First of all, thank you to all the folks on this site who have been helping me make some decisions on my venture into muzzle loading.

I have narrowed my choices to either a T/C Omega in .50, SS with synthetic stock for $400, or a Knight Revolution in .50, SS with synthetic stock for $409 (after $50 rebate).

Which way would you experienced M/L experts go? Thanks in advance.

I liked my knight much better than my omega . It was much less finiky , more accurate .

Both of them would be excellent choices. I do not see where you could go wrong.

Look at some of the different places for better deals though...

http://www.natchezss.com./ Natchez Shooting Supply has the Knight Revolution .50 caliber with stainless 27" barrel and composite stock for $398.71 before the $50.00 rebate knocks it down to $348.71. They have the Thompson Center Omega with STS barrel (stainless steel) and composite stock for $369.80. They are a good place to do business with and could save you a few bucks. You might also want to wait and look at the Knight Vision $327.69 which is the Revolution without the hammer. It is 100% waterproof and fully camo colored. Of course not too traditional....

I would also check prices of these rifles at http://www.dnrsports.net/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=DSC&Cat egory_Code=muzzleloaders Their Knight Revolution is $391.94 before the rebate and their Omega is $368.31...Again, save you a few bucks.

Good luck with your decision. I personally would go with the Omega.

Thanks to all for your help and recommendations. While I think either one would have been great, I decided to go with the Omega. Just placed my order with Natchez... Cayugad - thanks for the recommendation!!!

I have decided to try the rifle first with just open sites... most of my deer shots would be in the 50 - 100 yard range... if the old (56Yr.) eyes don't work well enough then I will look into scoping the rifle.

One more question... what would you recommend for a starting bullet, powder, and 209? I think I want to use pellets until I get some experience...

Again... Thank You!

Save your self some money.. get a see through powder measure with a cut off funnel andloose powder. It will really save you a lot of money. If you decide to get loose powder pick up a pour spout funnel that fits right on top of the jug and you pour from the jug into your powder measure. When you want to hunt, take some plastic film canisters and put a premeasured load in them and carry five or six or pick up some speed loads. What you save on loose powder VS pellets you can probably buy the powder measure.

If you want to use pellets then get some 50 grain Triple Se7en and load two of them. They seem to be what a lot of shooters of pellets recommend. I do not shoot pellets.

I would start with some of the low power Remington primers that have hit the market if I could find them. I think they are really going to help Omega shooters with a crud build up. If I could not find the Remington in my area then I use the W209 Winchester primers and have no problems.

As for powder, I really do not have as much experience with anything other then real black powder, Triple Se7en FFg or Pyrodex. I have heard some great things about Black Mag3 but have never layed eyes on it. I like American Pioneer Powder but it is impossible to get in my area and some report it loves to suck moisture from the air. I never saw that happen but I would not say it is not so. Pyrodex is a nice powder but dirty. Triple Se7en FFg is a great powder but leaves a hard crud ring although maybe the new primers will stop that from happening. If you swab between every shot the crud ring should not be a problem so I guess I would get some loose Triple Se7en FFg.

I would pick up some 250 grain T/C Shockwaves. I would load 100 grains of Triple Se7en and then put a Shockwave on top of that and see what happens. I am sure there are some Omega shooter that would be glad to share their loads and secrets...

Good luck with your rifle.

My omega like 295 grain powerbelts , with 90 grains of 777 behind them , It didnt like the 250 or 300 grain sabot bullets at all .

My stainless Omega does not like 777 in any form. It makes a bad crud ring that I do not like to have to deal with. Everyone that I know that has an Omega and can find Black Mag'3 powder is extremely happy with it. Black Mag'3 seems to work the best in the Omega like they were made for each other. I can shoot 295 Powerbelts or 300gr. sabot bullets as long as I use Harvester short sabots. Other sabot bullets seem to be very difficult to load in my rifle. With the BM3 and Powerbelts I have shot four or five shots in a row without a swab between shots and they all group in less than two inches at 100 yards. My next recommendation for powder is American Pioneer fffg or Pinnacle fffg. I have had better luck with APP but the Pinnacle is still very new to me so not much history yet. After these I would recommend Pyrodex long before going with 777 especially if you want to use pellets although I agree pellets are not for me. I measure my charges and put them in small 1/2 ounce bottles that fit the bore of the rifle so I can just dump the correct charge actually faster than pellets and the powder does not care which side is up (joke on the pellets as they do). Also I would not recommend Winchester 209 if you can find the new Remington kleenbore lower power use those if not try CCI primers. I had bad results with Winchester and 777.

I can't get past the "wrist" of the Revolution. Really an odd anglefor me and is not at all comfortable. I elected to pass on buying one.

After Knight corrected the blowback issue, I understand the Revolution is an excellent shooting ML. Just does not feel comfortable to me.

I put a laminated thumbhole stock on my Omega. Sweet!!!!!!
Like an extention of your arm. Rock solid and comfy!

My .02

I am a huge knight fan, but not sure if I like the revolution over the omega. I have had a bunch of knights. I like their new vision. But its bascially a copy of the omega. I like the elites and omegas cuz thier barrels are mostly freefloated. But the revolution has that 30-30 styling, I am not sure about. With the separate forearm and all.

Thanks man , you just saved me $50