ORIGINAL: 1eyebuck
Hi All,
I'm new to this site and wanted to see has had good experiences with 150 grains of pyrodex and TC shockwave bullets. I bought a TC Encore Endeavor and shoot it about 15 times. The first time I shot it I was low and right, 3 times and I was in the bullseye at 50 yrds. Moved out to 75yrds and was 1" high. Next shot was way high and way left, I noticed the stock was loose so I brought it back to where I bought it from. They tightened the stock up, 2 full twists of the bolt. I went back to the range, first shot dead bull at 50 yrds. 1" high dead bull at 75 yrds. Went to 100 yards and was 1" at 1oo. All this time I was shooting 3 x 50 grain pyrodex pellets and I used 300 - 250 and 200 grain T/C ShockWave bullets. Each shoot a little different but once I set the scope for it the group is the same about 1.5" apart and 1" high at 100 yards. I did have some difficulty loading them but found this was after the barrel cooled down so I load it immediately after the shot and it loads easly. I live the simplicity of this gun. I have the T/C Hawken and Knight MK 85 SS and though the Knight is hole in hole I shot it much more and know it's broke in. I'm pretty sure I will do the same with this one just need more practice.
Anyhow I bought this gun to take advantage of magnum loads for my Iowa hunt. What I would like to know is what speed is a T/C Shockwave 200 grain bullet traveling and how much foot pounds of energy at 100 - 150 - 200 and 250 yards with 3 x 50 grain pyrodex pellets?
I can say there is a noticeable delay of hearing the impact at 100 yrds from a 300 grain to 250 and from 250 to 200. A 200 grain impact is almost immediate at 100 yrds.
BTW - I also had issues with the 300 grain Shockwave opening up. I shot a very buck 10 pointer with 110 grains of loose pyrodex powder and a 300 TC ShockWave at 50 yards. There was no blood, no fur and a hole clear though a 6" thick sapling behind where the deer was standing. I thought I missed after searching for an hour and nothing. I didn't give up and went back the nextday, found him 100 yrds from where I shot him laying between two blow downs, all I saw was horns sticking up.
I really want to shoot the 200 grain ShockWave bullets, I think they would be in comparison to a 30-06 and should defiantly put the knock down on them as long as they open up. But I have no information on these bullets, there isn’t very much to go by because I can’t find anything online about them. I will try them on a watermelon with in the next few weeks and let everyone know what it did to it. I think this is a good test, this is very soft and if it opens on it, a broad side shot should be fine. After that I will try it on a frozen turkey for a shoulder shot. I’ll keep you posted.
I hope to hear from you, thanks.
I have a friend who shot the 250g SW this year out of his Triumph with 150g of 777 and he shot 3 deer with it. One of the bullets he found under the hide in the hind quarter, since it was a quartering to shot, he said the bullet was perfect and could be shot again if it had the little plastic tip on it. What you experienced is common with this bullet, very, very accurate bullet no doubt, but not opening up is a complaint---therefore "long blood trails or no blood trails".
I toldmy friendto go to Barnes TMZ or Barnes T-EZ 250g, which is what Irecommend you do. Sight in 3" high at 100. I would also switch powders to Blackhorn 209, shoot 120g or whatever gives best accuracy in your gun, maybe that is 110g. BHdoes NOT leave a crud ring in your gun and is easier to shoot. It is harder on Breech plugs however. I know the Pro Hunter and Encores like the hot loads.
You will be within 3" from 0 to 200 yards if you sight-in 3" at 100. Limit your shots to under 200 or practice to 250. I also know a lot of guys hunt in the midwest with Savages and they use 300g Barnes Origonals, which have aballistic Coeffieincet of .292, however most agree that .250, is the better number, that is exactly the BC of the 300g SW. So that also is a good bullet for long range shooting, again 3" high at 100. My experience is that 300g bullets shoot thru and you loose only 1" at 200 yards using them, so I always shoot 300 in all my guns. The recoild is more, butmost of the time it is Boom Flop with 300gbullets hit in the bread basket anywhere.
Bullets are what cause a lot of "wars" of words on many forums. Please accept these words are only 1 man'swisdomfrom reading a lot, not having shot them in a hunting situation. Oh and arethe SW accurate in my Savage, you bet, this was at 92.5 yards with 44g of 5744 and supplied SW sabot:
did I shoot the SW at game? Nope, why? Cause I read a lot of the same thing happeing to guys just like you.
Another great bullet is the 275g or 250g Parker Ballistic Extreme, that shot well in my Savage also, but I had to switch sabots. That is another great long range bullet. So you got 3 choices:
Barnes TMZ or T-EZ (flat base is better one)
Barnes Origonal (a bit too hard for Whitetail, but good on long range)
Parker Ballistic Extreme (just right for Whitetail, fragments on bone shots, but still dead right there)
Chap