Poor Grouping with Omega Z5

[efrommung]

I am new to this forum and not sure if this has been covered in the past.  I did a search under Omega and didn't find an answer.

I have been trying to get a load to shoot a decent group with my Omega Z5.  I bought it new several years ago and never really shot it that much.  I got a "good enough" group with it once and was lucky to harvest a deer with it.  I have friends who have Omegas and they can get tight groups almost touching at 100 yds.

I am shooting BH209 and have tried 250 gr Shockwave, 250 Gr SST, Hornady FBP's.  I can not get better than a 2" group at 50 yards, and today at 100 yds I was shooting a 6-7" group.  I have tried cleaning between shots, only running a dry patch between shots, and shooting dirty.  I still can't get this thing to shoot anything in any type of consistent group.  I even took off my new Leopold scope to try iron sights thinking it could be a poor scope mount or bad scope.  No such bad luck! 

I'm trying to get this thing set up for a Colorado Elk hunt.  My thought was to get it shooting sabots well as a starting point and then finding a load using Thor bullets once I knew the gun was a shooter.

I called T/C today and they said I need to send it in for them to look at.  Before I do that does anyone have any other ideas?  Getting close to saying forget it and buying a different rifle!

 

[exMember]

For conicals, I personally would suggest a different brand.  Tc has a horrible reputation with conicals due to their qla at the end of the barrel. I'd take Tc up and send it in for a looksee. If it won't group with sabots and bh209, something is amiss.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

efrommung, There is a lot of things that have to be right to make bullets touch at 100 yards with a muzzleloader.  I would like to make a suggestion.  If you are starting to doubt your rifle, ask those friends that are shooting great groupings with their rifles to shoot yours.  They obviously have the system figured out.  Have them shoot your load and their loads and see what the results are. The Omega is a very accurate shooting rifle.  I'm no expert, far from it, but there are expert members on this forum that should be able to offer some great suggestions. 
 
I'm getting an Omega myself very shortly, if the deals goes through, just for the fun it.  I'll be working up a load myself to see how it shoots.

All my shooting is under 50 yards in the woods, so, with in reason,  I don't pay that much attention to the various barrel conditions that supposedly affect bullet flight such as: dirty barrels, clean barrels, warm barrels, cold barrels, etc.  When I go to the range, I just have fun and shoot.  When I run a patch down the barrel it will always be "wet patch, dry patch".  Running a dry patch first risk getting it stuck.

 

[Blacksheep]

I HAVE THE EXACT SAME RIFLE.  CHECK YOUR ACTION SCREW ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR STOCK .  I HAD THE EXACT SAME ISSUE COST ME A NICE BUCK, I WENT OVER THAT RIFLE WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB AND THAT SCREW WAS 2 TURNS LOOSE.  CLEAN THE HOLE WITH BIRCHWOOD CASEY GUN SCRUBBER LET DRY AND USE TEMPORARY LOCKTITE ON THAT SCREW.  AFTER I DID THAT WITH 300 PT GOLDS AND CRUSH RIB SABOTS 1.5 GROUPS WERE THE NORM .

IF THAT IS NOT LOOSE MAKE SURE YOUR BREECH PLUG IS CLEAN AND THAT YOU CLEAN IT EVERY 5-6 SHOTS WITH A DRILL BIT AND /OR A WELD TIP CLEANER.

IF USING A SCOPE CHECK YOUR RINGS AND MOUNT LOCKTITE THEM IF LOOSE AND FINALLY DO NOT CLEAN BETWEEN SHOTS WITH BH 209

 

[efrommung]

Thanks for the help guys.  I took the screws out of the fore end, removed the barrel and re-installed.  Even though I soak my breech plug after shooting, I checked it and it was really dirty.  I bought a new plug to know I was good there.  I then switched to Winchester 209's from Federal 209's.  I also shot with the ram rod installed in the rifle.  I had been shooting with it laying on the bench.  I had read somewhere that not having it installed can change the harmonics of the barrel when shooting.  I went back to 250 gr shockwaves with 70 weighed grains  BH powder. With all of these changes I am happy to say I shot at 50 yards and put a 3 shot group in almost the same hole.  I moved out to 100 yds and shot a 1 -1 1/2" group!  Thanks for the input with my Omega.  Going to take it ML hunting in Wisconsin tomorrow and Saturday.

In regards to not shooting conicals well....  I just purchase a CVA Accura 2 PR for my trip to Colorado.  Looking forward to getting some 300 gr Thor Bullets and starting to dial her in.