Keyhole Entry 300 gr Shockwaves T/C Impact

justwin24

Six Pointer
First shot out of my son's T/C Impact using 300 gr shockwaves today at 75 yards was dead on. He hadn't shot much lately so he loaded up another round and it was off 8 inches left. I shot the gun 5 or six more times and the bullets were all over the place. I noticed on his first good shot there was no keyhole and the rest were.

We were running a pre-treated T/C cleaning patch between shots. When I tried 2 shots without the cleaning patch it wouldn't hit paper. At this point I decided I wasn't getting anywhere because I only had 777 pellets and no other ammo choices except for one left over Hornady SST 300 gr. I found in my bag. The scope was never touched.

So we shot the SST I found and it was dead on with a good bullet hole.

We sighted this gun in last year with the 300 gr shockwaves and I don't recall any issues. I just remembered thinking this gun wasn't as accurate as my Omega.

Thinking of trying 250 and 300 gr. SST's. But I really thought the SST's and Shockwaves were the same bullet. Looking for recommendations on what my next step should be.
 

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
How does the barrel look? Have you checked it out for any pitting or built up residue? Most of the time....for me at least.....patches alone won’t come close to cleaning it well. When I sight my Muzzleloader in I clean the barrel mirror clean between shots to ensure clean bore grouping. This takes quite a bit of time, however, I am confident when I take it to the woods I can hit a quarter at 100yds. Best of luck!
 
Last edited:

30/06

Twelve Pointer
How old is your powder? I had trouble a couple seasons ago when my 777 got old. Got a fresh batch and gave the gun a good cleaning and it was shooting well again.

If you want to try a different bullet the XTPs do well or Barnes T-EZ
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Also give the barrel a thorough cleaning. Use a brush to make sure all the plastic fowling from the sabots is out of your barrel.
 

justwin24

Six Pointer
Cleaned really good and used newer pellets. Was shooting at 40 yards since I'm at home.

1st shot with 300 grain was dead on but the bullet hole looked slightly off.

I shot two more times with 250 grain doing the same cleaning routine between shots. It was accurate and good holes.

I think the combination of a good cleaning and new powder probably would of been good enough. Felt I needed to change something up to increase my son's confidence. We'll shoot more next weekend at camp. Thanks
 

ibgreen

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
does sound like old pellets to me. I never had much luck with pellets. Loose powder is the way to go (in my opinion). Its almost as if whatever binder they use to form the pellets will absorb moisture.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I dont recall which bullet, but i was shooting one where the rod would pull the polymer tips off when we loaded them. The rod had threads and i ended up screwing a flat patch jag on.

I like the hornady xtp or some of the old all lead bullets. Had a batch my dad had bought at Roses years ago. They were solid lead in a black sabot. Those were very accurate to not be as fancy as new technology.
 

81toyota

Twelve Pointer
Pull the breach plug and clean the threads best you can. Get some Tc 409 cleaner I believe. I had the same issues with my impact and found a crude ring at the base of the barrel where the powder sits and also found my breach plug wasn't going all the way in.
 

ScLowCountry

Six Pointer
Did the shock wave bullets have the easy glide sabots? they are yellow. I could not hit the paper at 50 yards with the easy glide sabots. Switched to the mag express sabot and problem solved. The mag express sabots are black
 
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