2 weeks ago while shooting with a friend. He had a new box of 200 gr shockwaves. First one he tried to loadwould not go down the barrel. we pulled the breach kicked it out and yeah there was some fouling in the barrel. So we used some number 13 bore cleaner and gave it a try again. SAME problem. He was baffled cause he used a box of 250's pior and had no problems. It took both of us to get 1 down the barrel.

I grabbed one of the bullets and the blue sabot that came with it. When I put the bullet in the sabot it would not sit flush on it. It would get halfway. when I tried to force it to rest in the sabot it would push the flaps abnormally outwardandteh bullet would never rest in it.

I had some XTP's there and showed him that they fall right in place on the sabot with no problem.

I have never used shockwaves andwas not sure if that was normal or not. I thought I ran across a thread on some BP forum saying TC did package the wrong sabots with a batch of shockwaves. Anyone know anything about this??? Or any input on this particular issue?

The 200 grains Shockwaves are .40 caliber. They come with a blue sabot. I have also seen that the bullet does not appear to sit fully flush in the sabot during loading. I have never had a problem loading them or shooting them and they work really good.

I shoot a lot of shockwaves in my Omega. I use the 250gr.
and the only way I can get them to load is to use the
Harvester crushrib sabot. My omega is 50cal. Tried once
to load the speer bullets, don't think I could get them
loaded with a sledge hammer. I've ordered some 300 gr.
Barnes expanders and hope to shoot them soon. Hope
your friend finds his problem.

It was just weird. Of coarse he was not one to swab between shots either. So I can figure he just shot shot shot his last box then cleaned when he got home. I am not sure he even brushed out his bore. If that would matter or not??

But again I still could not believe how hard they were to load. It was soo bad he shot the ML twice then switched to his 22-250 barrel.

I think hemay be calling TC and see what they say.

If he was not swabbing between shots then it is no surprise that he could not load the rifle... Some of the rifles have to be swabbed after each and every shot. If he wants to get away with out swabbing, then he needs to go to American Pioneer, Pinnacle, or Black Mag3. Even though triple Se7en is a clean powder, I have to swab between shots or after every few shots...

I am sure Thompson Center will tell him the same.

Yeah itis sort offunny cause he isn't real internet savy and I wasexplaining where I got the info on why I was swabbing between shots.

He apparently took the gun home gave it a hot water bath and cleaned it out real good.

But I did explain the importance of swabbing between shots. Maybe he sees that now. I am sure I will find out our next shooting session.

racks-n-beards

There was a problem once with TC Shockwaves - but it involved 250 grain shocks and the sabots pre-packaged with them. Those packages should be out of the system by now. I have no experiance with the 200 grain shocks and blue sabots...

I normally shoot the 250 grain shockwaves and am 9 for10 over the past two years on shots and recoveries (and three recovered shockwaves). The week after Christmas, I shot a nice 8 point at about 90 yards, knocked it down. Whilereloading, it rolled upright and ran off as I stood there jamming a bullet down the barrel in disbelief. I have only been BP hunting for 2 and 1/2 seasons, but all my kills have been one shot, one kill, usually recovered within 25 to 50 yards (with the exception of this one). Had a good blood trail for about 100 yards, but it trickled to a stop. I know my mistake, shot high and hit it high over the shoulder and back. Hopefully, this deer will survive, we looked over 8 hours trying to trackit down. But, this was in no way a failure of the bullet, totally mine. Had myshot been an inch lower, I don't think it would have ever got up. Makes me sick to think about it.

Last year, after the close of the season, I boughta box of the 200s for five bucks on sale at wally world. A couple of weeks ago, I tested the 200s just to see if the poi was close to the 250s. At 100 yards, there was little change. As I had killed my limit of bucks, 3 and had one doe left out of a limit of 3, I decided I would take one more doe using the 200s.

Because I didn't have the chance to shoot over 100 yards with this bullet and load, 110 grains of 777, that was my distance limit. My intent was to get a head on chest or heavy quartering shot to try to recover the bullet.
I was only able to hunt 4 or 5 times in the past two weeks and although I saw several deer, I never had the shot I wanted to test out the 200s. I finally got a deer in the right position yesterday (the last day of primitive season here in Mississippi) afternoon for the shot but could not tell for shure that it was a doe and not a button buck. So, I passed.

Anyway, I am pretty sure the bullet will perform and will give it a try next year. Totally intend to shoot to 200 yards and maybe 250 to test the balistics. I tried shooting over a chrony, but at 10 yards I got readings all over the place, from 2400 down to 1000 (was a group of 4 shotsbetween 2350 and 2400). I know that this range is impossible because all the bullets were inside a 2 inch group, even without letting the barrel cool. Who knows, 2400 may be accurate, but I doubt it. I'll try the 25 yard trick with a brick in the next couple of weeks.

BTW, I noticed that when the bullet is placed in the sabot that with normal finger pressure the bullet does not seat all the way as you guys did. However, I do think that when you push the bullet/sabot combo down the barrel, the bullet does seat all the way. Don't know for sure, but when I unload my Encore tomorrow, I'll let you know.
R
Hank

ahankster,I had the same problem with my chrony and had to move it out to 25 when the sabot goes through with or right behind the bullet you get a reading on the sabot which is slowing down fast at that point. At 25yd it has separted but you are wise to make a shield of some sort to protect against the sabot hiting the chrony.Lee

Well he called TC yesteday. They said to ship thema bullet and the sabots and that they were going to send him a bunch back in return.

One thing is for sure.. Thompson's customer service is second to None!!! I called them with concerns with the camo screen printing on my forearm, no questions asked. Send it in we'll take care of it. Nother thing I called them back to see the status on the return shipment, no hassle at all, let me get you the tracking number.

Great Company!!!