I have hunted whitetail with an Encore for years. A single shot rifle will make you take better shots. You will find that you do not waste that shot on an animal that is out of range or running. I alternate between a 300WM and 45/70 depending upon the terrain being hunted. I also use the muzzle loading barrel on the Encore platform. I have named my Encore Jacob. Now for your history lesson. Simon Kenton was given a rifle which he named Jacob. It was said, "rarely did Jacob speak that the life of another forest creature had not yet ended."
H&R great little rifle for the price but the trigger dose suck. Hard find anyone who will even attempt a trigger job on one. The Encore and contender with trigger job are awesome. I like mine between 2 to 2.5 lbs. we changed out triggers on Rem700 308 and you touched the trigger and it snapped. We used a gauge was set at 1/2lb. We had ordered up to 1.5 lb Jewels trigger. We set it at 1.5 and was good. The factory setting was way to light. LOL
These are the 2 I use. The LWRC for coyote and the SBL for everything else. NJ is a shotgun state for deer so I'll use the SBL in PA this winter. NJ now allows me to use the LWRC for coyote though so that's kinda cool.
Somewhere in my safe under some junk is a stainless Steel Encore action. The trigger is terrible. I got interested in something else and dropped the project. They do have an appeal.
Thanks 91 I always wanted a .308 just never got one yet. please let us know how it works out for you.
For bears, Marlin 444p and ruger 44mag For deer and elk and such, Savage 7mm rem mag topped with falcon menace 4-14 ffp For coyotes i choose one of my AR's, this one is a Rock River Varmint with a Redfield Revolution. For muzzleloader season, my one and only Thompson Center Triumph... this is the only picture I have of it. For just hiking around looking for stuff, i generally grab a lever.
Wow. Impressive collection of lever guns. Im searching for a used Marlin 336 .35 Rem. They aren't common up here but I need it.
Ok one more, old faithful her has slain more coyotes than all my other rifles combined. Colt MT6535 pencil barrel.
My Marlin 35 is one of my favorite guns ever, plenty of power and handy as they come. If i had to only pick one gun to live with forever.... That may the one I'd pick. I'll keep an eye out for you. http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=marlin+35 The really great news is that a lot of these rifles are old enough to be shipped straight to your door. (Over 50yrs old=C&R eligible) And unlike Winchester's (that wear out) Marlin's wear in and get smoother.