Pet load for TC omega

[Guest Author]

I know this is off the original subject, but ya'll have brought up a good point here. I shoot the 350 or 370gr maxi hunter or maxi ball by Thompson over pyrodex powder. Even on small does, if it does not hit a bone, the deer acts like its not even hit until it realizes it's heart or lungs have been disabled. The big old slugs have little shocking power I'm sure, and I can live with it. I shot a small doe Wednesday and I thought I missed her until she stopped and started shaking and then fell over. I cut the top of her heart out and took out both lungs. She still ran about 15 yards. I have never shot sabots. What sabots would you all recommend??? I want to try them next year. I like to keep it simple, how bout that powebelt?? I would assume and be right that sabots have more shocking power and can achieve greater velocities over big lead slugs. They are all mostly pistol bullets except the powerbelt which is a genuine muzzleloading projectile. The hornady xtp bullet is what i shoot from a 454 casull. It does good on deer. I would guess it would perform even better from a muzzleloading rifle? That's the challenge in muzzleloading and one day i'd like to even own a pure ball rifle. One with 1 in 66" rifling. Although I don't think I'll ever be patient enough to go with a flintlock. Back to the bullets, the advantage for me in the lead slug is first simplicity and second lubrication. I shoot a conventional muzzleloader with a blued barrel and like the fact that the bore butter lubricant can be used to season my barrel. It doesn't foul that way very fast. I was affraid that shooting the sabots would leave my barrel dry and prone to rusting faster because you don't lube up a sabot with anything? Do they leave plastic in the barrel?? Just some questions?? Thanks and I apologize to the original poster as this is off the subject.

[Guest Author]

Hello,
I have a Knight Disc Extreme. I shoot 150gr. of Triple 7 pellets with a 240gr. Sierra .44mag pistol bullet with a Knight sabot. Here is why. 2" high at 50yd. 0" at 100yd. 4" low at 150yd. 6" low at 200yd.
Any muzzleloader with .209 ignition should perform well. Here are some do's and don'ts.....Use the new Triple 7 powder. This stuff performs exactly like the original Pyrodex but doesn't corrode and cleans up with wet patches. I wet the patches in my mouth when in the field. Do not buy the pre-packaged bullets/sabot combos. A box of 100 .44 bullets run around $15.00. A bag of a hundred Knight plastic sabots run under $10.00. This means a 100 rounds is around $25.00. Alot of the pre-packaged combos cost $15.00 or more for 15 rounds or less. Now here's the most important part. Do not,I repeat,do not use any type of bore lube in a modern muzzleloader. This will season the barrel and your accuracy with sabots will be horrible. Use a light swabbing of gun oil for rust prevention but no lube. If you keep your gun clean you won't need it.
If you want to use the Powerbelt brand bullets don't use 150gr. of powder. 150gr. is too much pressure for the P.B.'s small gas seal. The blast will blow up around the bullet and cause it to tumble. 100 gr. works just fine though. I have tried alot of different bullets and the 240gr. Sierra is the best performer. I use the semi-jacketed version, this has given me much better expansion on deer than the popular Hornandy 240gr. Try this combo for Doe's. 150gr. Triple7 and 180gr. bullet. This combo has a muzzle velocity of about 2900fps. They go down hard. Hope this info helps. I have worked this out on my own this info is not heresay.

Happy 2004
L.Bates