I talked to Mike Bellm and Virgin Valley Custom today about this approach and they both agreed that 55Kpsi should present no problem to an Encore. The cases will stretch a little as the frame flexes under pressure and that makes reloading more than a few times very challenging! Mike and I had a nice discussion on throater design and I'm definately on the right track. Cases will stretch, but so what, I plan to reload them once or twice and discard them anyway. RickR your Varget load seems interesting and I'm sure that loading the woodleighs out another .250 and crimping into a new Cannelure should get me the desired 2100fps. The Encore is a neat gun, I've hunted red stag in NZ with one and they are light, inconspicuous guns . Perfect while travelling. With a 12 Ga barrel, a 270 win and a long throat 405, you could hunt anything anywhere! I plan to add a few Mercury recoil reducers and a brake to this one, to tame it a bit! Accuracy with WW748 is MOA at 100 yrds , but I'm always willing to try different powders.
Ray, I have given some thought to a rechamber to 450/400, but if I can do the same thing with a .405 win why invest in a new chamber reamer. Both Mike Bellm and VVCG strongly advised against using 55Kpsi loads in a modern M1985. Your asking for trouble!-Rob