Best Muzzleloader bullet and powder

For the 1st time in about 45 years I’m going to skip the rifle deer hunting season. So I’ve decided to really focus on the muzzleloader season this year. I’m going to take the time to figure out the best load for my TC omega. I know in a past post there was a lot of good things said about the Hornaday XTP and Blackhorn Powder. Anything new in the last few years that I may want to take a look at? I hope to get out in the next week or so and test a few different loads.

Your Omega is BH209compatable so that would be my suggestion for powder. The XTP bullets are great as are Deep Curls and Barnes copper bullets. Harvester is a great place to look for sabots. I suggest using the Winchester 209 primers in the blue box made for shot shell reloading. Any primer that’s said to be made for muzzleloaders is going to be too weak to ignite the 209 powder. The Winchester primers mentioned are the longest primers on the market and can greatly reduce any chance of blow-by at the primer upon firing and will go a long way in keeping the breech area clean.

In your gun, I’d suggest a charge of 100 or 110 grains of powder by measure with a 250 to 300 grain, .45 cal bullets [.451-.452] in the black sabots. If a standard sabot loads tight, try the crush rib sabots. For deer in my Accura I have had stellar success with the 300 grain, .44 cal XTP bullet in a green sabot with the 110 grain charge.

Find a small drill bit that fits the flame channel behind the primer pocket in the breech plug and just finger run it into the channel after every 10 or so shots to keep the channel carbon free. Use a powder measure to measure the charges, not a plastic tube with increments painted on it. I use tubes to carry pre-measured powder charges and others to carry bullets/sabots. Another yet to carry primers. Cleaning with the 209 powder is done with a solvent like Hoppes. Do not use soap and water like you would with true black powder or the other subs. Most guns will like a fouled barrel for the best accuracy so before loading for a hunt, pop off three or four primers on an empty barrel to serve as fouling….the first shot should hit right where you have sighted for.

There are a ton of bullet/sabot options for you out there with you Omega, but if it were me using that gun I’d start with a manageable bullet weight/powder charge. The .45 cal XTP at 100 grains will deliver very good 100 yard accuracy without a ton of recoil. On recoil, if you scope the gun be sure the scope has at least 3″ of eye relief….4 would be better.

Your Omega is legal during the regular deer season so you really don’t have to wait unless you want to specifically hunt the muzzy season.

Tom – 100-110 by measure is = to what by gram weight. I think I’d rather weigh my powder rather than measure. Are the crushed sabots still available? The last time I looked for them I was having a hard time finding them. Other than them what sabot would you suggest? Would it be a good idea to enlarge the hole in the breach plug slightly?i know other blackthorn users have suggested that. Or do they sell a replacement breach plug with a slightly bigger hole?

Fish….first off, BH209 powder’s maximum load is 120 grains even in guns designated as magnum capable or 150 grain capable. If you chose to weigh your charges, here’s a handy conversion table for you. Weighed amounts will be on the left, volume measure on the right.

56grains—–80 grains by volume
63 grains—-90 grains by volume
70 grains—100 grains by volume
77 grains—110 grains by volume
84 grains—120 grains by volume, the maximum load

Basically weighed loads are 70% of the volumetric equivalent. As a rule, splitting the ten grain increments doesn’t result in much greater accuracy or velocity. The real difference comes in 10 grain gains or decreases.

Cabelas has always handled the smooth and crush ribbed black sabots for [.451-.452] and smooth and crush ribbed green sabots for [.429-.430] diameter bullets. The crush ribs just allow for ease in loading with some bullets in some guns.

Another company that makes common and popular sabots is MMP. If you do a search for either mmp sabots or harvester sabots you’ll find several on-line stores that can help you in finding them. Hornady makes smooth black and green sabots too, so finding sabots is not hard. And actually buying the loose sabots and ordering you bullets by the box is way more affordable for shooting a bunch.

On the fire hole in your breech plug, I would not suggest doing that. Breech plugs using the 209 powder will enlarge fast enough [250 -400 shots] just with normal use. When that hole reaches a diameter of .037″, replace the plug or you’ll start getting unreal blow back or blow by. On all of my CVA guns I drilled and tapped the breech plugs to accept vent liners to assure of positive ignition and there’s no such thing as a hang fire or a dud. Vent liners will cost about $5.00 each but will last maybe ten times as long as a factory breech plug. Converted breech plugs are available for your gun and that’s what I’d suggest or buy a replacement and find someone to do the conversion for you.

Another ? In regards to the BH209 powder. With the 777 pellets it was not uncommon to load the muzzleloader at the start of the season and leave it loaded from one weekend till the next if no shots were taken at deer. We’d normally just leave the muzzleloader in a cool dry location. I never had any problems in doing so. I once loaded it on the 1st day of the season and shot a deer on the last day of season – over 3 weeks. What is the longest you think the BH209 will be good for before I would need to fire and reload.

BH209 will not take on any moisture when left in the barrel. I’ve loaded and left the charge in the barrel for a couple weeks in really damp weather and never had a mis-fire. Barrel sweating when going from cold to warm or warm to cold does not affect the powder. The only thing to keep in mind with the 209 powder is that it does require a hotter ignition source and that any primer labeled as a “muzzleloader” primer is too cool for positive ignition in cool to cold weather. You need to use a primer designed and made for shotshell reloading. Very close to smokeless, non-corrosive powder residues, the residue from firing the 209 powder can be left in the barrel for days without causing any rust issues, not so with true black or the other sulpher based subs. If I shoot during the day, that night I will run a patch damp with Hoppes thru the barrel followed by a couple dry, then foul the barrel again with three or four primers. That’s just my practice. I’ve also had a barrel reloaded and left dirty for the length of the season and not had any rust issues. Actually I think blued guns are more susceptible to rust with true black and the other subs. The two guns I hunt with the most are stainless, but I do have a blued .45 cal rifle that doesn’t take any rust in a week after being shot using the 209 powder. I know people who have hunted for two months on a charge without cleaning after having shot the 209 early in the season.

Everything about the 209 powder is a plus in my opinion. Plus there is absolutely zero issues with a crud ring that came with T7 products and a couple other of the subs. White Hots sucked with a crud ring.

Tom
One more ? Why do you suggest a .45 cal bullet over the .44 that you have great success with? Most of my searches have been done looking for the .44. I just now noticed that you suggested the .45 above

I use .44 cal bullets with all of my .50’s but there are a ton of people who do very well using .45 cal 250 grain bullets and 300 grain bullets. The 250 grain XTP is not offered in .44 cal. Guns will vary in bullet preference so you may need to shoot more than one bullet diameter to find the sweet one.