Omega? 200 yards?

[S.B.]

Thompson Center advertises the Omega as a gun to use 150 grains of BP and capable of 200 yard shots, any comments on this, from you people who own and shoot them?

[Keith Lewis]

I'm sure my Omega will shoot 200 yards. (capable of 200 yard shot). I'm not confident enough to try hitting game at that distance. I limit my shots with a 1.5-5 power scope to 120 yards. I feel confident at that range and have shot enough to be sure of where the bullet will hit at those distances. At 200 yards there is too much wind drift to be sure of a clean shot unless you are really good at reading the wind etc. I do not even attempt to shoot that far as the reason is not there for me. I can get closer than that.

[Redhawk1]

SB, I don't have the Omega, but I do have the Encore's and they are the same barrel as the Omega. I do shoot at 200 yards with mine. I bought the Nikon Omega scope and it is set up for 250 yards. They recommend 150 gr. of triple 7 pellets and 250 gr. shock wave sabots. I am using 120 gr. of loose triple 7 under a 250 gr. bonded shock wave sabot, I am dead on at 100 yards and use the BDC-250 trajectory-compensating reticle for the 200 yard shots.  The set up is very accurate and in my opinion just as accurate as any center fire rifle. So to answer your question, yes the Omega is very capable of 200 yards shots. 

[Biff Mayhem]

Thompson Center advertises the Omega as a gun to use 150 grains of BP and capable of 200 yard shots, any comments on this, from you people who own and shoot them?

200 yard harvests are common with modern T/Cs nowadays. We just need to be a liittle more selective to compensate for bullet, powder,  weather, terrrain and sea level. This shot length needs plenty of practice and a non-shaky trigger-squeezer...

[Wolfhound]

I made a 201 yd shot a few years ago with mine. I used a ballistic reticle scope like the one Redhawk is taling about. I spent some time at the range learning where the drop was at 50 yd increments with a 3" high at 100 yd zero. At 200 yds the 1st bar under the crosshairs was just a little higher than the POI. A good rangefinder is essential to know exactly how far the deer is. I was prone for the shot and shooting slightly downhill. The doe didn't go anywhere and my bullet entered at the left front shoulder and exited out the right buttock. She wasn't quite at the right angle for a regular boiler room shot. 85 gr 777 FFG by weight and 245 Barnes Spitfire at around 2200 fps at the muzzle. That load kicks a bit. That still is the longest shot I've ever made on any deer. Most of my shots are well inside a 100 yds.

[AndyHass]

I've target practiced with good results to 400yds using a compensating scope with my Omega.  It shot well though it did have a pillar and bedding job to help it along.  100gr 777 and 200gr Shockwave.

I've made a number of 200yd-ish shots with it.  Not a big deal off a bipod as long as the wind isn't kicking up.  I pretty much limit myself to 200 now that my range time has been down the last couple seasons.

[S.B.]

Redhawk1,  Just from looking at ads on the net, this scope looks like it has promise. I like the Real Tree camo, also. And reasonable priced, too. I've never owned a Nikon scope before.

[AndyHass]

I don't own this particular Nikon, but the Nikon Tactical on my Sendero kicks butt.

[Redhawk1]

Redhawk1,  Just from looking at ads on the net, this scope looks like it has promise. I like the Real Tree camo, also. And reasonable priced, too. I've never owned a Nikon scope before.

I was not a big Nikon fan, but I look a lot differently at them now. The Nikon Omega BDC-250 is a great scope.

[.308 Win.]

  I've got a stainless Omega and on top of it is a four power fixed scope.  Mine doesn't like the 150 grain charge behind the 250 gr. Shockwave.  It just doesn't shoot that combination well. I dropped it back to 125 grains of Pyrodex and it shoots nice cloverleafs with the Shockwave.  200 yards?  I know they're capable and with the Nikon Omega scope they're very capable out to 250 yards but it isn't often we get that far of a shot anyway here in Kentucky.  I'm thinking with my 125 gr. load of Pyrodex, I am sticking to 175 or less on the rangefinder.  Still, this is a far cry from the patched round ball I started with in a T/C Hawken kit gun 25 or so years ago. Muzzleloading has come a long long way.  Anyone going to Friendship, Indiana this month for the rendezvous?  I've been going for twenty years and have seen some changes.  We used to wear buckskins and sleep in tipis but you see fewer and fewer of these every year.  Good memories are made in Friendship, for sure.   

[S.B.]

308 Win., I have a friend who works for Caterpillar as a design engineer, who is from southern Indiana and has been to Friendship several times, while living down there

[.308 Win.]

S.B.,
  Friendship is a cool place to be.  The whole thing is centered around a national shoot and Friendship is the home of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA). They have a primitive range for flintlocks and a range for the modern ones and it's called the Walter Cline Range.  There are craftspeople there who can build you a gun, make moccasins and have everything anyone would want to partake in getting the feel of going back to our roots. You can even buy hides to make your own buckskins.  That's what we used to do.  It used to be better than it is now but it's still great.  They have these "rendezvous" all over the country and these craftspeople and shooters travel everywhere to do this.  Used to be that on the second weekend of the rendezvous at Friendship, they'd have a barn dance but they don't do that anymore that I'm aware of.  You meet people there from all over the world and they have celenbrities like Ray Eye and others give seminars, too.  Just a great way to spend some time and doing so makes us realize what our forefathers had to work with in trying to survive.     

[Biff Mayhem]

What weekend is it?

Is it true that stuff like powder cannot be purchased/money exchanged at the event?

Are there no ML components/accessories "for sale" tables there?

[S.B.]

Don't know about components or money? My wife and I caught a rendezvous on the eastern side of the Rockies up near the continental divde, was the greatest thing to see. Only thing you couldn't trade for was a squaw?

[.308 Win.]

Bill,
  You can buy anything you'd ever want and no one has ever refused MY money. 

  The September rendezvous starts this Saturday, the ninth, and will end the following Sunday.  If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.

[Two Bears]

Here is my question:


 would someone need to take a shot that far?

[Redhawk1]

Here is my question:


 would someone need to take a shot that far?

I have. A one shot kill with a 195 gr. PR duplex sabot, on a Whitetail deer. Why, because I could. 

[Wolfhound]

Here is my question:


 would someone need to take a shot that far?

I did it once also. Not sure I want to do it again. I made a clean kill but the recoil from that load is awful.

[.308 Win.]

Wolfhound,
  I will agree with you on that!!!  I never was recoil sensitive back before I had to have a couple of back surgeries but the other day when I was shooting the 150 gr. Pyrodex load with the 250 gr. Shockwave, it was pretty nasty recoil.  I have a Sims Limbsaver pad on my Omega and it was still giving me a little trouble after my session was over.  I was glad the gun didn't print that load well.  I had a gunsmith tell me that most pb guns don't shoot well with loads over 120-130 grains of powder.   

[Redhawk1]

Wolfhound,
  I will agree with you on that!!!  I never was recoil sensitive back before I had to have a couple of back surgeries but the other day when I was shooting the 150 gr. Pyrodex load with the 250 gr. Shockwave, it was pretty nasty recoil.  I have a Sims Limbsaver pad on my Omega and it was still giving me a little trouble after my session was over.  I was glad the gun didn't print that load well.  I had a gunsmith tell me that most pb guns don't shoot well with loads over 120-130 grains of powder.   

I don't listen to gunsmiths, I find out for myself. My Pro-hunter handles either 120 gr. of triple 7 loose power with great accuracy as well as 150 gr. of triple 7 pellets. The recoil to me is less than my 300 Win Mag and I don't think my 300 Win Mag has a lot of recoil.

I use to think all I needed was 100 gr. of triple 7, but for shots at 200 yards the 120 to 150 gr. is really needed in my opinion.

[Wolfhound]

I don't listen to gunsmiths, I find out for myself. My Pro-hunter handles either 120 gr. of triple 7 loose power with great accuracy as well as 150 gr. of triple 7 pellets. The recoil to me is less than my 300 Win Mag and I don't think my 300 Win Mag has a lot of recoil.

I use to think all I needed was 100 gr. of triple 7, but for shots at 200 yards the 120 to 150 gr. is really needed in my opinion.

Your well over the manufacturer's limit there. Last I knew T/C only allowed 100 gr. of 777 loose max. The load I was using is 85 gr of FFG 777 by weight with a 245 gr Barnes Spitfire. It equates to about 110 gr. by volume. Still over the limit a little, but according to a tech I asked over the phone it was a safe load. It left me black and blue with the factory pad but the sims helped stop that. It's still a little much though.