Revisiting Omega breech plug issues

When my son first was starting to shoot and sight in his new Omega he was using 2- 50 gr. pellets of Triple 7 and Triple 7 209 primers. We had some ignition issues, primer going off but not the powder. It appeared that the breach plug flash hole was plugged up by the 209 primer flash hole cover. So I slightly enlarged it with a drill and he has had no ignition issues since (about 6 yrs. ago, warm to extremely cold temps). I have since also gotten into MZ shooting and now have 3, 1- omega and 2 rugers that i have done extensive upgrades. We both have now moved onto BH 209 propellants and the recommended Federal 209A primers and have no issues with ignition. But I am now wondering if that original breach plug in HIS rifle that I modified is correct or even safe. I have purchased a new replacement with OEM flash hole and flash channel sizes. for his rifle. I'm now thinking that in the case of his rifle IF the powder charge would have gone off it would of cleared out any debris in the flash hole, in other wards if there is a proper ignition one should be able to sight thru the holes in the breach plug. Can't explain why we had the bad ignitions.

Toss the drilled out breech plug into the scrap bin, dont take any chances with it. Bad ignitions, id blame that on out of date pellets.

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I'd get rid of the pellets altogether and go with 777 powder. Better yet Black Horn 209. My Omega with 250 grn xtp and 110 grns Black Horn powder gives me 1 1/2 at 100 yds.

herschel conyers said:

Toss the drilled out breech plug into the scrap bin, dont take any chances with it. Bad ignitions, id blame that on out of date pellets.

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+1. Toss the modified BP. Now that you know how to clean one properly, you're GTG.

My Omega loves 100-110 of BH209 and any 300 grain bullet. Love the Harvester Crushed Rib Sabots in an Omega.

Drill and tap the plug for vent liners and use BH209.

firedawg60 said:

Drill and tap the plug for vent liners and use BH209.

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The newer style Omega plug already has a deep powder pocket. Drilling and tapping for a vent liner might lessen the amount of flash channel volume a bit much. That volume is needed to lower the pressure on the primer.

It should be fine to modify the old style Omega plug with the "flat" powder side.

How recent is the newer plug? I took it by his post the plug in question is 6+ years old. If it's a newer plug then disregard suggestion. I was just thinking it would be a shame to toss the plug if the OP has the means to drill and tap with minimal to no cost.

The photo shows a 'new' Omega plug drilled and tapped for a vent liner. It works good. The reason the plug was tapped is because the flash hole had been eroded to 0.036".

Note: The vent liner rim is turned down to 5/16"; the breech plug was not drilled out to accept the standard 3/8" rim.

GM54-120 said:

The newer style Omega plug already has a deep powder pocket. Drilling and tapping for a vent liner might lessen the amount of flash channel volume a bit much. That volume is needed to lower the pressure on the primer..........

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Actually, the volume of the flame channel of the plug shown in the photo above, may be larger than the volume of the flame channel when new.

The radius of the new flame channel is 1/16", and it's depth is 0.53". The radius of the modified flame channel is 5/64", and the depth is 0.45".

My calculations have the volume of the new flame channel being 0.0065 in³, and the volume of the modified flame channel being 0.0086 in³.

Buy a new style breech plug I just bought one, less than $20 shipped to my door