Mike, I know these bullets are on the costly side but they really are an accurate bullet and an excellant deer slayer. There the barnes "spitfire" series in 245gr. and 285gr. there an all copper "boatail" bullet. There expensive to sight in but how many do actually usehunting conditions? In the 245gr. they are very close to they same POI out of my encore as the Hornady SST's which are essentially the TC Shockwaves. The reason I'm suggesting this is because TC's (omega and encores) barrels are typically a little smaller than lets say a knight or some of the others. The barnes series generally tend to fit these barrels better than most and therefore they load like a dream, tight but not overly tight. This was one of the main reason I went to them but after all of the other benefits of this bullet I would recommend this bullet on the performance of it alone. It should be considered by the serious big game hunter as well. The SST's do load tighter in my barrel than the barnes. Since I'm hunting with the barnes spitfire's I can just shoot the SST or shockwaves for tacking paper and such butI always check with my spitfires. Barnes has a new bullet out for January on their website but I haven't shot it. It's a poly tip boattail that's similar to the SST's and Shockwave. I don't want to sound like a rep. for Barnes but the weight retension is 99.?% and you know what that means, penetration, penetraion, penetration. It would not bother me at the least to take that load and go after an elk or other big game without jumping to the 285gr, however that might be a little better, from what I've seen it's an awesome bullet that shoots extremely flat. If you'd like to try one but can't find a dealer they were packaged also under the "Ultimate Slam Series" by knight. It's the same bullet and they come in pack's of 10 I believe. Just try all kinds that's what it's all about anyway. Just go blow some smoke it's a blast. LOL Good luck.