Tonkin

For Christmas this year I received a T/C Omega. I have been a hunter for many years, but this is my first experience with black powder. I was wondering if anyone knew of any sites or resources where I might be able to learn some things about muzzleloaders. Specifically I am looking for information about all the different bullets and things such as range for these bullets. I have been using T/C shockwave 250 grain bullets with 2 50 grain pyrodex pellets simply because that was what came with the gun. The only problem is that these are a little expensive to use while familiarizing myself with this gun. Are there some cheaper alternatives I can use when sighting and "fun" shooting that will still give me good performance when deer season rolls around?
Basically, can you tell me where to find everything I might ever possibly need to know about black powder so I won't spend the next 10 months bothering you guys with all my questions.

cayugad

Welcome to the forum.. I think you will find a lot of people who can give you excellent advise and hints on how to get started. Just ask your questions. There are a lot of Omega shooters on the forum.

Tonkin

Alright, just remember you asked for it.
Based on my experiences in regular firearms, I think I would prefer sabot projectiles. I think that for me accuracy is the most important property. If I can be accurate enough, the after penetration performance shouldn't matter as much for the whitetail I will be hunting. Are there any benefits to any other type I need to be aware of before picking my main bullet? If I am going with sabot type, what are the different properties of the bullet types? Are the ones like the shockwave with the polymer tip the best or should I go with a hollow point? What are the kill ranges of these type bullets and what is the best distance to sight in my gun? Should I stick with pellet type powder or try loose and customize my charges? Which is better pyrodex or triple 7?
Thanks for any advice you can give. I understand most of this may be personal preference, but I don't want to spend too much time and money only to find I am doing something wrong or should be using something else.

cayugad

For the time being you might want to stick with Thompson Center projectiles like the Shockwaves in 200 & 250 grain and the T/C Mag Express XTP's in 240 grain. As for pellets or powder, powder is much cheaper to shoot them pellets. Triple Se7en is a nice powder but can form a crud ring. 100 grains of powder is a good starting point.

There are a lot of Omega shooters on the forum. They will jump on this thread and give you all sorts of recommendations.

yakfisher

Here is a pick of a target I shot with my Omega just after I got it. It was also part of my Christmas. The load is 100gr 777 pellets with a TC 240gr XTP-MAG bullet. Cabelas hasthe Hornady .430 240gr HP-XTP's $11.99 per 100, .452 240gr XTP-MAG's $13.99 per 100 and Harvester Sabots $5.99 per 50. The bullets are in the reloading section under components. The sabots are with the BP stuff. Even with shipping included, this brings your cost to about 25-26 cents a shot. The only thing cheaper would be a 22 rimfire. These all will work well out of your Omega to practice with. 777 Powder is a lot cheaper to shoot than pellets and you can fine tune your loads better with powder. I also like 777 powder better than Pyrodex. It is a lot less corrosive. You don't have to clean the gun right away with 777. Be aware though that you will probably need to swab with a wet patch(50% alchohol/50% window wash) between shots when using 777. 777 leaves crud in the barrel that could make it hard to load a sabot or possibly get a sabot stuck in the barrel. Also a fowled barrel will have a different POI than a clean barrel. The DVD that came with your gun should help you out a lot. I really like the TC Shockwaves. The 250gr Shockwave is going to be my main hunting bullet. I have another ML that I am setting up exclusively for short range stuff and I will be shooting 300 gr XTP Mags out of it. There are a ton of Omega shooters on this forum. I am sure you will have a lot of responses to your post. Hope you like your Omega, I love mine. I put a Sims recoil pad on mine. It is a lot easier on the shoulder now.





The flyer to theleft was my fault not the gun. The group to theright was a three shot group at 25yds.

Omegalover

I just got my TC Omega ML last christmas (2004) and didnt knowmuch about them either. So far I am thrilled with the preformace of this weapon.

After reading a bit and talking to some folks Idecided to keep it simple, I sighted my rifle in with (2 pellets) 100 grainsof 777 andTC Shockwaves in250 grains.

Right out of the box it shot similar groups to Yakfisher's above at 25 yds, at 100 yds it is less than a 1.5 inch pattern from a rest.

This year I am going to get a little more ambitious and try different loads (powder and pellet)and sabots, I have heard that each gun is really like an individual and will shoot different groups withdifferent combinations of loads. I am hoping to reduce that 1.5 inches at 100 yds to about 1 inch or less.

Which brings me to a few questions that I am sure Tonkinwill have also:

About what is the max effective range I may expect from a ML Rifle?

If I sight in at 100 yds I am sure it will be fine out to 150, but how can I determine what my drop would be?

Would it even be wise to take a shot beyond 150 yds?

I dont like not knowing what my projected trajectory would be. Iwant to have a fair degree of confidence in the accuracy and repeatbilityof my load once I work one up, and knowing where that bullet will go once I let 'er fly.

mouthcaller

Question for you Tonkin - Do you have a scope on your gun or do you plan to use open sights?

I bought an Omega Z5 in October. My experiencewas that I could shoot great at 50-75 yards with the fiber-optic sights that came on the gun, but the front sight obscured too much of the target (in my case deer and coyotes) beyond that distance. For that reason I mounted a scope.

If you plan to mount a scope I would most highly recommend the Talley one-piece mount custom made for the Omega and Encore. You can order direct from Talley for about $55.00, which beats the heck out of what TC gets for their mount and rings (about $100.00) which are inferior to the Talley system.

Check it out: http://www.talleyrings.com/al.htm

I choose the simple path as far as bullets and powder: 100 gr 777 pellets and 250gr Hornady SST bullet/sabot (identicle to TC Shockwaves - Hornady makes them for TC). Good accuracy and so far great terminal performance in the one deer and one coyote I've taken with them so far. Good luck.

Tonkin

Thank you all for the advice so far, it is a lot to think about already. As to the question of a scope, I do not think I will be using a scope for several reasons. Mostly because I can aquire a target a lot quicker with open sights than a scope and also I would not feel comfortable using a scope on a black powder rifle, it may sound stupid using an advanced inline ML, but a scope would just feel too high tech.
A couple more questions:
Is there any difference in between shot cleanings using powder instead of pellets? I saw the note about cleaning with 50% alcohol/ 50% windex when using 777 powder, but what about pellets? I am currently cleaning with one patch of T/C no 13 bore cleaner and 2 dry patches between shots, is this too much?

cayugad

There is no difference, you clean between shots, no matter the kind of powder,to get better accuracy, and to help in the loading of the next round. I am sure the T/C #13 will work just fine although I do hope your not using bore butter to protect the rifle with after shooting. A personal preference is all....

Buellhunter

100 yards, sighting in,2 are to the right adjusted the scope,bingo
Of course this was with my CVA Optima Pro


Better picture of it.