Encore 7 mm

[Birdman]

I shoot a Thompson 7 mm Remington Mag i am having trouble getting any Bullet groups with my present reload. Iam shooting a 139 Gr sst interlock Hornady with 58 Gr of 4350 IMR. Does anyone have a good load.

[Singletree]

Birdman, welcome to the fold.

You are dealing with one of the more troublesome calibers in the Encore platform. I don't know the group size you are getting or your expectations of the level of performance from the rifle. However, were you to call T/C customer service and talk with one of the girls they will or should recommend you buy one box of factory ammo and test that for accuracy. I'm not insinuating you don't know how reload, rather the person on the other end of the line is just eliminating possible problems. If the rifle doesn't respond, and groups are out of the realm of reality, a return to the factory is warranted.

To check lockup, darken the top of the locking lugs with a magic marker and close the action several times. This will cause a line on the lugs showing how far they engage. It should be about 2/3 the length of the lug. Check the muzzle crown for sharp edges or metal that has been rolled into the bore. If so, remove carefully.

I know this doesn't address your original question, but the rifle should shoot fair with most loads and then it's preferences can be discovered by trying different loads.

[Heavy lead]

Encores can be a different breed. I have a ml barrel and I bought an aftermarket 6mm06 barrel as well. I think I like it, but haven't got it all wrung out yet either. Vertical stringing was expected to be a problem and is, bench technique is hugely important. Now with that said I've only had 3 7 mags come through my hands, I've never had one that liked lighter bullets. I never had one that would shoot very good with less than 150 grain bullets, and 160's were better and the best groups turned in my present one is from 175's. It should have a 1/9 twist, check this, if this is the case load up some at least 160 grain bullets and start with that, see if this helps. Actually come to think of it I've never had any 7mm rifle like anything light, 7mm-08, 7x57 or anything else either.

[Birdman]

Thanks...........I appreciate the input. Going to buy a box of 175 grain to look for any improvement.

Current group size is 3" at 50 yards with 139 grain so no point shooting anymore distance with a group like that. This was done with 10min of cool down time between rounds. Shooting 3 shoots back to back yields worse group and bullets start going higher after each shoot with a hot barrel.

[James C. Snodgrass]

I don't know if that is with fire formed brass or not ? I my experience with T/C's you need to pay a lot of attention to O.A.L you don't want a great deal of bullet jump . If that is the best accuracy you can get is 6 moa I would look at everything else on the rifle very closely IE- the scope/mounts,the fore arm tension . I would also inspect the dies, do the produce a concentric cartridge ? Just some food for thought . Good luck James

[lathesmith]

Birdman, I don't have a 7mm mag Encore, but...I do have a 7mm-08 rimmed, that I regularly shoot with IMR 4350 and 130 grain spitzers. While I can't give an exact group size at 100 yards with this rifle, I can tell you it shoots much better than 3" at 50 yards. Like others have suggested, check barrel lock-up, muzzle crown, and also check over the forend and make sure it's attached correctly.
lathesmith

[cabezaverde]

Try putting a rubber o ring around the screws between the forend and barrel - in effect free floating it.

That made a huge difference in my son's 300 mag.

[TCLouis]

only one bullet, one powder and one powder weight is not even a start at working up a load for accuracy.