I'm considering a new barrel for my Encore carbine in .460 S&W mag for future hunts in Indiana. Has anyone ever used an Encore so chambered? OR, does anyone have some advice about the .460. Thanks!!

I've got a good friend who has a 460S&W Encore and with the brake he had installed, he gets some tremendous performance out of it, without the recoil being excessive. However, it is not currently a legal cartridge for hunting deer in Indiana, because the case length is too long. There was a proposal to extend the length from 1.625" to 1.800", which would make the 460S&W legal, but due to a variety of controversial changes being proposed, the whole lot has been scrapped and they're going back to the drawing board.

So, don't go buying one just yet. Check back around March to see if they made it legal or not, first.

Well, DARN, just when I had found one on sale and with a $50 rebate too...... The .44 I used worked just fine but, no .44 Encore barrels on sale where I found the .460 (and .500) one. Back to the proverbial drawing board...

I've got a 460S&W H&R BC Carbine with a 20" barrel, it was rechambered from 45 Colt, it pushes factory 200gr Hornady ammo almost 2900fps, and .452" 250gr SST ML bullets past 2600fps with the one Lil'gun handload I've shot in it, from what I've read Alliant 2400 works real well with that bullet, I haven't tried it yet, too many other guns to play with!

I have been shooting the 454 casull out of my encore 460 barrel. We have 3 of them setup and all have taken several deer. One I took at 180 yards and dropped like a stone in it's tracks.

I hadn't really thought about that, but you can definitely buy a 460S&W and then just load 45LC or 454 Casull, which will make it legal.

I use the 250 grain and the 200 grain FTX to reload my 16 1/4" w/ brake, Encore. I have trimmed a few brass to the maximum leagal length for Indiana's new rifle law, as I live 1 mile from Indiana and hunt there, I have found by seating the bullets no deeper in the brass than necessary to hold it, with 2400 I can exceed the shown loaded velocity of the manuals shown for revolvers and close to what I get with full length cases. Accuracy is still very good around 1 1/2" @ 100 yards! Still a better loaded round in mine than shooting 454's alltho I haven't tried to develop a 454 load just for my 460, why would I?

The only reason I might be inclined to use 454 brass, from a barrel chambered for 460S&W, is to comply with the Indiana law and avoid any "gray area", with regard to the headstamp on the brass. However, the regulations specifically list the maximum case length, so I doubt you'd ever have an issue, so long as your brass wasn't too long. The good thing about the 460S&W round is that you can chamber shorter cases in it and get a wide range of performance, but I just can't get past the notion of using a 45 caliber bullet to hunt deer. I have a hard enough time making myself use 35 caliber bullets!

The reason I use the 454 rounds is so I don't have to hand load. I have played with other setups but I built a new house and didn't have time or the place to do new hand loads. I am getting 1-1 1/2" groups out of my guns with factory Hornaday's 245 grain XTP's. The 45 Cal. bullet don't seem to be tearing up any of the meat either.

I am planning to load 200 FTX's and the Barnes Muzzler 250 grain bullets in it later.

Broom, why can't you warm up to .45 cal bullets for deer? They have been killing deer for a couple hundred years. There's no such thing as "over dead" plus they do a wonderful job!

I guess it's because I grew up hunting out west, in open country, where 30 caliber was about the biggest anybody used, unless they were after elk, or maybe bear. Even then, 338 was the biggest gun anybody I knew carried, so the idea of something even bigger is just foreign to me. I've realized, since moving back to the Midwest, that 35 caliber (and larger) bullets, at modest velocity, are oftentimes more effective than smaller, faster bullets, although both designs kill deer quite reliably. I guess what bothers me most about 35-45 caliber cartridges is that their effective range is limited by rainbow trajectories. When you're hunting thick cover it doesn't matter, but there are a lot of open ag fields around here and many's the time I've seen deer 300 yards away that would be in serious trouble, if I could hunt with my 270 Win.

Here's what you need for Indiana if you want 300 yard performance: http://www.badbullmuzzleloaders.com/models.htm :-)

$2,650 - $3,950 ?

If I want to spend that much money, I'll just use one of the rifles I have and go hunt out of state.

TnHunter, i have a ruger no.1 at the smiths now (been there since Febuary) being rebarreled to .460 S&W Mag.I also live in Indiana. My plan was to shoot .454 casull ammo in order to be legal here. But after reading what Wildcatter2 said about shortening the case to 1.62" i may go that route. The only problem is finding bullets that will hold up to the velocity of the .460 Mag. I talked to a tech at hornady about the SST's and shockwave ML bullets. He said they are only rated at 2300 fps. So that pretty much leaves them out for Deer hunting. When i get my rifle back (hopefully anytime now) my plan is to load it with Barnes 290 gr TMZ ML bullets. Of course the SST"s will make good practice ammo as well as Super smack-down Coyote medicine. Looking at the reloading Data it should be no problem to load 400gr hard cast to 2000fps for bear or hog if so inclined. I cant wait to get mine and start playing with it.
Broom, i understand your point about smaller calibers for deer, but i doubt we will ever see them her in Indiana. I wish we could, that would give me the excuse to buy another No.1 in 6.5X55.

Bogus mcall: You should be able to use the Hornady 200 grain FTX bullets in your shortened .460, being that they're the same bullets used in the Hornady factory .460 ammo. I picked up some recently to load in my .454 rifle. I haven't tried them yet in that application, but the 325 grain .458 versions sure do shoot well in my .45-90.

Broom_jm: As a transplanted westerner, I feel your pain. I went to SC recently to hunt hogs with some friends so I could get some use out of my .270 WSM!