This topic has surfaced on many other boards. While Fred is entitled to his opinion
regardless of his reasons, there is a valid technical reason for
not chambering the Encore in the WSM, SAUM, etc. That reason is case head thrust on the action.
The Encore is not a MkV Weatherby, it has safety limits below those of bolt rifles. It was designed with a limit to the amount of case head thrust it can accept, just like the Contender. When loaded to the same chamber pressures, the larger diameter 7mm SAUM exerts ~8% more thrust on the standing breech than a 7mm Remington Magnum does. This may be enough to cause action stretching or at least hard extraction.
If I was a custom barrel maker and knew that many handloaders will load to over-maximum pressures anyway - why would I set myself up for a lot of complaints from foolish customers by chambering for marginally safe cartridges? Frankly, it makes good business sense to eschew these cases. Let those who want the larger diameter cases go elsewhere and complain to those guys - outta be right up VV's alley.
