Author Topic: TC Omega Accuracy Issues Resolved! (Read 1820 times)

djmbow · « **on:** April 03, 2006, 10:56:33 AM »

Just thought you guys would like to know that the new Omega Z5 that I was having so much trouble getting to shoot well, (see TC Omega Accuracy Issue post below), is now shooting 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards with no difficulty at all.
During a discussion with Frank at the Thompson Center Repair Shop the question of powder contamination came up.
When I told Frank that I was cleaning the bore after every shot with a very wet Rusty Duck Black Off patch, followed by a dry patch, he suspected that some of the excess cleaning fluid was accumulating in the breech plug cavity (which was not being reached with the dry patch) and leeching up into the powder load on successive shots.
He told me to just swab the bore after each shot with a damp (not wet) patch with TC #13 on it followed by a dry patch.
I took the gun to the range this morning and following Frank's swabbing instructions, I was able to shoot several groups of 1 1/2" or less at 100 yards using 250 gr. Shockwaves over 100 grs. of loose Pyrodex RS.
Feeling confident that my accuracy problem had been solved, I decided to try another bullet/sabot combination to see how the gun behaved.
I happened to have some 45 cal., 300 gr.,.452 dia. Hornady XTP's in my shooting box that I stopped using because I couldn't get them down the barrel of the Omega with the MMP HPH12 sabot on them.
I took a few of the HPH24 sabots that came with the Shockwaves and substituted them for the HPH12's and now the XTP's loaded beautifully.
I didn't have a lot of time to experiment with them, but at 50 yards they seemed to be grouping just as good as the Shockwaves (1 1/2" or less).
Since the XTP will probably be my bullet of choice for deer hunting, I just ordered a 100, 45 cal.,250 gr.,.452 dia. XTP-HP's and 100 MMP HPH 24 sabots.
Plan to stay with the 100 grs. of loose Pyrodex also.
Don't want to jinx a good thing now that I finally got this gun to shoot.
Want to thank everyone for all their help and useful suggestions.
Happy Hunting-------------

Redhawk1 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2006, 10:59:13 AM »

Glad to see it worked out for you.

Adkhunter · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2006, 12:18:47 PM »

So glad to hear that you resolved the situation you were having. I was reading the posts and was stuttering everytime I read your terrible groups..and I don't studder!

I'm very glad for you. Hope this hunting season is a good one for you.

Doublejake · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2006, 01:52:49 PM »

Good God, I was shocked to hear your issue, I get 1" groups at 100yrds, most of the time with two holes touching. I use 100gr of pyodex pellets, and a 245gr Hornady Xtp Bullet/sabot combo. I shoot that combo better than my Remington 30-06 700 BDL. Which is about a 1.5"- 2.0" at 100yrds. Stick with whats working. Thank God mine was the first load combo I tried.

str8shooter48 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2006, 02:19:55 PM »

Glad to hear you got a shooter.

djmbow · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2006, 02:43:10 PM »

Thanks guys for all the support--------
I started off using 44 cal., 240 gr., .430 dia. Hornady XTP's with the green sabot.
Since they loaded so hard in my Omega, I thought I could get better results if I used a real wet patch soaked with Rusty Duck Black Off and thoroughly cleaned the bore before trying to push another XTP down it.
Even though I ran a dry patch down the bore before I poured the powder in, apparently it wasn't getting all of the Rusty Duck cleaning fluid out of the breech plug.
I should have suspected something was wrong, because a couple of times while shooting, the 209 primer failed to go off and when I pulled it out, it was saturated with bore cleaning fluid.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is, not to try any short cuts.
If you are going to shoot saboted bullets, you must get the appropriate bullet/sabot combination for your particular gun and not try like I did to "jury rig" the situation by over cleaning the bore in an effort get a tight load down the barrel.

AndyHass · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2006, 04:02:30 PM »

Soooo many variables in ML shooting...none of us even thought to ask about that! I just use a spit patch....spit on one side, run it down spit-side-out (being careful not to get it stuck in crud in the breech, using 2-3 short strokes to work through the crud), turn it over and run it down again, then reload.

I used some bore cleaner like that years back, and noticed an increase in misfires. I also found that even 2-3 patches later I'd bring up cleaner on the patch. So i stopped using it.

simplicity · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2006, 09:01:07 AM »

Djmbow, another thing you can do to help prevent the contamination thing. This is something my father taught and I've been doing it ever since, he's a old competition black powder shooter. I have a encore 209-50 same barrel twist but your barrel is a slight longer. after each shot i wet a patch and run it down the I do two more patches after that. Now her's what i've learned. after you clean that barrel fire a cap or 209 primer though before you load it this blows out all the access cleaner that is left in the barrel. I've been getting 2.5 inch groups at 100 yards with shock wave 250's with a 150 grain granular charge of pyrodex, an 2 inch groups with the 200 grain shockwaves. This is with open sights I just mounted a scope on it so I can hopefully see what it can really do. Try that and see if anything improves.