Mike

As I have recently learned, ease in loading the .451 and .452 bullets in my new Omega depends on having the proper SABOT. Check out my posts recently asking Sabotloader about this topic, specifically problems loading Hornady SSTs.

Hornady makes both the SST and the Shockwave bullets. T/C just buys them from Hornady with a different color polymer tip and calles them something else. I used the SSTs this year (my first with an inline) and took two deer and lost another one, but I had a he!! of a time loading them. People that shoot the Shockwaves don't seem to have as much problem loading them. The reason is that Hornady and T/C supplies different sabots in the packages with the bullets. Sabotloader put me onto the company that makes the sabots, MPP out of Harrison, Arkansas. The HPH-12 sabot that comes with the SSTs is too hard and thick for the tight Omega barrels. I ordered some HPH-24 sabots from MPP, which are tiny bit thinner (0.001 - 0.002 thinner) and more pliable,and now the SSTs load without any problem. I also bought 50 and 100 count boxes of 250gr .452 Hornady XPTs and 300gr .452 Speer Gold Dot bullets from Midway USA, and these bullets (same size as the 250gr SSTs) load just as easy with the HPH-12 sabot. As a plus, buying the sabots and bullets in this manner is much less expensive than buying them in 10-20 count boxes.

As for the performance of the 250gr SST: They are very accurate out of my gun but didn't leave much of a bloodtrail. I hunt in very thick cutover and really need a bloodtrail to find the deer even if they run less than 100 yards. I took two deer (both pass-through behind the shoulder lung shots) very cleanly. The first, a spike that dressed 130 lbs, only went about 15 yards, but no bloodtrail. The second, a large doe, ran about 80 yards but only spilled blood for the last 20 yards or so. Fortunately she fell in an open woods and I had no problem finding her. The last deer I shot still haunts me. It was another large doe on the last day of the season. I only found hair, no blood. She ran into the thickest mess you ever saw and I never found her, though I was very confident with the shot and feel strongly that she was dead. That is the only drawback to the SSTs that I have, the fact that the blood trails were minimal. For this reason I am looking to use the hollow-point, jacketed, bonded bullets that I previously mentioned (XPTs and Gold Dots) next year. By buying them in bulk I can afford to practice alot with them over the summer. Other people that hunt with the XPTs have told me the terminal performance is excellent.

The Barnes bullets I'm sure are excellent, I just can afford to shoot them for as much as I want to practice. Nearly all of my shots will be inside 100 yards anyway, so I want a bullet that opens quickly and stays together. The 300 gr Gold Dot has a BC of .230 and should provide good downrange performance - we'll soon see.

Whatever bullet you decide to use, if you have trouble getting them down the barrel of your Omega, consider the HPH-24 sabot. Basically you can find a sabot to matchvirtually anybullet you want to shoot.

Good luck