T/C Shockwaves and Pyrodex
 

I recently bought a T/C Omega and am trying to come up with a good load. My buddy says he shoots the T/C Shockwaves (250 gr) with 150 grains of Pyrodex. That seems like alot of powder to me. I've heard that the sabots will melt and leave alot of fouling in the barrel if too much powder is used. Does anyone have experience with this? And how is the quickest and best way to clean the plastic foulings from your barrel? Thanks

RE: T/C Shockwaves and Pyrodex
 

Actually that load is not all that uncommon. Lots of people shoot Shockwaves with magnum loads. Personally I would try them with something less then 150 grains. More like 120 grains. Only you and your rifle will know what the best load will be.

RE: T/C Shockwaves and Pyrodex
 

Personally, I'd steer clear of the magnum powder charge. I shoot the 300gr SST/Shockwaves over 80gr of loose 777 and get one hole accuracy and 1500fps at the muzzle. Pushing the 250 with 150gr of Pyro is more than likely not going to give you great accuracy. Acceptable maybe - but not great.
And I would suggest trying the 300gr version as well - they will often shoot better than the lighter bullets.

For plastic fouling, you need to use a bore brush to do some good scrubbing after you're done shooting for the day. CVA makes a solvent called Advanced Shooters Sabot solvent thet you can patch thru to help disolve any plastic. OR you can use a couple of patches with hardware store Acetone on them - that stuff will sure knock out soft plastic. This is above & beyond your normal cleaning to removed the powder fouling.

RE: T/C Shockwaves and Pyrodex
 

I use the 200 grain T/C Shockwaves in my Encore and have not had any issues with "plastic" fouling. I have shot them using three 50 grain Pyrodex pellets and currently use 130 grains worth of Pyrodex pellets. The barrel gets the the typical powder fouling between shots but that is all I have noticed. I think that if your rifle shoots it's best with 150 grains, go for it. This is something you will have to find out for yourself by doing a lot of testing at the range. Don't just shoot 150 grains of BP because your rifle can handle it. Find out what load shoots the best from it.

If you do experience plastic fouling, use Mark's suggestion.

RE: T/C Shockwaves and Pyrodex
 

Add my name to the list of folks who have tried 150 grains of Pyrodex (pellets) and backed off the 130 grains (two fifties and a thirty). Whether you like the pellets or not, they seem to be the way to go if you are going to load more the 120 grains. It doesn't seem like 150 grains of loose Pyrodex burns very completely.