Omega/Barnes
 

So far I've not been able to get the Barnes TEZ to shoot good in my Omega. I've tried the 290 and 250 with all the MMP sabots. I've been using Blackhorn 209 with 77 weighed grains. I shoot it once and disregard the first shot. Then shoot follow on shots for groups which doesn't turn out to great. Recently I bought 24 more 250 grain bullets and Harvester Crushed rib sabots to try over Memorial Day weekend. Seems anyone and everyone can get this combo to work....except me. I've had SST Low Drag bullets shoot good, but I wanted to try the Barnes and I want the Barnes to work.

Any tips?

Adjust your powder load. What may work for one bullet may not work for another bullet. Take it up 5 grains or take it down 5 grains and adjust a grain at a time from there. Also make sure you are giving plenty of cool down time for the barrel. Also, you are really goofing up in disregarding your first shot since THAT is the one that counts when hunting!

IMO to many people get way hung up on crushed rib sabots. I've owned many different rifles and to date, have never had to use a crushed rib.
Have you tried the supplied sabot? I've had a pile of T/C Encore platform rifles and every one of them shot the Barnes TMZ and the supplied sabot. I prefer a tighter fitting sabot, one that loads at or near 50# force (2-handed). If the TMZ loads to tight, then the T-EZ with the supplied sabot would work.
The copper Barnes doesn't obturate as easily as some copper/lead bullets, so the sabot bears most of the work. Its always been my opinion that when shooting saboted Barnes, the tighter the sabot, the tighter the group.

You might want to try a different powder also. Triple Seven 2f is a great powder for sabot shooting. But as the others said, if you're shooting BlackHorn 209 play with the powder charges and I personally don't swab between shots with BlackHorn until its really hard to load.

I hate that when you purchase an expensive bullet and then can't get them to shoot. Have you considered other bullets?

You can not tell what a gun and bullet combination can do with one load and one sabot.
I take the gun and bullet combination out with 3 different petal thickness of sabot of two different brands, first I push the different combinations through the barrel and write down the combinations that are not to loose or too tight and what order I will try them in. Then I set up my loads in tubes starting with 90 grains and trying every 10 grains to the max of the gun, I look at the targets and pick the best and try 5 grains on each side of it. If this does not give me acceptable answers I look for problems with the gun set up if I don't find any I go to a different bullet. Not all guns will shoot all bullets the most consistent ones I have found are the shock Wave , SST and the Lehigh bullets. It is my experience that BH 209 and Pyrodex will work if its going to work for me some of the other ones are more trouble than they are worth.

It's always been my impression that the first shot is a fouling shot. I've tried all the MMP sabots with the barnes. I'm really considering the Swift A Frame. Yeah, I know the a frame is expensive, I'm fine with that. I'm thinking I'll try 80 weighed grains next time out with 250 TEZ and crushed rib sabots.

So when you take your muzzleloader out for a deer hunt in the morning do you crack off a "fouling shot" then load and go for the hunt?

When shooting BH, I popped a couple primers, which provides a non-corrosive fouling to the barrel, then ALWAYS fired two (2) rounds to completely foul the barrel, then load it the day before opener. It remained loaded for up to two weeks in my SS T/C barrels. NEVER a single issue with corrosion. Now granted, if I were to get caught in the pouring rain I may fire the charge at the end of the day but, load it right back up again. Case remains in the cold along with an oiled rag. Wipe it down, put it into the case and then into an un-heated garage for the night.
My last couple Encore platform rifles sent the first round from a clean barrel, 4" high and 2" right. Because I hunted over agricultural fields, my first shot could be at 100yds or 250yds, or both...... meaning I may harvest more than one whitetail in a single setting. Conditions required a POA-POI.
Note: your results may vary.

I've always shot it once the day before our opener, loaded it, and kept it in the cold garage when not in my possession. Like Barnesaddict. The barrel comes clean as a whistle, look down it and no corrosion.

I just find it a bit frustrating I can read hundreds of posts about those that have good success with what I believe to be a great bullet and I have no luck with it.

Can there be something wrong with the equipment, such as a loose scope ring or mount? Are you using a solid rest? Could it be the shooter? What are you expecting for group size and are you capable of it? Has another proficient shooter tried grouping your rifle?

Just throwing out questions...... In years past I've had many shooters bring rifles to my range needing help to tighten up their groups. In general, most all of those shooters were shooting Barnes bullets also, or ended up shooting them. CVA, Traditions and many T/C rifles. I believe all but two of those rifles shot Barnes with the supplied sabot. The two that didn't, one was a CVA Accura that loaded pretty hard, even for my standards, with the TMZ bullet and supplied sabot. However its owner still ended up getting 3/4" groups at 100 and last year took a doe at 265yds. The other was a Bellm Bergara replacement barrel for a Pro Hunter a buddy bought used. The original barrel was toast, so he replaced it. Loading the TMZ was difficult at best, so he changed to the T-EZ which loaded fine. After a couple hundred rounds, he switched back to the TMZ. All these rifles were shooting BH209 at 105 to 110grs volume.