Took out my Omega stainless/comp and a Knight Wolverine Youth, both in .50.
In the Knight, I was shooting the T/C Cheapshots 240 gr and the T/C Sure Fire sabots 230 gr JHP. 70 grains of FFg 777, (since my measure doesn't go any lower than 70) and Winchester 777 primers. It's got a Bushnell Banner 4x32 with the circle-x reticle. Zeroed it at 50 yds and it kept stacking them all in the same ragged hole. At 75 yds, it was three holes almost touching or actually touching each other, with the point of impact right where it should be. I'm not going to let my 9 year old shoot past 80 yards so it's good to go. Do any of you have an idea what the velocity of these loads would be? I don't have a chrony, I'm just curious. I know that they'll do in a deer at 80 yds without a problem.
The Omega was a little more work. Omega stainless .50, comp stock, Burris 3-9x32 Short Mag with ballistic plex reticle. I started at 50 yds. All loads were 110gr of FFg 777. I swabbed between every 3 shots. I had a few different bullets to try:
200gr Shockwave-- Easy to load with moderate pressure. I was hoping that this would be "the one", but alas, not for me. It would put 2 touching and then 2 about 2 inches out. After the third consecutive time, I moved on. With all of the good reports I've heard, I'm really disappointed in it.
250gr SST-- A little harder to load than the 200's but still good. I only had 6 left from last year. Two three shot groups at 50 yds were all touching or cutting each other.
300gr SST-- Loaded like the 200's and 250's. Shot exactly like the 250's, same point of impact as well.
285gr Buffalo SSB-- Loaded very easily. Cut one ragged hole at 50 yds.
325gr Buffalo SSB-- Again, loaded very easily, but groups were horrible, 3"-4" at 50 yards.
350gr Hornady FPB-- OMG, I couldn't even get these down the barrel without a sledgehammer. QLA didn't help at all. The tips kept getting stuck in the threads of the ramrod and pulling out. 3 shots and a 2" group at 50 yds was enough. I had high hopes in this for a non-sabot load (if needed), but I'll keep looking.
300gr XTP Mag--Guess this is going to be my go to load. Loaded easy, and shot well. It was kind of an afterthough load. I'd used the others in my bag and remembered these were in there.
75 yard results (farthest I could get at the house I was at). 2- 3 shot groups with 110gr of FFg 777. Swabbed every three shots.
285gr SSB--I couldn't believe how bad this one was with another 25 yds added on. 3"+ groups.
250gr SST-- I was out of them after the 50yd groups, I'll have to get some more and shoot them.
300gr SST-- Around 1.5" groups.
300gr XTP-- Still putting them in one ragged hole, just like at 50 yds.
All of my shooting was done from a portable shooting table with sand bag rests. I know that lots of people swab between each shot for optimum accuracy, and when I'm interested in getting the tightest possible groups, I do too. But for hunting, I know that if I need to take a second (or god help me, a third) quick shot, I'm not going to be worried about swabbing before I do, so I want to know how the rifle will shoot in that situation.
I was surprised that all of the bullets pretty much kept the same point of impact on the targets, within an inch or so. I was also very surprised in how easily all of the sabots loaded in the gun. T/C is a bit notorious for tight barrels, and the last Omega Z5 I had was very hard to load with any sabot.
I also couldn't believe how hard the FPB was to load. I'd read on another forum that people were having good success using them in Omegas.
It was SO hard to load that I had to literally get a wooden block to tap on the ramrod after the first couple of inches to get it seated. When I loaded a second time, I forgot to put the powder in, so then I had to use a bullet puller to get the FPB out...yeah, it was almost as hard to pull it out as is was to load it. The bonus was that I did get to see the base of the bullet where the rifling had been engraved. I almost wonder if these bullets were made too hard, as when they were going down the barrel, they literally screeched the whole time (kind of sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard, for lack of a better description).
Hopefully this week, I'll make it out to one of the farms I hunt to do a little longer range work.
Being on vacation is great, even if I don't go anywhere else. At least I have time to do some shooting.
