Why 3 pellets/ 100+ gr 777?
I spent 10 years hunting with my first ML...a $120 Traditions Deerhunter that shot great to 150 yards with its stock open sights once I took a file to the sear and got rid of the 13 lb trigger pull. I shot 85gr Pyrodex and a 240gr Hornaday HTP. That setup must have killed close to 30 deer...I'd have to sit back and count and I would never recall them all. I used it even in regular firearm because I hate inaccurate guns and I couldn't afford an accurate shotgun.
I hunted mostly in my friend's woods and my grandfather's woods, and whatever standing corn we owned. Open field kills happened but were rare as it's hard to get close shots in flat, open fields.
Well, my friend made a lot more friends in college and his woods got pretty crowded. My grandfather was nearing the end and I knew my uncle would inherit the woods, ending my hunting days there. Standing corn in November is rare. So I could see I would be pushed into the open fields...full of deer, but unreachable with the trusty sidelock (150 yards was only for perfect shots...usually passed much over 100). Additionally, after years of corrosive pyrodex, the point-of-impact began to creep and soon I had the sights pounded way out of center to keep it sighted in. Then my grandfather died and I lost woods access. Time to change guns and tactics.
Enter the Omega. Topped with a ranging Leatherwood scope and armed with a laser rangefinder, I set out to conquer those open fields. With Surveyor's advice I pillar bedded the action and tamed its flyers. I must have spent close to $200 last year on powder and bullets, running dozens of combinations in until I found the absolute best load. I burned a couple lbs of powder over 200 yards alone with that load (200gr Shockwave, 110 gr 777).
Sure, most of my kills last year were within 150 yards. The gun is just as deadly there as far away, if not more so. While I may have shot 200 rounds over 200 yards, that was because that's what it takes to be comfortable out there. After years of hunting, plinking, and competitive shooting, AND having just pumped 200 rounds "out there", it doesn't take many at 50 yards to be comfortable there and know where to shoot.
So I guess "why 150 grains"? Because my current hunting circumstances dictate that. I feed my family, my sister's, and my parents with my Omega, and occasionally donate another deer to a neighbor whose doctor won't let him eat any domestic red meat. The deer are also so thick there that I'm doing the ecology and farmers a service by thinning them, so I don't really care about the "sporting" aspect. If I want sport or adrenaline, I use a bow...shooting a deer at 20 yards with a gun is too easy and there's no adrenaline there after all these years.
At the end of the season, once I have enough meat, I'll pull that old sidelock off the wall and head for the woods if there isn't a crowd to get my "sport". I still love to still-hunt, but the Omega isn't for that. I hate scopes in the woods. If I'm going to have a scope on it, it's going to be for shooting far.
