Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Looking for suggestions on a bullet/sabotfor my T/C Omega. I currently use the T/C mag express sabots with the 240 grain XTP and 100 grains of 2f 777. This shoots well and has performed equally well on game. My only complaint is they are tough to load(even on a clean barrel)and a follow up loading is a real pain in the butt. I have tried the PD Dead Centers before and really like them but I would like to find something a little easier to find locally.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Post deleted by T7

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Use the same bullet - but change the plastic sabot. Below is a link to MMP sabots. You need the green ones (.429/.430). Retrieve the phone number thereto order. Ask them on the phone if they still make the HPH-24s in green 44/50s. I think they do. That's the thinner of the two offerings in green. These will replace the ones on your XTPs.

http://www.mmpsabots.com/green.html

Here's a better coefficient bullet for a terrific price. Try them with the supplied plastic sabot in the Omega. If they load too tightly, switch to the Black Harvesters.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000308236

You pick out the place where you want to buy the black Harvester 45/50 sabots for the T/C Shockwaves. They will load the Shockwave bullet easier than the supplied sabot.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HARVESTER+SABOTS&btnG=Googl e+Search

You can also purchase the Dead Centers & QTs/Extended Ranges online at a few places.

http://www.prbullet.com

http://www.cabelas.com

http://www.bpbullets.com

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Some that I've had good success with out of my .50cal.Omega are:
1) 250 gr. Hornady SST (or Shockwave) in a Harvester short black sabot
2) 200 gr. T/C Shockwave in supplied blue sabot

Either one performs excellent for me plus theyload relatively easy also.

Good luck!

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

I thought the bullet diameter on the TC XTP Mag Express sabots was .452. They come with the black sabots. I thought I had to buy the same color sabots. Am I wrong? I want to buy some of the HH24 for my XTP'S because they load really tight in my Knight and I just bought an Omega tonight and have heard the XTP's are tight in them also. $169.00 at Walmart. I couldn't resist!! I don't want to order the wrong sabots!

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

you are correct the bullet in a tc mag express is .452

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

The T/C Mag Express bullets are 44-cal with black sabots -- much like the 44-cal black saboted T/C Cheapshots.

T/C wanted black sabots for their bullets & there's no law on sabot color. Most adopt by the color standards... but not all. Some of Buffalo's 45/50 sabots are yellowish/tan. Some of Precision bullets 40/50s have blue sabots.... some orange sabots.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000308246

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000308296

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Yes the Mag Express are .44cal pistol bullets and the sabots that come with them are made for .429 bullets. For the most part they should load good in most T/C rifles but I have seen some tight bores and T/C had a crappy bunch of sabots the put out a couple years ago and they are still in some stores. If you buy a box that has them call their Tech support number and they will send you some replacements. Interesting enough I have never had any problems with their bulk sabots loading well the only time I had trouble was the first batch of Shockwaves I bought.

Back to the Omega if it shoots anything like my Encore it will like bullets of .44cal to be over 250g weight for best accuracy. I buy the Hornaday 265g Interlock flatpoint and use bulk mag express or Harvester sabots with them. This is not a hollow point so I drive it pretty hard.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

250 gr. Hornady SST (or Shockwave) in a Harvester short black sabot

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

VAhuntr

I do not know if this will help you or not, but I was doing some testing today using the new Harvester "Crush Ribbed" sabot (50 - .451.452). They really did go down the barrel really easy - kinda reminded of the days when I tried PowerBelts. I was shooting a Austin & Halleck today and I have always thought of it as having a very tight bore. It was very difficult getting a regular Nosler Sabot down - but the "Crush Rib" was a piece of cake. Nobody I know around here has an Omega - can not use them in Idaho-Washington or Oregon during ML season so they have not made that big of splash here yet.

Looking at the Harvester site they do make a 50-44

http://www.claybusterwads.com/harvester.html#

Good luck

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

I have not been real happy with the 44-cal green Harvesters. That's why my earlier post today suggested buying the MMPs. I have discarded all my 44-cal bullets in favor of the.451/.452s due to occasional flyers. All this may be due to the hot 777 powder I use. Your results using the 44-cals with different powders could be quite successful.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

I should mention that I concur with T7 - I have also stopped using 44 cals because I would get that occasional flyer. I still have a lot of them in the gun cabinet but no longer use them for hunting. I do shoot them recreationally plinking. I know they generally have a better BC but I just don't have the faith...

It should also be stated that there are a whole heck of a lot of people that shoot them very successfully...

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

the bullet/sabot that goes down tight is your friend ,just find a way to get it shoved down to the bottom tight against the charge.I like to keep a thick potholder in my coat pocket as a palm saver,after you get your bullet started with a short starter it will go down. I used a 230 gr 45 cal 451.dia xtp hp with a 150 charge of loose 777 yesterday moring.Had a nice doe come out in my foodplot at the very back 226 yards with a range finder,one shot she hunched and ran into a thicket i reloaded and walked down there, she went about ten feet into he brush .bullet went all the way through . it made a perfect 45 cal hole on the entry side came out after hitting a rib just a little bigger. when i field dressed her the inside heart lung area was jelly.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Now Iam confused. I have some Hornady 240 grain xtp's in green sabots that I boughta few years ago. They are labeled .44 caliber. The mag express sabots(240 xtp's)that I bought in January 2004 do not say what caliber they are but they are bigger in diameter(they are shorter and fatter) than the .44 caliber hornady's.

Another side note....the mag express sabots that were included with the Omega when I bought it definately used a different sabot. The sabot was longer and thinner.

Thanks for all the suggestions as I will try some of those ideas out and report back. I have got 4 weeks of rifle season to go, so I have some time to play around with the Omega.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

VAhuntr

OK - maybe I can help a bit without further confusing the issue...

TC Mag Express: Are Hornady XTP Mags packaged in a sabot made for Thompson - 240 grain XTP's are .430 caliber and usually come come with a Harvester Sabot... Green sabots are usually and indicator of a .429/.430 sabot - BUT not always.

http://www.tcarms.com/TC_HTML/access_proj_magexpress.htm

There was awhile that TC was shipping Mag Express sabot/bullet combinations with a thicker sabot. As I understand it now TC has corrected that problem and everything is OK.

If you have one of these packages or if the new ones will not go down without applying brute force - consider the new Harvester Crush Rib sabot as an alternative.

Buying packages of sabots and bullets is expensive - I you want to lessen the cost considerably purchase a box of Hornady .430- 240 grain XTP-Mag bullets and purchase a package of 50 sabots. The 240 XTP-Mag has been a standard bullets for years for deer.

TC is also packaging the TC Shockwave which is also a Hornady bullet also, (Hornady's come with a red tip TC come a yellow tip)they have a 250 grain offering but that is a .452 caliber.

http://www.tcarms.com/TC_HTML/access_proj_shockwave.htm

Hope you are able to get everything worked out - and I will back to my original statement because I have heard so many Omega owners suggesting their guns are hard to load - try the new Crush Rib whether it be the .44 cal or the.45 cal.

Good luck

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

You covered that reply well. Poster vahuntr has a valid reason for being confused because T/C keeps changing their bullet packaging & plastic sabot makeup.

When T/C changed from Harvester to MMP 44/50s &all the complaints about difficult loading started flooding their phones & emails, Del Ramsey offered toT/C the development & manufacture of thinner HPH 24s for the 44-cal bullets. Prior to this, the only HPH-24 we could get was in 45-cal. So I think right now, with a phone call to MMP, anyone can get the green 44/50 sabots in thinner HPH-24 upon request..... I think - I haven't tried it myself.

I have suggested to Del to take that one step further. Do the same thing with the blue 40/50 sabots & offer a thinner HPH-24 for that one. The reason-being is all the bullet manufacturers for 40-cal bulk bullets come .400 diameter & fit too tight using those blue sbots (HPH-12 equivalent).

I have alot of bulk 40-cal bullets that are crying for a thinner 40-cal sabot. My 40-cal Shockwave bullets average .3995& aretough to load in non-QLA (flared) systems. My 40/50 Precision QTs/Extended Ranges with blue sabot average .3985 & load beautifully. So a thinner sabot in 40/50 may mean more petal-break-offs, but it still should withstand 80-90 grains for these massive supply of .400-cal bullets I have tried with the present blue sabot unsucessfully.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Ok now i'm confused I use a micrometer every day at work, I have for over twenty years so I know how to read one Just opened a package of TC mag sabots .50 cal 240 Gr xtp bullets with black sabots took the bullet out of the sabot and measured it, it was .452 don't know what else to say.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

When short on supply, they switch to the 45-cal. T/C doesn't care - they pay the same prices on bullets & sabots for either one. They signed a contract for X-amount of time to havea bullet companysupply their bullets- another for thesabots. Then T/C packages it under their own designated name.

It's alsopossible they've switched to the 45 without saying anything to the public. This happened when they switched from Harvester to Hornady/MMP plastic sabots. They stayed mum about it until the complaints multiplied.

Call TC by phone & mention that folks posted having two different packages.... one being 44s - other contains 45s on ML message boards. Then come back here & report what reasonsthey tell you.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

It seems like the only way you could be sure of what you are getting when buying XTP's would be to buy bulk bullets and bulk sabots. I may have to buy myself a micrometer just to be sure of what I am getting when buying TC stuff. I have always used Powerbelts until this year. This is really confusing for a veteran shooter, never mind a beginner.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

DNICK,

Please say it ain't so! but it is I just checked the Hornady site...

.430 240grain XTP
https://www.hornady.com/shop/

.452 240grain XTP
https://www.hornady.com/shop/

To me this introduces a whole new can of worms... Hornady is making several new bullets that were not listed a few months back...

Now a person is really going to have to be a bit careful when discussing 240 grain XTP's, and you can not always go by the color of the sabots... Black for a 45 and Green for a 44 are somewhat of a standard but not a guarantee. And to further complicate the problem TC does not tell you on the package what you do have... Possible another good reason to buy the XTP in bulk and sabots in a separate package.

All of this and the only thing we/I can tell VAhuntrnow is I do not know which bullet you have? The only thing I can now ask is what color of sabot camewith your XTP's? With out amicrometer that may be the only way you are going to tell, and then back to the original thought - which ever bullet you have .430/green sabot or .452/black sabot - Harvester makes a sabot that will PROBABLY be easier to load.

?????

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

This is what I have been trying to say all along. When I compare the .44 caliber xtp to the mag express xtp(Irealise Hornady makes these for T/C)there is an obvious visual difference.The xtp supplied with the T/C mag express is visually bigger in diameter and shorter than the known .44 caliber xtp.

Now, for a little more information! I purchased my current box/boxes of Mag Express at Wal Mart late 2003 or early 2004. Seemed to shoot well, have performed great on deer but as stated earlier a second loading without swabbing the barrel is definatelya major task, especially 20 feet up in a tree stand. I was at Gander Mountain this afternoon and picked up a box of Mag Express and instantly realised what the problem is. The sabots in the new box at Gander Mountain were obviously different than the sabots that were supplied with my current box. I bought the new box and compared the two sabots. The new sabot is longer(completely covers the bullet), the sides are thinner and seem to be more flexible. So I loaded one and it loads much easier on a clean barrel at least.

I then remembered that there were some Mag Express sabots supplied with my T/C when I bought it. I got my box out of my attic and guess what...those too were the longer, thinner and more flexible sabots as well.:) Hopefully my problem is solved and I will report backin acouple of weeks when I do some shooting. On a side note I also picked up a pound ofJim Shockeys Gold Powder that I plan to try as well.Thanks for all the help.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Hopefully, that Shockey powder is FFF. If not, I suggest getting the FFF APP or Goex Pinnacle. The FF is like rock salt & won't pour out most powder flasks. The FFF is a tad stronger also. That's a good thing!

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Yep, I got the 3f. Have you tried it?

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

My XTP'S are .430. They will fit in my 44 pistal chamber.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

Ok I called Thompson Center today customer servicesaid the 240 mag expresshas beenmade with .44 cal.and 45. cal bullets I asked if the packages were labeled or marked as in item number or other labeling she couldnt tell me and transfered me to the gunsmith, he wasn't a lot of help but he transfered me to Rollan who stated all current manufactured 240 gr.xtp mag sabots are .45 cal and that only the 180gr. xtp mag sabots are .44 cal. at this time. Some of packages had been labeled as having a 240 gr. .44 cal. bullet but none are labeled on the package as having .45 caliber bullets so all I can say is look at the package, and check what you are getting who knows if or when they will change again, for now I will continue to shoot them they work great in my omega.

RE: Bullet/Sabot for Omega?
 

My son-in-law got an Omega Z5 and we were sighting it in with .44 cal 300 grain hornady XTP bullets with the green hornady short sabots which are probably made by MMP and using 110 grains of 2F APP. 50 yards put two through the same hole. 100 yards had about an inch clover leaf with three shots with about a 3 inch drop from dead center. We only get 100 yard shots max in the woods we hunt so a 75 yard zero is good. Most shots are between 30 and 75 yards. The omega Z5 is one fine rifle for the money. No frills but fine performance.