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I just my Colorado 2018 brochure. 50 Caliber round balls are now illegal for elk. .54 caliber round balls in now the minimum for elk. 50 caliber conical are still legal for elk. It's on page 13. Bob

That'll piss some people off.

The .502 goes down better than the Powerbelts I was shooting.

Never used a round ball for elk. I've taken 9 of them with a muzzle loader. In the 50's I used a sabot with a 45 cal Hornady 250 gr hollow point XTP and in the 54, a 600 grain maxiball. Talk about a thumper !

For those that are the traditional mountain man types, this will surely put a cramp in their style.

Gracias.

I have an Omega also. I've never been able to get any consistency out of it with full bore lead bullets. What diameter Thors are you shooting?

Maxiballs are a lead alloy. They're harder than some other lead bullets. Too hard for deer in my opinion but I shot a 5x5 in Colorado in 2006 with them. Quartering towards me at 70 yards it went through the shoulder and lungs and ended up under the hide at the back of the rib cage. Bull went 60 yards and was down. I was shooting a T/C Firehawk 110 gr load of 777 with a fiber wad under the bullet.

[quote=Bill
Maxiballs are a lead alloy. [/quote]

HUH!!!!. Everyone I ever cast and bought has been pure lead.Instructions on most old Sidelocks which they were mostly used in were always to use pure lead.I would think a lead alloy would be very hard to load since you have to engage/cut the rifling into the maxiball as it is loaded

I am on my third barrel of my TC Hawkin and has never shot a lead alloy

Are use the federal BOR like 350 lead. I’m not a fan of the 270 copper after some issues with deer

HUH!!!!. Everyone I ever cast and bought has been pure lead.Instructions on most old Sidelocks which they were mostly used in were always to use pure lead.I would think a lead alloy would be very hard to load since you have to engage/cut the rifling into the maxiball as it is loaded

I am on my third barrel of my TC Hawkin and has never shot a lead alloy
[/quote]

Not trying to start an argument here but how are they harder than Maxi-Hunters if there isn't something added to the lead?
If you cast your own they are whatever you poured.

For whatever reason they are also the most accurate bullet I've found for my Firehawk. Maybe because they are sized for T/C barrels but there is also the rate of twist factor. My Firehawk is 1-38" and my Omega is 1-20 or 1-28" (I forget which) but it seems too fast for the Maxi-balls or any other lead based bullet.

Well, I plan to start testing in a couple weeks. I’ll let you guys know what I decide.

What make and model is your gun? You might get some input from others with the same gun. I would look into an aperture sight also.

As an ML elk hunter I cast my own conical's. 50% lead,50% scrap wheel weights. .Pure lead some times is just to soft at around a Brn 6. Mix 50,50 lead,WW( Brn 11.5 ) & you get about Brn.8.to 9. Still soft enough to ram down the barrel but considerably tougher to deliver deeper penetration. Some times complete. Holds the rifling better in my :Lyman Great Plains 54 giving better accuracy than pure lead. Just a thought for what it's worth.

I have a TON of different muzzleloaders but my favorites are the T/C Omegas. I do like how light the Triumphs are as well. So either way I would be carrying a T/C and so would my father in law.

I have an Omega and a Firehawk. I tried most of the lead conicals out there in it and couldn't get much better than a 3" group at 100 yds and that was with Maxi-balls. I've heard that Hornady FPB's shoot well out of an Omega. I like the looks of the Thor bullets. I think I'd start with those two if I were using my Omega. I put a Williams peep sight on it but the stock front sight is too high for that sight. I'd look at other options for a peep on the Omega.

The Firehawk loves the Maxi-balls. I shot some cloverleaf groups at 100 with it and had shot it out to 200 yds with the T/C peep sight.

To fix that problem I bought a higher FO sight. Removed the FO fiber and then filed the remaining blade down to the correct heigth and width.Wasn't much of a problem

I'll second the 120 grains of Blackhorn 209 and a 250 grain Thor copper bullet. Pretty much a Barnes Triple Shock. I spoke to the owner and I think he works with Barnes for muzzle loaders. I also put a Williams Peep Sight on mine with a fiberoptic front sight and it makes a world of diffence over iron sights. Killed a pretty good bull at 140 yards last year with this combo from my TC Bone Collector 50. Whole different ball game than the old 54 Renegade and the 435 grain Buffalo bullets and 90 or 100 grains of Pyrodex.

Hornady FPB 350’s shoot well out of my Omega, my best groups came with 90 grains of blackhorn 209.

I have an old FireHawk that shoots the Maxi Balls just fine also. I would like to put a peep sight on it but presently it has a scope on it. I need to pull it out and clean it again like I do every year. For my hunting in Texas I have gone with green sabots, a 300 grain Nosler JHP in .429 diameter on top of 90 grains of 3F Black. Seems to work every time on deer and the spring black powder feral hog hunts we have on the WMA's. I never bought any MaxiBalls, just cast my own from pure lead. Tried Wheel weights once, yep hard to load!

I've shot a half dozen or so elk with a 295gr powerbelt. None went more than 20 yards. I don;t like recoil so I chose the 295 over the 348. Can't argue my results. I know several men that pile them up with the 348.

Thought about this over the weekend and recalled a discussion on another board about using peep sights on the Omega. It seems TC made a shorter barrel Omega for awhile that had a lower front sight for use with a Williams sight. You may be able to get one directly from TC rather than modifying what you have.

The Williams peep will work fine, The only better option for the Omega that I'm aware of is the XS which is a good rugged sight but it's at least 2x the price of a Williams. It comes with a front sight blade though.

TC made a really nice peep sight for the Thunderhawk/Firehawk. I have one on my Firehawk and it has screw type adjustments on it. I don't see anything like it available from TC now. It seems like they recognize that most inlines are scoped.