What Sabot/Bullet do You Recomend?

[hill1970]

I just got the T/C Omega Z5 and will be using it for Texas Whitetail Deer. What sabot/bullet do you recomend that has good accuracy and will not leave me searching for a weak blood trail?

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Barnes 250 or 290 grain TMZ or TEZ works great for me. Always good blood trails.

 

[black powder]

BARNES EXPANDER MZ .250 GR. with powder and primer of your choice

 

[rc67]

I just switched this year to Harvester Scorpion PT Gold 260 gr. after years of using something else. I shot 3 deer this season with that bullet and have been totally satisfied with it's performance. Great accuracy and blood trails (not that I needed them, all 3 deer were dead within 30 yards).

 

[double brow]

Speer Gold Dot 300 gr. with a harvestor crush rib sabot. Knocks em dead. Either DRT or a good blood trail. I like them out of my Omega. Have shot numerous deer with these. Farthest any of them went was 50 yds.

 

[OptimaAndy]

250 grain Shockwave or the 250 hornady SST. Pretty much same bullet. Or the gold dot 250/300.

 

[TJJ]

All of the above are good suggestions. Try a few combinations of bullets/sabots and powder charges. Then let your new omega help you make the decision on acceptable accuracy.

 

[coop2564]

I use the 285gr barnes spitfire I usally find quarter size peaces of lung along with much blood.

 

[hawgslayer]

8)

POWERBELTS :!: :!: :!: I use 295 GRAIN H/P's. Easy to load and great groups. Blood trail was good enough that I could have followed it in the dark and no bullet fragments anywere. Both were pass thrus. :!: :!:

 

[sabotloader]

hill1970

Well you did not say whether you wanted a premium bullet or an economical bullet...

My choices:
Premium - .452/250 grain Lehigh HP
Economical - .452/250 grain Speer Gold Dot 10 to 175 yards...
- .452/300 grain Speer Gold Dot 20 to 200 yards...
(The Speer Gold Dots are a bonded bullet and expand to a given point - actually to the dot. I often call them a poor man's Nosler)

Sabot now that is a different story, cause you need to find out what size your bore is to actually know the correct sabot.

In my Omega - I shoot the MMP HPH-24 sabot, the Harvester Long black or Short black could work also but I prefer the MMP.

If your bore is tight then you might need a MMP HPH-3P-EZ-Load of the Harvester 5045RB 'Crush Rib'

I shoot 110 grains of T7-2f with any of these bullets...

 

[Nutoy]

I filled my last doe tag this evening with the wifes new Traditions Pursuit XLT 50 cal, Hornady 250 SST sabot on top of 100 grs T7 pellets. I sighted it in with this load yesterday and it was doing 1.25" groups at 100 yds.
The doe was broadside at 80 yds. Shot placement was just behind the shoulder and the exit hole was about 1.5". It went about 10 yds and piled up. Massive blood trail a bind man could have followed.
One buck tag left and I am hoping to fill it with HER Knight Vision.

 

[Widude]

I've had great accuracy & hunting with the Hornady 250grn SST/TC shockwave. I never lost a deer hit with one, over 10 the last 2 years. I still may try something different next year. I bought some 300grn Hornady 45cal XTP .452 bullets that fit great with a Harvester sabot in my Knight. I just tried these bullets with a Knight black plastic sabot, & you couldn't get them down the bore at all. That shows once you have a bullet in mind you may have to try a different plastic jacket to get the right fit for YOUR gun. In my case both of these jackets were listed for the .451-.452 bullet. I tried because I have a coupon for more of the Knight jackets at a local store, after my test I will just go Harvester.

 

[mirage1988]

If you like the shockwave/hornady you can save a few bucks by buying the bullets and sabots separately. At cabelas the harvester sabots are 7.99/50, and the 250 grain .452 dia. hornady ftx bullets are 26.99/50. The hornady sst with sabot are 14.99/20 so they are approx the same cost, but the t/c shockwave with sabot is 28.99/30.
The advantage to buying your sabots separately is that once you find one that shoots good in your bore, you should (!) be able to use that sabot for most bullets of that diameter, to take one variable out of the puzzle.
In my encore I use the 325 grain hornady ftx .458 dia bullet with a harvester crush rib sabot, they usually don't go far (about 2 feet straight down )
The ftx is the bullet that hornady uses in their leverevolution ammo- the 325 is used in the 45-70 and .450 marlin and the 250 is used in the .450 bushmaster. Sorry if this is long, hope it helps.

 

[GM54-120]

My favorite hot load bullet is any Barnes that expands. The 285gr Spitfire and MZ Expanders seldom fail.

At a more affordable price, most of the Hornady FTX/SSTs have done very well for me. The 300gr FTX/SST being the best. You can buy them loose in FTX and get your own sabots or SST with the sabots. The SST is supposed to have a bit thinner jacket than the FTX.

I really like them and you can get weights from 200gr to 325gr. Even a 265gr 44 caliber made for the 444 Marlin.

The Precision Rifle Dead Center and QT series lead boat tails are growing on me too when i find them on sale.

 

[Barry]

Shockwaves did the job for me this past deer season but the arguments being made for the barnes expanders are pretty compelling. Guys on this site have shown pics of their Shockwaves after hitting deer and they generally are blowing into fragments.

I will be picking up some Barnes T-EZ's and if they perform as advertised, will be my bullet of choice for the 2010 deer hunting season.

 

[SJAdventures]

If we narrowed it down to Barnes alone what are the pros and cons between their different bullets?

Barnes TMZ or TEZ?

 

[GM54-120]

I use the 285gr barnes spitfire I usally find quarter size peaces of lung along with much blood.

This is one of my favorites too but can be a bit harder to find. They seem to prefer to be driven a bit on the warm side for solid expansion but not bad.

 

[GM54-120]

If we narrowed it down to Barnes alone what are the pros and cons between their different bullets?

Barnes TMZ or TEZ?

TEZs are easier to load in tight bores. I think it also has a flat base instead of a boattail w/ploy tip. I "think" the TMZ is still a boatail and with a poly tip also. At most ML distances (close range) the original Expander MZ is devastating. The hollow point is huge and expansion is violent.

In my experience they expand a bit better over a wider range of FPS than the older Spitfire MZ but not a huge difference. Standard Expanders have awesome expansion at almost any velocity

Several Barnes bullets can be bought without sabots but the price difference in minimal. The XPB and another are basically just a Expander MZ. I got 40 on sale for $30.

The Spitfire MZ is a boattail (see avatar pic) with a fairly small hollow point and no poly tip. Its pretty hard to go wrong with any Barnes but for slightly less/more (depending on bullet), Lehigh makes Brass bullets of at least similar quality on a lathe...very close to totally "Hand Crafted" quality.

Maybe even better quality than Barnes. They lightly knurl the outside of their bullets to help grab the sabots better while in the barrels rifling.

The only Barnes "con" is price and the 285gr Spitfire MZ IMO works better with heavier powder charges. At least 100gr of powder..not really a con considering its purpose. The 245gr Spitfire is a good option too for 100gr charges and the lighter 40cals can be awesome if you can get them to shoot well in a 40/50.

Lehigh brass 250gr $56/50. He makes GOOD STUFF!!