JUST GOT A T/C OMEGA Z5

[jmfairbanks]

hello everyone, Im new to muzzleloading and new to this forum. I have spent the last couple of days reading forum threads in all different forums looking for info and a friendly, helpful group. I got a T/C omega Z5 for christmas and have some questions and would be thankful for some feedback. I was shooting a CVA .50 cal powerbelt (245 grain) with 2 50/50 777 pellets and got talked into buying the T/C shockwave Sg sabots with the blue tip (250 grains). I also used 2 50/50 777 pellets for this projectile. My problem is with the T/C shockwave they are all over the place. With the CVA powerbelt i had less than 1 inch of spacing at 50 yrds. Any ideas what to try with the shockwaves or should I just stick with the powerbelts? My average shot will be 75-150 yrds whitetail deer.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I don't like the Super Glides, I had the same problem, they just didn't group well in my rifles. I've had much better accuracy with the black sabots that come with shockwaves. I've read many good reviews on the shockwaves, with only a few bad reviews. I think they would work good for you on deer. I also don't like powerbelts. They are accurate in my rifles but performance on deer is nothing compared to a barnes 250 gr TMZ. The barnes bullets group about the same as the shockwaves, so I target practice wtih the SW, then deer hunt with the barnes bullets.

 

[jmfairbanks]

I just looked up the barnes 250gr tmz, looks very much like a centerfire rifle bullet. I will have to order some since no one around here carries them. How many grains of powder are you putting behind them? Thanks for the advice

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

We use Blackhorn 209 powder which is similar in velocity to T7. My son uses 80 grains of BH209 for shots at 100 yards and less. This helps keep the recoil low for him since he is only ten years old. 80 grains may sound like too small a charge for deer hunting but it has plenty of knock down power. He has taken 3 deer this year (2 does, 1 buck), his furthest shot was 105 yards and this combo dropped a doe in its tracks. The other two only ran 20 yards. With older shooters, we use 110 grains of BH209, just in case we have a longer shot, up to 200 yards is usually our limit. The barnes TMZ with the yellow sabot is a tight fitting combo. You may have trouble pushing the bullet down the barrel but it is very accurate. The barnes TEZ with the blue sabots are easier to push down the barrel but you may lose some accuracy. I'm in the process of trying a harvester crush rib sabot with the barnes TEZ bullet to see if it helps to retain accuracy with easy loading.

 

[greyfox]

you r not crushing the pellets r you if you crush the pellets it will sling them . i shot TC PH using t7 loose 100 gr 200gr. SW it shots great .,do not crush your pellets see how it does . hope this helps jim

 

[jmfairbanks]

im pretty sure im not crushing the pellets, im only pushing until i feel it hit bottom,

 

[Barry]

With my Omega TC, I push the bullet down and can feel a very slight "give" in in the pressure resistance when I put the final pressure on the sabot over the pellets. At first I thought I was breaking the pellets so I loaded and unloaded the gun several times to get confidence that the pellets were not breaking. Sounds a little silly to load and unload but it gave me greater confidence when sitting in the deer woods.

Nothing better than having confidence in your load. The modern inclines with the easy-screw breach plug helped me through my paranoia about broken pellets.

 

[Nutoy]

I did the same as Barry after reading about crushing the pellets.

What I noticed was after pushing the sabot down until it bottomed out on top of the pellets, and I pushed on the rod with a little more force it would go down about another 1/8", almost like it was "snapping" in place. What I have realized is that this "snap" is the pellet seating inside the concaved bottom of the sabot. This is with both the Hornady 250 and 300 gr 50/45 SST's.

I havn't tried the Powerbelts yet so I can't say if they are the same.

 

[jmfairbanks]

thanks for the advice barry, i did the same thing today to see if i was crushing them and im not. my next question is how far should the actual sabot fly and what should it look like afterwards? im getting them from 15 to almost 50 yards and it breaks off one of the ears if thats what you wanna call it. some break off all and some dont break any

 

[Barry]

my next question is how far should the actual sabot fly and what should it look like afterwards? im getting them from 15 to almost 50 yards and it breaks off one of the ears if thats what you wanna call it. some break off all and some dont break any

Others may want to comment on this but I think damaged sabots mean that you may be using too much powder. Inspect the sabots as you experiment to find your best load. If you think you have found your best load but the sabots are damaged, dial the charge down to see if you get any improvement on your pattern.

 

[Harry1]

Hi JM. There is a lot of good information here and you should be able to find info on your exact load and gun. It sounds like the sabot is the problem with the SST/Shockwave in your gun and 100 grs (2x50 pellets) shouldn't be too much for the sabots. Look in the section 'Inline Muzzleloading' and the very first sticky has a ton of info on total bullet diameters with different sabots and bullets. The goal is to match all that to your particular gun to just a firm fit. It's been my experience that the SST/Shockwave can be one of the most accurate bullets so I don't think the problem is the bullet. Good luck!

 

[jmfairbanks]

I want to thank everyone for all the advice, I read every comment left and take them into consideration. tomorrow im going to play with the load a little bit and see what i can get going. I went utside today and had over 20 turkeys and a black bear on my 7 acres. lol all waiting for the feeder to go off at 5pm. The bear is off limits but the turkeys sure arent. please keep the advice coming.