A couple years ago I picked up a T/C Black Diamond muzzleloader on clearance from a local retailer after they were discontinued. Some of the regulars may remember me asking for assistance with it because I could not get it to shoot worth a darn with any loads tried.

Finally went to the T/C website and used their instant chat feature to see if they had any ideas on what I might be doing wrong. The representative said I should send it in for evaluation and sent me a pre-paid shipping label.

About two weeks later I received a call from the S&W repair center (they build T/Cs now) to inform me the Black Diamond was deemed unrepairable and they would send me a new Impact rifle as a replacement. As I was not fully versed in the current T/C line, I asked if they would instead offer me a credit toward something else in their line.

After checking out their website to see what was available in their line, a couple choices were picked out to see how much credit they would apply to me. My Black Diamond had a stainless barrel and I really liked that feature, which is not offered in the Impact line, so I asked about upgrading to a basic Encore in stainless for a reasonable price. The repair center representative said the basic Encore in blue or stainless were both discontinued and no longer available from the factory, with only the Pro-Hunter versions still being made.

With MSRP prices of over $1000, I figured there was no way I could afford the $750 difference in value between the Impact and Encore stainless Pro-Hunter, but decided to at least get a price for the upgrade. It took a couple days, but got another call from the repair center with a price to upgrade to an Encore FX WeatherShield and to the Encore XT Stainless Pro-Hunter. Both quotes were more than fair, about 1/3 the retail price difference, so I opted for the XT stainless and gave them my credit card information.

Got a call from the retailer yesterday, Jay's Sporting Goods in Gaylord, MI, to inform me the rifle was in. They had to ship it to an FFL dealer since the XT is a switch barrel and the BATF considers it a centerfire firearm which requires the 4473 form to be filled out. The usual fee for transferring a firearm was waived by Jay's because I had originally purchased the Black Diamond from them, even though they had not been involved with the factory return at all.

All in all, I am a very happy camper and really looking forward to taking this Encore out to see if it can live up to the hype for accuracy so many have claimed.

Hats off to Thompson/Center!

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