shoot very well with about any boolit that I have tried in it................Terry

[hickstick_10]

.256 winchester magnum.

And get yourself a 357 mag barrel in the even you get sick of forming em down to 256 magnum

[Wayne Smith]

.256 winchester magnum.

And get yourself a 357 mag barrel in the even you get sick of forming em down to 256 magnum

Ah, come on, ya only reform each one once! But still no rim.

Speaking as a guy who shoots an 8mm-07, a 40-70, 7.7-06, 10.5x47R and will have a .25 Kraig AI

[dale2242]

I cast my vote [pun intended] for the 30-30....dale

[JIMinPHX]

Since you're asking for a cheap to shoot center fire option, I'm going to say .223. If you cast in that caliber, a little lead goes a long way. Brass in that caliber just about litters the earth. When small rifle primers get tough to find, you can get by with small pistol primers if you use low end loads. Recoil is not bad for full house loads & it's downright comfortable for reduced loads. A wide variety of powders work well in that cartridge for cast too. On top of that, store bought ammo is still pretty reasonable if you look around a little. It's not the $3.50-$4.00 per box that it once was, but even at the $7.00-$8.00 per box that I see FMJ going for these days, it's not that bad.

My second choice would probably be the .30-30. My third choice would be 7.62x39. My fourth choice would be .357 mag or max. That's just me though.

[fecmech]

My vote goes to the .357. Mild to somewhat wild in one cartridge, good to well past 100 yds with plenty of plain base or GC offerings. You can load them faster than you can shoot them on any number of progressive presses and brass is plentiful. Whats not to like?

[shootingbuff]

22 hornet, 7-30, 357 MAX, 30Win, 32Spc, 35 Rem,

just a few