Omega Z5 & Swift Scope @ the Dinger Farm
 

Sunday morning... what a great morning - 8:00 am - 63* great Temp! But i was faced with a decision I had to make...

1. I really need to go to the DeWitt farm (sister-in-law) get in a stuffy old cat - hook up to the disk and spend the morning running the disk over the fire lines around the house and out buildings.

2. OR - go to the Dinger farm and shoot! I worry a bit about shooting at the farm in July because of fire - but I figured if I got back in the gravel a good distance and shot into the green spring wheat, I would be OK... Seemed like the right thing to do to me.
Grabbed IRB's Omega that I had topped with a new Swift Reliant scope stuffed that into the truck along with the other shooting stuffs and headed to Dingers.

Got to the farm and got set up... I had bore sighted the scope the other night so I set the target at 25 yards. Loaded up a .452-250 Gold Dot/Deep Curl and began to punch holes.

The reason I have the rifle is that Shane sent it out here to see if I could loosen the bore a little for him. After the bore treatment I found from the experiments at the house the MMP HPH-24 loaded the best for me so I started off using them.

Shots 1 and 2 (group 1) were off the bull a bit so I ajusted the new scope a bit and launched 3 & 4 (group 2)

That was enough at 25 yards for me so I moved the target to 75 yards. Walked back and adjusted the scope again. This is where I made the rookie mistake... I adjusted the scope 8 clicks up and 16 clicks 'Left' only somehow I managed to go 'RIGHT'. I blame it on Tom, the land owner - he was talking to me while I was moving the scope.

You can see the results of the move with group 3. I also switched bullets and sabots for this group. I went the Harvester Short Black and a Hornady .452-250 gr FTX. As soon as I shot #1 one I new what I had done but finished the 3 shot group just for drill.

Next moved the target board to 100 and ran the scope back the Left as it was suppose to go in the first place. Shot group #4 @ a 100 yards and felt pretty good about that group.



Loading... and remember I am totally biased - there is a difference in loading pressure required to get the 24's through the crown and Harvesters. For me the 24's load with much more consistent pressure through the crown and down the bore. The Harvesters require more pressure to get through the crown but go do the bore with about the same pressure as the 24's. I think this all goes back to the Polymere formulation the two companies use. I have always felt the MMP's have a softer more pliable formulation - which really helps in cold weather and on a cold barrel and then on the other hand the Harvesters hold up better in the heat as they are stiffer.

The Scope You know for the first time out - i am impressed with that Swift scope. Really did not get to use it that much much, but man is that thing clear. The last thing I did, as it was warming up fast, was to walk out get the 100 yard target and on that same trip I planted to clay pigeons @ 125 yards. I plut them in the wheel track and stood them up against the some spring wheat stalks. I looked back at the shooting bench and I was sure I would be able to see them. Walked the target back and looked for the birds from the bench - I could not see them at all. So I sat down at the bench and looked through the scope. All I could see was a bit of orange in the wheat in two spots. Loaded up and dispatched two FTX's at the bottom of the 2 different orange spots. Got em both.
I took some pictues of the shoot... it was fun

Well that rifle is doing well. And it loads good, which was the issue as I remember. Are you planning to shoot more with something else, like Lehigh's?

Sixty-three degrees? DANG, I'd go shooting too. Our low last night was 79*.

Looks like you have that gun set up just fine Sabotloader. Good shooting.

By the way, I can't tell you how many times I've adjusted a scope left when I wanted right, or vice versa. Have seen it done by others lots of times too. There must be something funny that goes on in our brain to causes it.

No Lehighs? i am shocked lol... good shooting, looks like shane has a shooter to look forward to. Ray

Well, I just sent Shane's stock south for a camo job - but luckly I have another Omega stock that I just put on the Z5.

I was really going to shoot some Lehigh's this morning it just warmed up to quick. I really needed to load and shoot the bullets that Shane was trying to load and the closest thing I had to an SST were those FTX's and even those are all gone now and I will not be getting more any time soon.

You know while I was shooting today - i spun the drill bit in the BP after the 10th shot - it was not real difficult but tonight when cleaning the gun up I ran the flash channel again. It was really bad - I am really surprised that it even went off there at the end, but I never detected a problem. I know one thing if it were my gun that BP would be going to the shop if I were going to shoot BH shot after shot.

Maybe I will get some more time later in the week and go back with some Lehigh/Bloodlines.

I am surprised the BP was that bad after only 10 shots.i have shot 20 -30 rds out of the Triumph with BH and there really wasn't that much build up.flame doesn't have far to travel with the Omega BP.. Ray

It is my experience that the longer breech plugs don't foul as quickly as the shorter plugs. My Omega, and Accura plugs have 5/32" flame channel for this reason. The breech plug in the Triumph worked just fine with the factory 1/8" flame channel. The 3mm flame channel in the QRBP worked just fine for me, but mine is now 1/8", and that works just fine also.

Whenever, i modify a breech plug, i now let the length of the plug tell me what size to make the flame channel. The long plugs are left at 1/8", or made 1/8", whereas the short plugs are all changed to 5/32".

This very same thing happens to me. My Omega(s) have continued to shoot, and shoot well, when nearly plugged with carbon. Arriving at home i have been unable to get a 1/16" drill into the flame channel, a time or two. This is why i am such a staunch believer in the design of these plugs. They continue to ignite BH, when it seems they are too plugged up to work.

What has happened to me, and i shouldn't divulge this, i keep shooting my Omega, and end up with flame cut primer seats. The plug in my rifle right now has the primer seat drilled deeper to remove the flame cut, and a metric o-ring installed to keep it working.

As i write this, all my short plugs have 5/32" flame channel. The long plugs work just fine with a 1/8" flame channel. I can shoot, a long plug as many times as a short plug side by side, and they both work fine. I may be jumping to a hasty conclusion here, but it kinda seems the longer plugs are actually better for igniting BH, than the short plugs, if they are designed properly. By better, i mean they seem to require less maintenance.

Which is part of the problem...

Ray, we have found long ago it is the volume of gas that the flame channel can hold that truly makes the difference.

The short plugs with the 3 mil or American plugs with the 1/8" channel will clog very rapidly. Moving the channel to 0.159" makes a huge difference + keeping the channel as long as possible i another way of keeping the channel open longer.

In your case with the Triumph and the Speed Breech, the volume of the channel is increased even though it is only a 1/8" channel by the length of the plug. So the plug will not clog near as fast.

If! you can get the bullet out of the barrel prior to the blow back filling and building pressure on the nose of the primer the bullet exiting the bore will actually suck the plug somewhat clean. The length of the Triumph plug makes this almost a common reality.

I have modified my Speed Breech by opening the flash channel and installing a Lehigh Vent liner on the end of the plug. I have not shot the Triumph enough really for it to be conclusive but it really makes a difference in how well the plug breathes. In addition the inverted cone of the Lehigh does not allow as much gas back down the flash hole as some is shed and deflected off the sides of the inverted cone and against the walls of the bore. It kinda acts like you trying to pour water down a funnel - only the funnel is upside down. All of this allows TIME for the bullet to exit the barrel.

But then again, for the normal hunter shooter - how big a problem is it - if you do your homework. Think Semi had a whole big thread one time about doing your Homework

It seems to me that in the barrel between the breech plug, and the bullet the pressure exerted by the burning powder is the same in all directions. This pressure is exerted by the gases of combustion, and this pressure pushes equally everywhere in the rifle. These gases that happen to be headed toward the flash hole will go into the flame channel. The gases that are headed elsewhere won't. The shape of the head of the vent liner doesn't change which gases end up in the flame channel. If the gases hit the head of the vent liner, they won't end up in the flame channel whether of not they reflect straight back or off toward the barrel.

As i recall you have written before about being a teacher/coach. It seems you have a college degree. When you wrote a paper whilst in school, your professors wanted you to include footnotes to sources of your information. Can you provide a footnote or link to an experiment or study that verify the Lehigh vent liner does really perform as you write it does?