tdoyka Welcome to the Quarter Inch Club and also an Encore owner. I have shot one or two fallow deer 150 to 180lbs body weight with the 115gr Noslers, but not to 'bust' the shoulder, because the meat there provides us with a lot of sausage and a lot of game pies through the winter. Popped just behind the shoulder, half way up the body, into both lungs and that deer ain't going far. The joy of doing that is , with the accuracy potential of that round you can choose which rib to hit, but best to slip it between the ribs and mush the interior. It also bleeds out the meat as well, as the heart continues to pump, so making the produce much tastier.
Although I am very much a Nosler fan, I have also had great success with the 117gr Hornady SST out of my 257 wildcat which is pretty close to what you will have in the Ackley version. Shot everything from 30lb muntjac, 50lb roebuck, fallow upto 200lb wild boar with that one and had no complaints from the receiving end
I have fireformed all of my wildcat cases with 100gr bullets and a mild load(48gr) of H4831, I then settled on 50.5grns as my working load because that gave me the best group with no pressure signs.
My cases are necked down from 7x57 (Norma)rimmed cases and then blown out. Put the bullet in the right place and a quarter incher will do a tidy job. ONE GOOD SHOT
If any doubts about the 117SST, I shot two roe bucks in Slovenia with one shot and the bullet passed through both at 150yrds, one buck was slightl back from the other but the bullet skidded off the shoulder blade of the first at a slight angle and hit the second perfectly through the lungs. A freak situation but just proved that SST will penetrate and do the job at the same time.
Apologies, didn't answer the important ?? Yes IMR 4350 should work OK and is listed as such. Will certainly be OK to blow the cases out and may prove to be accurate with the final loadings. I always load 5 cartridges and load a set of five, 1/2 grain apart, from the max shown in the handbooks, down, and then set up a large sheet of paper and put on five dots. I then shoot each group on the lowest power setting, ignoring the group and moving to the next, letting the barrel cool between each group. Then walk forward and see which load shot the tightest group.
I think you will enjoy your Encore. I don't have a big game bolt action in my tool box these days.