encore sight-in problem

[vdrow]

Hi my name is john and i'm new to this forum. I got a question and hopefully you guys can help me out. Now that we can use scopes here in wi i purchased a new bushnell scope back in sept. At the same time i was reading on mike bellm's website about things to help with accuracy, so i order one of his oversized hingepins because mine had some slop to it. anyway I proceeded to sight in my gun. the problem was that it shot so low that i ended up maxing out the elevation on the scope and still wasn;t high enough the windage also seemed to be eratic when i made adjustments. I used the dura-sights mounts and rings as sugested by someone on this forum. I'm shooting 325 gr hornady ftx bullets with harvester crush rib sabots with 120gr of bh209. After the last time i shot with that scope i re-checked all screws on the mounts and rings for tightness, the base screws were about a quarter turn loose even with lock-tight on them. Well i took the base off and inspected when i went to put it back on i noticed the front of the base had about a 32 inch gap between it and the barrel (thompson center told me today that thats common because of the barrel taper) i didn't know that at the time so i thought i'm only using this barrel with a scope so i epoxyed the base to the barrelwithheavier epoxy in the front to fill in the gap. At the same time i thought it might be the scope because it was the last one at cabelas (display model) and that maybe it got dropped or something. So tuesday i returned it and got a new leopold ultimate slam scope. So i mounted decide to get rid of the over under dura sight rings and got a set of dura sight medium rings. Today i was finally able to shoot it what happened has be baffeled. I ran about 10 rounds through it and all were low and i ended up maxing out my elevation on the leopold also. At one point i had a couple of primers go off with no ignition, and yes i was using the two hotest primer available the cci mag's and the federal mag's, so i cleaned and picked the breech plug i even cleaned the barrel even though 209 likes a fouled barrel. I also shot a couple of 250 grain shockwaves one with 120 gr and the other with 115 gr both hit at the 3 inch low mark. as a matter of fact the last 325 gr hornady and the two 250 gr shockwaves were all touching at that height but were still 3 inches low. The windage on the leopold seemed to be working fine. My question is i'm still using the original breech plug that doesn't have the shoulder on the leading edge of it like the new ones and mine has the sharp pointed edge and its pitted on one partof the edge would that cause me to lose pressure and thus bullet drop. Or could it be too much carbon build up in the breechplug flame channel. I know when i was done i used a tiny screwdriver to clean out the flame channel and at first i had to work to get it to turn in there but it ended up being the correct size and some hard chunks of carbon came out. Is ther a better breech plug than the new thompson's for it. Or should i just shim the front ring on the scope to raise it up, or is my barrel shot out. Any ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[deadeer]

I had a similar problem with a pistol when I used the Mike Bellm oversized hinge pin. It really changes the fit of the barrel to reciever and firing pin. Just for a chance, I would reinstall the factory pin. I have a bunch of Encore combos, and most have some play in the hinge area. All shoot just fine. Let us know if you have any luck.

Jay

[wayles]

Shim the back of the base not the front .010 should be enough.
Use a 1/8 th drill bit turned by hand to clean out the flame channel. Use a torch tip cleaner to clean out the small one. The best bp for bh209 has a recess. Make sure you put plenty of psi on the ramrod BH209 likes it tight. Best load for my oncore has been 250 sst or sw and 110 gr of bh 209 short black harvester sabot . 200 gr sst 40 cal in the dark blue .40 x .50 also works good with the 110 gr of bh209
Wayles

[10ga]

Oversize pins void warranty on Encore. I got one of the Locker pins from Precision Rifle. Took care of any minor movement and dosen't void warranty. They make some good ammo for BP and subs too. see link,
www.prbullet.com/e-pin.htm
As for scope shim as per wayles.
Also check all screws and make sure base and scope rings are "bedded". I use vinly/plastic electric tape between the base and rings and between the rings and scope. Usually solves all the scope moving and rings loose problems. Make sure none of the screws are bottomed out.
Keep us posted on progress.
Best, 10 ga

[vdrow]

Thanks for the suggestions. I stayed with the oversized pin i had tried the locker pin already and it had more slop than the original.I never really felt that that was the problem. It just needed shims on the rear rings, (alot 5 in all). Last three shots all touching each other at 100yrds. All is good!!!! Bring on the muzzleloading season.

[bteague]

Over size pin will onlyvoid the warranty if you ream the holes.Or send it to T/C with oversized pin installed.My encore did not shoot well until I pillar bedded the for end.Billy