Help with bullet
 

I am getting ready to sight in my new T/C Omega I am more a deer hunter then anything else, I am asking if anyone has come up with a good bullet as far as performance and accuracy from their Omega. The threads I have read on power belts and their performance on deer is not good and then the threads I read about T/C shock waves and how hard they are to load especially if you need a second shot which could happen to any of us like it or not. These were the two bullets that I was going to use. Any help you guys can give as always is apreciated. thanks Mike

RE: Help with bullet
 

If I owned an Omega I would also get some 200 & 250 grain (even some 300 grain if you like big bullets)Shockwaves to try in the rifle. Some Omega's are hard loaders. From some of the posts I read, it is clear that not all of them are necessarily hard loaders. Until you try you will never know. Also the swabbing between shots seems more necessary when shooting Triple Se7en because of the harder crud ring. You might want to consider Pyrodex. Although it is filthy stuff to shoot, it does allow second and even third shots and will swab out of the barrel easy when it comes time to clean.

Another bullet you might want to pick up is some T/C Mag Express 240 grain & 300 grain XTP's. I base all this on my Black Diamond XR. Which other then a different ignition system must have a similar kind of barrel since they are made by the same company. I have shot up to five shots of the above listed projectiles without swabbing. Also the accuracy they demonstrate is excellent and all of them are game takers.

After you work up a set load, then you can start to experiment with other kinds of bullets out there.

RE: Help with bullet
 

I shoot 250gr Shockwaves w/100gr 777 in my Omega. I have no trouble starting the first or loading a 2nd round. Some of my friends also shoot the same setup and experience no problems. I haven't tried any other projectiles since I'm perfectly happy with the Shockwave and confident out to 140 yards. If I ever get the pics out of my hunting partners camera, I'll post the pic of the 8 point I shot with that load at 140 yards.

Good luck with your Omega, I don't recall hearing anyone dissapointed with theirs. I'm not!

RE: Help with bullet
 

Mike, I know these bullets are on the costly side but they really are an accurate bullet and an excellant deer slayer. There the barnes "spitfire" series in 245gr. and 285gr. there an all copper "boatail" bullet. There expensive to sight in but how many do actually usehunting conditions? In the 245gr. they are very close to they same POI out of my encore as the Hornady SST's which are essentially the TC Shockwaves. The reason I'm suggesting this is because TC's (omega and encores) barrels are typically a little smaller than lets say a knight or some of the others. The barnes series generally tend to fit these barrels better than most and therefore they load like a dream, tight but not overly tight. This was one of the main reason I went to them but after all of the other benefits of this bullet I would recommend this bullet on the performance of it alone. It should be considered by the serious big game hunter as well. The SST's do load tighter in my barrel than the barnes. Since I'm hunting with the barnes spitfire's I can just shoot the SST or shockwaves for tacking paper and such butI always check with my spitfires. Barnes has a new bullet out for January on their website but I haven't shot it. It's a poly tip boattail that's similar to the SST's and Shockwave. I don't want to sound like a rep. for Barnes but the weight retension is 99.?% and you know what that means, penetration, penetraion, penetration. It would not bother me at the least to take that load and go after an elk or other big game without jumping to the 285gr, however that might be a little better, from what I've seen it's an awesome bullet that shoots extremely flat. If you'd like to try one but can't find a dealer they were packaged also under the "Ultimate Slam Series" by knight. It's the same bullet and they come in pack's of 10 I believe. Just try all kinds that's what it's all about anyway. Just go blow some smoke it's a blast. LOL Good luck.

RE: Help with bullet
 

Mike, Just called Barnes to get new pricing for 06 and they've lowered thier price on all ML bullets. They are:
Barnesbullets.com
.50 cal :New 250gr. TMZ(poly tip) package of 15= 13.54 / 24= 20.43 (also available in 290gr.)
.50 cal :Spitifire 245gr and 285gr. same price, package of 24= 17.84
.50 cal :MZ Expander series same price as spitfires.
*****They were in a 25 and 10 countnow they are 24 and 15 count packages.
*****All order's over 50.00 include free shipping.

RE: Help with bullet
 

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

RE: Help with bullet
 

Mike Hill

I am a pretty no frills person - so I am not much on those fancy expensive bullet/sabot combinations.

Thousands of deer have been killed with a simple old Hornady 240/250 grain XTP bullets through all the ranges that you might shoot your ML. It is my personal belief that the 240/250/260 grain range is the most effective weight for white tail in most any condition that you might be hunting. And that is not to say the lighter or heavier bullets will not do the job because they will as will the bullets that cost a $ a shot.

I personally have gotten atracted to the new Speer Gold Dots, both the 250 grain and the new 300 grain.

I am additcted to shooting - and more addited to shooting ML's hence my preference for the less expensive bullets. If you use your weapon for just hunting season then the expensive bullets may be your preference.

With your new Omega your biggest problem may be what sabot bullet combination you can get down the barrel with relative ease. It would be my suggestion that you purchase bullets and sabots separately. What would even be better is if you could find someone near you that would share a few combinations for a trail - so you did not have to buy materials until you find something to start with.

You didn't mention or I don't recall the caliber of your Omega but I am assuming 50 cal - if it is a 45 then please disregard this information - I do not have the experiance to help there.

Triple Se7en indicates his omega prefers the Harvester Sabot, another possibilty is the MMP HPH-24, and the Harvester Crush rib might be the last option at this time.

Good luck in your quest... get shooting as soon as you can you will love it.

RE: Help with bullet
 

Hey,
I may be wrong, but I think the Encore barrel is the same basic barrel as the Omega, just configured diffently. So, my info may or may not be applicable.

I started using 250 grain shockwaves in my Encore at the beginning of last season. The only bullet I have used in it is the 250 grain shockwave, with an occasional test of the 200 grainers and some hornady xtps. When I first started, the shockwavess were a bear to load. Very tuff. But, the results were worth itto me, cloverleaf groups at 100 yards and superb ballistics.

Now, after two seasons of use the shockwavess are loading much, much easier. Nothing like a Power Belt, mind you. But nothing like when I first started shooting my Encore. I may be wrong, but I think the ones I am using now are the same as the ones I was using in the beginning as I had bought several boxes that were on sale after last year's season.

Also, my Encore gets shot allot. I hunt just about every day, sometimes twice a day. Not for long periods of time, but maybe the last hour and a half of daylite or the first hour of the day on most days. On weekends and an occaisional vacation day, hunt real hours.At a result, my gun gets carried around allot in my truck, my 4 wheeler and through the brush. Being very paranoid about the scope being on, I shoot it at least once a week, sometimes more. This is in addition to an occaisional shooting session when I am just shooting for fun. So, my gun probably gets shot more than your average muzzle loader and the barrel may be "broken in" a bit more than some. I don't know if shockwaves changed the sabot, my barrel is broken in or what has actually occured to make the loading a bit easier, but my groups and the guns accuracy haven't diminished, just easier to load.

So, what I guess I am saying is go get a bunch of sabots and shoot the heck out of that gun!
Can't hurt and it might be fun!
R
Hank

RE: Help with bullet
 

Mike,

You have a nice rifle there.

I shoot a T/C Omega, using 250Gr Shockwaves and 100 Gr of 777 in two pellets. I get 1.5 inch groups of three shots at 100 yds, but if I try to shoot more than 3 shots without doing anything as in cleaning it gets to be a bear to load. I was attempting to simulate a hunting condition with the gun by not cleaning between shots. I figured worst case scenario for hunting purposes.

This year I am planning on working up more of a custom load to try to get those shot groups to less than 1 inch at 100 yards, but even if I dont get it to shoot any better a 1.5 inch group is more than sufficient to give me confidence in the gun that it will hit where I aim it.

I have shot twice and have two deer for the result,I think you will be pleased with your Omega, as my name implies I love mine.

RE: Help with bullet
 

Mike, I to have a new Omega it loaded and cleaned with difficulty so I fire lapped it now it loads and cleans much better it also shoots much better. I must tell you that I would never lapp a rifle if I did not have to;this particular gun sliced and chewed up cleaning patches to start with.
The shock Wavesshoot really wel in it I start them with a short starter then they load easily enough. You don't want something in that barrel thats so loose it can move off the powder. Lee