Hello All,
A few months back I asked some general questions about in-line muzzleloaders in general and the TC Omega specifically. I wanted to thank all those who replied to my questions and share my observations about the rifle bullet combination that I used during our fall muzzleloader season in hopes that it will help some of the other folks who ask similar questions to mine. Since I will be writing primarily about the rifle/bullet combination I am posting in this forum and not the Deer Hunting forum.
The rifle used was a .50 caliber TC Omega with what I believe is a stage II breech plug. The bullet used was a 300 gr. 44 caliber Keith Nose Hollow Point from Precision Bullets. The charge was 90 gr of 777/FFg.
At the range the 90 grain charge gave me the best accuracy and the least noticeable crud ring. I fired two 3-shot groups @100 yards with this rifle bullet combination. The first group (measured center to center with a dial caliper) was 1.5". The second was 0.85"! The first shot from a clean, dry bore was in the group. With these groups I elected not to order the Hornet conversion for the breech Plug.
With heavier charges of 777 groups opened up, recoil increased, and the crud ring seemed to worsen.
According to Hodgon, this load should have been in the neighborhood of 1650 fps. Given that this is a soft, all lead bullet, and it is travelling @ a speed a little faster than a .44 mag would throw the same weight bullet (from a rifle), I judged that this load would be more than adequate for deer at the ranges I would encounter them. My results in the field, thus far, support my judgement.
The PA Fall Muzzleloader season is antlerless only. I was able to secure 3 antlerless tags. I was able to fill all three.
The first deer was double lunged @ around 120 yards with 0 yards to recovery. I can't explain why the deer just dropped and remained still without the spine being broken.
The second deer was shot through the neck forward of the shoulders @ 30 yards breaking the spine.
The third deer (and by far the largest) was double lunged @ around 60 yards. The deer fell but thrashed around some. The thrashing stopped between 15 and 30 seconds after I shot, while I was in the process of reloading to shoot again.
Cecil Epp's bullets performed exactly as I hoped they would. They expanded @ the velocities in question. They gave good penetration and left large exit holes in case I needed to blood trail. And, most importantly, they hit where I pointed the rifle.
A friend used a TC New Englander with a .50 cal UL1 Keith Nose Hollow point from the same manufacturer over 90 gr of goex FFg. The deer was shot @ 60 yards with zero yards to recovery. The bullet performed as advertised.
I completely recommend the Omega rifle. It is both accurate and easy to clean. In fact a friend has an American Knight with a 209 conversion. My Omega outshoots it and can be thoroughly cleaned in just a fraction of the time.
The only thing I don't like about the Omega is that the recoil pad seems extremely hard and does little to reduce recoil. I fitted a Pachmyr pad (softer and thicker than the pad on my omega)to the afforementiond Knight rifle which eased the recoil considerably (and improved the fit of the stock). Using Identical loads in each rifle the Knight is quite comfortable to shoot while the Omega is nearly painful. Limbsaver makes a prefit pad for the Omega that I may try. If anyone has any experience with Limbsaver pads let me know.
Thanks again to all the folks who answered my questions and I hope this post can answer a few for somebody else.
John
