The Contender , and G2, are for lower pressure rounds.
The Encore will handle higher pressure rounds think .416 Rigby.
The Encore is heavier then the Contender and G2, and I wasn't impressed with trigger on mine. You can have a trigger job done to make it better.
The Contenders had the best trigger but when you either dry fired, or let the hammer down without firing, you had to open the breech to reset the trigger.
You don't have to do that with the G2, and the Encore.
My Encore had the fifteen inch .45/70 barrel, and I had a .308 Rifle barrel for it.
My Contender had a ten inch .44 Mag barrel, and was very accurate. And I had a custom twelve inch .22 hornet barrel with a 4X Leupold scope on it. Also a sixteen inch .223 barrel, and a sixteen inch 410/.45 barrel.
The hornet barrel would clover leaf three shots at a hundred yards.
The Encore .308 barrel was not nearly as accurate.
If you want the ability to switch from hand gun to rifle, you MUST buy either the G2 or Encore with a pistol barrel. You can grow it, but you can't shrink it.