TWANG

I spoke with a guy at TC Arms this morning who is a tech specialist and he shared some good info I would like to pass on. By the way, I ordered an Omega and scope this AM.

As you can imagine TC does lots of testing at their facility with the various models produced. They have found the 250gr Shockwave with 3 50gr pyrodex pellets to be the most accurate. The Shockwave is actually produced by Hornady and is called the SST by Hornady and branded as the Shockwave (with a yellow tip) by TC. I was suprised to hear 3 pellets and told him that from what I had read most guys use 2. He said 2 is OK but 3 is better, and the gun is built to shoot 3 50gr pellets or 150gr powder.

Anyway, here are some trajectory numbers he gave me for the 250gr Shockwave with 3 50gr pyrodex pellets: Sighting 0 at 50yds = 0.4" low at 100yds AND 9.5" low at 200 yds. Sighting 0 at 200yds = 2.4" high at 50 yds,.. 4.3"high at 100yds,.. 3.7" high at 150" (the bullet starts dropping at ~150yds),.. 2.3"high at 175yds.

Tim

TomDrechsler

I was really surprised to hear that. Thanks for the information.

Rebel Hog

THANKS TWANG.

cayugad

This might be true but... each rifle might be different. For that general of a statement I would disagree. I have a Black Diamond XR and granted they are talking about the Omega. Still, in my rifle with a shockwave 250 grain the best accuracy comes from 120 grains of loose Pyrodex. I have shot the 150 grain loads and accuracy could not compare to the 120 grain loads. Also the difference in accuracy from 120 to 100 grains made me a firm believer in I did not need all that recoil from the hotter loads.

Also the hotter the load the more chance of breech plug seizing, crud rings forming, a bad flinch developing, and the scope coming back and knocking the snot out of your forehead....[:@].

I would say test your rifle and you be the judge. What works for one might not work for you. Although the techs at T/C are pretty accurate most the time and are sure helpful with any thing you might need to know.

[&o] I can remember when the Black Diamond XR was the top of the line for the Thompson Center line of muzzleloaders... times and designs have sure changed.

Triple Se7en

Many of us knew that Twang. The Encore/Omega owners always seem to report the best accuracy with three pellets. Next best after the Shockwave/SST are the Hornady XTP-Mag 240 grains. Then comes the Barnes Spitfire 245 gr. With lead-only, Precision DC/QT bullets around 220 grains & Buffalo S.S.Bs in 285 gr seem to carry the best accuracy with 120 grain max loads in those guns.

newhunter35

Wow, and I'm planning on using the 460 grain No Excuse bullets for my hunting round. I should have some Black Mag3 in about 2 weeks when my wife goes to Georgia. I am having her stop and pick up some BM3 from Mid-South Shooter Supply. Will give a range report in about 3 weeks. Looking forward to the BM3 and the NE connicals.

Paul

MLKeith

I will be watching for the results of the 460 NE bullets with Black Mag'3. I have been using the powder but the heaviest bullet I have shot with it to date is 300gr. I would recommend that you start fairly low in powder grains as my 300gr. SST bullet with 90gr. of black Mag'3 punched completely through an elk at about 100 yards. 100gr. of Black Mag with the same bullet hit 2000fps. over my chronograph. If I was going to shoot the heavy bullets I think I would start at about 75 or 80 grains. You are going to love this powder, especially with the heavier bullets as the performance is better with heavier bullets and it is unbeliveable for clean shooting.

newhunter35

Keith,
I plan on starting out with 60 and work my way up from there. I look forward to seeing my deer fall within sight of my stand or at least giving me a bloodtrail that my 4 month old son could follow.

Paul

PigBuster

Most of this past season, I hunted with one of the .50 caliber Omega (laminated thumbhole stainless) models and after shooting 400 or so rounds through the rifle to determine the "BEST" load for this particular rifle, I finally settled on a WEIGHED 80-grain charge of FFFg Triple Seven behind the 250-grain Hornady SST. Now, a "WEIGHED" 80-grain charge is the volume equivalent of right at 114-grains of FFFg black powder. Velocity out of the 28-inch barrel (26 3/8-inch working bore) was 2,068 f.p.s. and the rifle consistently shot inside of 1 1/2-inches at 100 yards.

I had one of the Leupold 3.5-10x40mm tactical scopes mounted on this rifle. I sighted the rig to print "dead on" at 100 yards, using the crosshair for my aim. Then at 200 yards, I found that I could use the first "mil-dot" below the crosshair...put it squarely on the target...and the bullet would impact only about an inch low. During one shooting session, I managed to put three shots at 200 yards within 1 3/8-inches. If I had been shooting at 100 yards, it would likely have looked like one big hole!

On my first hunt with the Omega last fall, I managed to drop (and I do mean drop) a nice 150-class northern Nebraska ten-pointer at 208 yards with the rifle and load. I was impressed.

Let me say this about T/C factory provided load data and ballistics...Don't Expect To Get The Same With Your T/C Rifles. I'm sure you've all seen their advertisements claiming 2,203 f.p.s. with a saboted 240-grain bullet and 3 of the 50-grain Pyrodex Pellets.

Now, I do a lot of choronograph work...and the best I have ever gotten this load to do, velocity wise, has been 2,010 f.p.s. - not 2,203 f.p.s. as T/C claims.

Also, if you shoot the pellets (Pyrodex or Triple Seven), and you have an electronic powder scale, try weighing and separating your pellets into lots that are within a half-grain of each other. I've found some boxes of Triple Seven Pellets where the pellets varied as much as 2.3 gains from high to low. And with a so-called 150-grain charge, that means a load can vary as much as nearly 7 grains. Just a thought.

Toby Bridges