I have been seriously considering a Encore handgun. I think I am going to get one in .223 or maybe the new 22-250. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these. Also I would love to be able to take Elk with this gun. What calliber should I get for Elk. I don't want the thing to hit me in the head when I shoot it because of recoil. anyone with a little more exserience shooting this type of gun that could lend some help?

The only disadvantage IMHO is it is a single shot so if you do not make your first shot count, you may be SOL. I have a Contender in 15" .45-70 and 12 ".309 JDJ, and a 12" Encore in .50 Alaskan. I can tell you that I would not hesitate to take anything on the NA continent that doesn't bite back with either the .45-70 or the .50 Alaskan. The .50 AK would do the job even on dangerous game, but I don't relish the idea of going up against dangerous game with a single shot. The .309 JDJ will take any game a .308 out of a rifle will take. The grip frame design of the Contender and Encore are more like a DA revolver than a SA revolver so the recoil is more straight back rather than up. Of course, if you go heavy, a brake might not be a bad idea. I have brakes on all of mine and I like them a lot. I also never, ever, shoot them without ears on, not even when hunting. That was why God invented electronic ear muffs. The .309 JDJ does not need a brake, but the .30-30 Hunter barrel that I picked up for a song and then had converted came with a brake so I left it there. Kind of nice though when you shoot and the pistol hardly moves. The Encore in any rifle round that you would normally use for elk will work just as well in the pistol. If you feel comfortable taking an elk with an '06 in a rifle, it will do the job just as well in the Encore. You don't lose that much velocity to really matter, not to the elk anyway. I like the bigger bores, so for elk and such I think I would go .338 Win or larger, but they are not for the recoil timid. Those things kick; there is no doubt about it. An Encore in .223 or .22-250 make fine varmint rigs, and are a whole lot of fun to shoot. Sometimes I don't want to get beat up shooting a full day with the .50 AK or the .45-70, and that is when you bring out the smaller caliber, .309 JDJ in my case, and just have a whole lot of fun shooting tiny MOA or better groups out to 300 yards. The one thing to remember is, just because you are shooting a rifle cartridge in a handgun, you are still shooting a handgun. The secret to success with any big bore handgun is practice, practice, practice. None of this break out the pistol a week before season opens and then go hunting, not if you want to fill your tag anyway. It takes a lot of practice to stay on top of the big boomers, and what might be a tiny flinch that you might get away with in a rifle will put your bullet in the next county with a pistol. Do not go big just because you can. Start manageable and work your way up if you desire to go larger. An Encore in .454 C is plenty big enough for deer and elk within 100 yards, and when you can shoot it with full power loads, then you can move up to something with a little more pizzazz if you feel the need. The nice thing about the Encore is the sky is the limit on your caliber selections.
In short (too late), I would get two barrels. One in .223 because it will be fun and you will learn to shoot it very quickly. The second would be a larger caliber for deer and elk. I would NOT advise you to go into the big rifle rounds. Stay with a pistol round and I can think of none better than the .454 Casull. Ammo is readily available in various weights and power levels. Once you become proficient with short range handgunning, 100 yards or less, then down the road you can move up to a longer range big bore round should you wish to go in that direction. This is where the .223 will really help out also. You will develop good long range shooting skills as you learn to connect on pasture-poodles at 200 to 300 yards with a handgun.

Wow, thanks for all the info. I have hunted with a .44mag in a revolver and like it, but I am really looking to reach out and touch somthing from a far. I hunt with a 1895 guide gun in 450 marlin. Re-coil has never been that much of a issue. I am really looking for some flater flying rounds. I think I am going to go with the .223 to start just becasue there is tons of ammo choices and I have a little more exsperience with it. Then try and find a nice far reaching big game round.

One other option you may want to consider is the specialized bolt action handguns. I have a good friend of mine that has one built on Weatherby's handgun bolt action. It's a repeater, I believe 3 shots. His is chambered in 7mm-08 and he uses it for deer and sheep. It is obscenely accurate. Expensive, but very accurate.

There's a small contingent of hunters and bench tourney guys up here that use the bolt action handguns. They really turn out some tiny groups at very long distances.

Something you may want to keep in the back of your mind, TC is now chambering the G3 Contender, and likely the Encore too but I have not checked, for one of the finest rounds ever developed for single shot handgun hunting, the .375 JDJ. TC is also going to have factory loaded ammo available. This round is flat shooting and has taken just about every species of game on earth including elephant, yet you are not "overgunned" for use on deer. Why I haven't gotten one is a question I cannot answer, it seems something else comes up, but it has been on my "list" for over 15 years. Now that it will be availble in a less costly barrel than the SSK, I don't think it will be that much longer, especially if they make it for the Encore as I don't have a long range caliber barrel for it yet.
I had a Remington XP-100 years ago-stolen-and they are fantastic pistols, as I am sure the Savage is. I do think they have a potential accuracy advantage over the break-open design of the Encore and Contender, but how much more than MOA does one need on a hunting gun? And, just try to switch calibers on a Savage or XP-100. Still, I sure do miss that pistol. :(

I have a custom 10 inch bull barrel in Bullberry .44 mag and an 18 inch Katahdin carbine barrel in .444 Marlin for my Encore. I also have a 14 inch factory .44 mag barrel for my Contender.

The Encore is the way to go. I just love the ported .444 Marlin. What a joy to shoot. Little record with full power loads.
The Bullberry 10 inch bull .44 mag barrel will shoot MOA.
Very expensive but a great barrel by a great company out there in Utah. Fred and the boys do an excellent job.

Use the same logic when hunting Elk as you would with any other handgun or rifle. For rifle I would go with the .270, with pistol a .444 Marlin - ported (providing I could get withing 150 yards).

OK everyone is getting me excited about this gun. I am going with the .223 and going to worry about the larger round later, after I look into the G3 thing mentioned earlyer. now I will have soemthing to mount that Leopold to that has been just sitting on the shelf

The only thing negative I can say about the G3 is you do not have the full range of calibers available in it as you do the Encore. The Contender was limited in what it could handle safely, and while I believer the G3 is stronger than the older Contender, I do not believe it to be as strong as the Encore. It could be that since the G3 will take the older Contender barrels, and I assume older Contenders will take G3 barrels, that they do not want to chamber barrels that would be dangerous to use on the older Contenders, and so you calibers are limited. Since the Encore is much stronger, anything goes with it so long as they can make a barrel to fit. The only real advantage I see of the G3 is its ability to use rim-fire barrels also, but there is a conversion kit for the Encore that will allow it to shoot rim-fires also, but does take a few minutes to switch out.

I shoot a 454 Cassull Encore with 2X Burris. Didn't get to kill a deer with it this year but it is accurate with the right load. Use a 350 gr LNFP from an Applegate mould at 1200 fps.

I really want a 375 JDJ barrel also. Hope they are available soon.

ICS,
This is going to be hard for you to believe. My brother's Contender in .223 kicks harder than my 7mmTCU. Other Contender shooters have told me the same thing. The TCU's kick is more like a shove back but the .223's kick is sharper. Of course, this is my perception, not immutable law.
For a "larger round" the 7mmTCU is a better compromise - wait, it's not really a compromise! Ballistically, it's adequate for pronghorn and smaller deer to 150 yards and BIG deer to ~100 yards. I'd hesitate about using it on elk...
Only problem is, the 7mmTCU is a wildcat so you must handload and fireform the brass. On the other hand, it's a very easy-to-live-with wildcat that handles a wide variety of bullets and powders and performance levels. The case is a .223 improved expanded to .284"-bullet size.
Most recommend new brass in it but I've only ever used fired brass because it's (and I'm) cheap. Those who recommend new brass will tell you it lasts longer. My response is, "the stuff's being thrown away, anyway. If I can get some use from it, why pay money for new stuff?" And I've never had a head separation although I have had many split necks during the initial resizing operation. I also tried annealing the necks but I lost more to melting them than I've ever lost in sizing -- not worth the effort.

-91

Only problem is, the 7mmTCU is a wildcat so you must handload and fireform the brass. -91

This is probably not the forum to say this, but I don't reload. I don't like doing it and to be honest I really woundn't save any money doing it. I figure after the few pennys I save per round if you ad in the cost of equipent and time it don't seem worth it. My father enjoys it but I would rather spend my time either shooting and somthing else rather than locked in the basment. But that is just me. so the 223 I think is the way I am going to go. The fact that the ammo is all over the place kind of made my decition for me. I would like to get a custom barrel in 300 Rem Ultra Mag. for it for the big game. I am more of a hunter than a shooter. The only reason that a do target shoot is so when it comes time to shoot something I can. I do like practicing but I do it mainly to keep up my skills for hunting.

I've been reloading for 35 years, and the price of .45 ACP, 9mm, .308, .223, and 7.62x39 is so darned cheap now-a-days, I don't reload for them anymore. I don't hunt with any of these rounds, and the target loads that I shoot in the .45 and 9mm are still as cheap as reloading. For these rounds, I cannot blame you one bit for not wanting to reload. However, be forewarned, there will come a time when you move up to something a little more exotic, and you WILL get bitten by the reloading bug, it is inevitable. ;)

Reloading is threefold:
-Economy
-Accuracy
-Enjoyment

Another factor to consider is when the liberals get back into power you can bet the prices will go up and many things will ultimately become illegal. It will be much more expensive to tool up all at once (if even possible) rather than a little at a time with the necessary hardware to facilitate production.

nuff said

Reloading is threefold:
-Economy
-Accuracy
-Enjoyment

Another factor to consider is when the liberals get back into power you can bet the prices will go up and many things will ultimately become illegal. It will be much more expensive to tool up all at once (if even possible) rather than a little at a time with the necessary hardware to facilitate production.

nuff said

You got that right. Remember all the BS about putting markers in gunpowder and all that other crap after the Oklahoma City bombing, which involved how much gun powder? Oh, that's right, NONE!

You got that right. Remember all the BS about putting markers in gunpowder and all that other crap after the Oklahoma City bombing, which involved how much gun powder? Oh, that's right, NONE!
I am not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with my post??
My point is that if the left gets back in power rest assured that gun and ammo control will most likely increase.
Which will cause the cost of shooting to increase, at all levels.
I have seen this happen in my lifetime.
If the next generation of Americans do not continue to support the 2nd ammendment then it will most likely discontinue as our generation and those before us have known.

Sorry about that, I see it was not completely clear. I am in TOTAL agreement with you! I was just commenting on how the left will take anyting, even if not at all related, to try and restrick and encumber gun owners and those who reload, hince the comment about the powder markers the left tried to get put in gun powder which would have raised the price of gunpowder considerably as I recall, and would have affected the burning characteristics of the powder since those cute little "markers" would take up space, but not be consumed in the shooting process, so all the reloading data would have to be redone.
I am sure you remember the left putting out the call for more and stronger gun control measures after September 11th. As the left says, NEVER let the FACTS get in the way of the AGENDA.

Agreed Big Bore.
If W does not get elected and Kerry does, look out.
A New England liberal scares the heck out of me, politically speaking.
Let's pray that W is re-elected.
I like your username "Big Bore." :D

I am not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with my post??
My point is that if the left gets back in power rest assured that gun and ammo control will most likely increase.
Which will cause the cost of shooting to increase, at all levels.
I have seen this happen in my lifetime.
If the next generation of Americans do not continue to support the 2nd ammendment then it will most likely discontinue as our generation and those before us have known.
And this electon should be very interesting, and may be as exciting as 4 yrs ago. The Democrates are real poed because of what happened in Florida. And don't forget florida would not have been a issue if Gore had won his own state, but he chose to attack gun owners and all the Tenn. boys said no way and voted for Bush. Personally I pray that Bush stays in, I like my guns were there at!

I have both a C and E. If you want the 223, get a Contender. the gun is smaller and lighter and recoil is NOT a problem. The muzzle blast IS. Of course, the 22-250 is only available in the Encore. The trigger is much better on the (pre-G2) contenders as well. The encore's trigger is $#!*. IMHO