Vari-flame adaptors

[Willbird]

Well I got to fire a few shots monday night with my new vari-flame adaptors in the TC Omega, I used them with CCI small pistol primers and 50 grains of GOEX select with some 245 powerbelt bullets I bought in a 50 pack.

My goal was to simply find a load I can shoot from some field postions without a great deal of jacking around, practice for deer season more or less.

The GOEX select is suppoised to be a super clean powder and allow firing a lot of shots between cleanings, what I have is FFg and the bore did not feel squeeky clean on the reload over 15 shots fired.

The vari-flame adaptors as advertised DO hugley reduce blowby and fluling on the breech end of the system, I fired a few 209's with ythe same powder charge and bullet and the differance in black stuff left on and around the fired primer is striking, as in there is NONE with the vari-flame, and quite a bit with the 209 (I was using WW BP-ML 209 primers).

The adaptors were easily loaded and unloaded with the tools the mfg. provided.

Accuracy and velocity tests will come later when I have more time :-).

The GOEX select did leave some fouling in 15 shots, it was a brown color and was a bit stubborn to scrub out with plain old H2O but it did come clean in 3-4 wet patches. The 50 grain charge may not be enough to get the powder working at peak performance, again I will know more on that later, the shots fired did shoot minute of bowling pin at 75 yards from kneeling position :-)

Bill

[44man]

What anyone shooting an inline has to remember is that you are not using any lube to soften fouling so it will shoot out ahead of the bullet or sabot. Loading a dry sabot or power belt will not move or soften fouling either as it is pushed down the bore. It will build up instead. An inline needs to be wiped more then a regular muzzle loader with a ball or maxi ball with lube. The lube is the key and when you eliminate it, fouling results that is dry and hard. Guys come over to shoot them and after a few shots, they have to put the rod against a tree to push a sabot down. Not my cup of tea! Nothing worse then needing a quick second shot when hunting and the darn bullet will not go down. Inlines are REALLY single shots.
I have shot hundreds of balls during a shoot and have never had to wipe the bore.
Inlines solve the distance problem that is non existant anyway because it is a primitive season. If you need to shoot long range and need a scope, buy a 30-06.

[Willbird]

So sorry to hear you do not like the ancient inline design 44man, than you for sharing that. I posted some info on a subject I and some others discussed, sorry you felt you had to pee all over the topic because you don't like the rifle I have :-).

Nothing about the inline rifle makes it any differant than any other muzzle loader really IMHO, in some cases they use 209 primers, but many of them can also use #11, so appearence aside there is no functional differance between my underhammer rifle and my inline :-).

The guys way back when with their slug guns that used a paper cross patch were doing much the same as a sabot shooter does today, they also used false muzzles and every other thing they could think of to make their rifles more accurate.

Now what I wanted was a rifle that had rock steady point of impact, that lent itself to the mounting of a scope or accurate adjustible sights, and a stock that was not designed for appearence but rather for function. The rifle I bought fit all of those design criteria, that would be a TC Omega. I like accurate rifles and this is one, I like powerful firearms, and the Omega surely is one developing 3800 ft. lbs of muzzle energy if I so desire. I also can shoot saboted bullets OR cast or swaged monolithic lead and lead alloy bullets in it.

In the oHIo deer season(s) we are limited to handguns(certian ctg. length and min bore size and min bbl length), muzzle loading rifles, and shotguns loaded with slugs.......and accurate muzzle loader was my choice for BOTH gun and primitive season...one gun two seasons.

The Omega is a nice design too because it does not give up barrel length due to some sort of turn bolt affair, the barrel is all one piece from breech to muzzle with a screw in breech plug, and the bbl is fully as long as it would be if it was a sidelock gun.

I like traditional muzzle loaders, and I know how to make one fire 20 or 100 shots without wiping if I desire to with BP, the Omega will do the same with lubed lead bullets, nothing in the design precludes that, but I don't drive a model T ford to work every day because it is traditional...and when I go hunting I have not yet been graced with a deer so I really want to put one down on the ground as humanely as possible and this rifle will do a very good job of that, and hopefully in the deer-gun season not in the later (colder deer not in rut) primitive season.

Bill

[BBA]

I use the Variflame in a White Thunderbolt with good results. The 209's would push the slug off the powder and hurt accuracy. I use them along with Pyrodex and don't wipe the barrel unless I'm doing a hunting load. I have also had good luck with drilling out Traditions brass 209 snap caps. Gander Mtn. had them on clearance one day and played around with them until I got the size right.

[slughammer]

I myself have joined the black rifle crowd. Being a resident of PA I HAVE to use a flintlock for the primative season. When they opened up an early "any muzzleloader" season I picked up a used percussion piece for a good price (Thompson Center Black Diamond).

I was useing Winchester 209s on Friday when I sighted it in. The variflame adapters sound like something interesting to try.

While at the range I shot a group for the field position match http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=9800
I'd hate for my in-line group to walk away the leader because the traditionalist have all failed to enter.

Hunting load for out to 100 yards was a 240gr MagTech JSP in a TC sabot and 110 Gr of the holy black. Match load for the 50 yard field position match was 50gr 2fg, and Lyman 429421 (247gr). In keeping with true cast boolit style, I reused sabots that had been fired when working up the hunting load. True recycling!

[Willbird]

I have fired a few more rounds and they confirm that with either 777 or Goex select the adaptors keep the breech area much cleaner than the WW BP-209's do, the BP-209 makes so much flash that it leaks around the primer is my best guess.

I tried a few 454-275's in sabots and they shot patterns not groups...this was with 50 grains of Goex select FFg grade. The recovered sabots looked as tho they had not opened evenly, all the ones I have used with jacketed bullets show a much nicer shape to the fired sabot with the petals equally opened, the sabots I used with the 454-275 were the "crush rib" variety. The bullet dia may be too large for them, or maybe a smooth projectile with no grease grooves would be better ?? maybe the bullet needs more velocity to stabilise than 50 grains of Goex select ??

I need to just get a mold to cast lead-on-bore bullets for playing round, and maybe even for shooting deer.

Both the TC and the Hornady sabot-bullet combo's have shot quite well for me.

Bill