TC Omega Loads

[MagnumMudMan]

Well, I finally took advantage of Cabelas gift card promotion and bought me a stainless TC Omega .50 cal muzzleloader. I plan on topping it with a Bushness Banner 3x9 scope. I was going to sight it in with 150 grains of pyrodex pellets and powerbelt bullets. The also give you about 5 or so of their TC shockwave bullets. The powerbelt bullets worked well in my CVA, but I have heard more than one guy say they didn't work well in a TC. The guy in line with me at Cabelas said his encore was all over the place with the powerbelt bullets, but could drive tacks with Hornaday sabots. Does anyone have any experience with loads with this gun?

BTW - The wife has officially banned be from Cabelas! :tsk: Oh well, she can keep me from the retail store, but not the website! ha.

[MrFurious]

Do yourself a favor and step up to a Bushnell Elite 3200 or Sightron SII 3-9x scope. Both can be had for well under $200 if you shop around and are two of the best 3x9 scopes on the market for under $300. The Banner's are ok, but the lenses leave a lot to be desired compared to the other two mentioned when you get into low-light hunting situations. The Banners are also a little finicky on eye alignment. If your eye isn't straight in line with the scope things get real fuzzy and cloudy.

[MagnumMudMan]

Thanks for the advice Furious. I will keep that in mind. I wanted to get a better scope for the gun, but unfortunately, I had already blew my budget on the gun, bases and rings. So the banner is all that I could afford right now. I can always upgrade to better scope next year if this one doesn't suit my needs. My first muzzleloader back when I was 15 (in 1986) cost less than $100 ( it was a TC New Englander kit). Even with bullets and powder, I had less than $150 in the whole package. I have over $600 in this gun and scope already. Oh well, its all good anyway.

[BigV]

I shoot 245 Gr. Aerotip Powerbelts in my TC Omega .50 and 3 X 9 Leupold Scope using 130 grains of loose pyrodex powder. I hold 1.5" groups at 100 yards with this combination. I have tried many, many combination and this works the best in my Omega. A couple years ago I had a TC Encore .50 and could not hold consistent groups with any combination I could find. I finally sold it and got the Omega.

[MagnumMudMan]

Thanks Big V. I took this gun to the range yesterday and was very impressed with it. I didn't have Cabelas mount and boresight it for me since I was in a hurry that night (kids were getting grumpy). Did it myself and I was expecting the first shot to be way off. First shot was about 4 inches low and an inch left. Made some adjustments and the second shot was dead on at 50. I am still making some very small tweaks to it based on where I want the bullet to hit at 100 yards. I sighted it in with 250 grain TC shockwaves (they give you 5 with the gun) and 240 grain TC sabots with hollowpoint bullets (can't remember the name). At 100 yards, it was holding a 1.5" group. I didn't have much time to test the Powerbelt bullets that I had for my CVA. I shot one at the end of the session and it went about 4 inches left and high. I may have jerked it though. I would like to do some more testing with the powerbelts at a later time though. I went and bought some more TC shockwaves. I will use these through the season. I would like to change over to Hornadays eventually though. The TC shockwaves are a little pricey compared to the Hornadays and they look like the same bullet.