? about T/C breech plugs


CTBowMan

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I'm the guy that went and looked at his buddy's 3 y/o TC Omega when we pulled the breech plug there was some fouling on the inside of the plug, one of the reasons that I decided not to buy it and buy a new TC Omega, When I pulled the breech plug on my new Omega, I noticed it was different from my buddy's 3 y/o Omega, the breech plug on the inside of my new Omega's breech plug I noticed that it had a deep concave indentation on it that wasn't on my buddy's 3 y/o Omega. So my ? is this, when did TC change to this new style of breech plug?...and what does this deep concave indentation on the inner part of the plug do exactly?...does it make the powder burn hotter? Any help and explaination would be appreciated. Thanks in advance -- Van

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Guest waynemclain

Re: ? about T/C breech plugs

i just went downstairs and looked at mine because ud made me curious...mines 2 years old and it has the concave...i have no idea what this means....im interested to hear some replies about this.

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Re: ? about T/C breech plugs

I have the encore and the omega and the omega breech plug has a deeper concave cup than my original omega. Similar to what you say between your buddies gun and your omega. I have really no idea as to why there is a difference and what that might mean but I like to think that the deeper cup on the Omega causes a more even and uniform ignition. Now both guns shoot moa and the omega just slightly better so I can't tell any difference in performance that I could attribute to that. You can always purchase additional breechplugs which is not a bad idea anyway. Your buddies gun would not have scared me off if the inside of the barrel and rest of it was not scored. That wasn't a bad deal for the encore and if the fram was good it would have been extremely versatile with the extra barrel interchanges.

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Re: ? about T/C breech plugs

Ok, I did some more research, and found this on http://www.chuckhawks.com/thompson_omega.htm

Though I cannot speak to all the running production changes in the Omega, the breechplug is worthy of a few remarks. The original Omega / Encore breech plugs (they are identical) were deeply concave at the face, offering a short path from primer to powder. Some shooters, using pellets and hard-to-load sabots, were crushing their Pyrodex pellets, which yielded poor results, to say the least. In response to the "too heavy on the ramrod" muzzleloaders, Thompson changed the breechplug into more of a solid design, with only a slight dip at the breechplug face to offer more pellet support. That it did, but with an unintended consequence.

Fouling buildup became a problem for some, packing the area from the breechplug out about two inches, and shooters complained. Thompson was able to replicate the problem, and made yet another running production change. Back came the deeply dished out, concave plug, but this time, with a solid ring of metal left intact around the perimeter of the plug to offer pellet support as well (a ".50 caliber" Pyrodex pellet is about .45 caliber in diameter). Finally, pellet shooters are happy, and with no exorbitant fouling build up. If your Omega or Encore has a buildup problem with fouling residue, an update breechplug from Thompson for about $20 delivered may relieve your headache.

Here we are, a year and one half later, and Thompson yet again has Omega demand that far outstrips its production capacity. Congratulations to Thompson / Center Arms for introducing the gun that most consumers want; still the easiest to maintain muzzleloader on the market.

This explains it, thanks for your help! -- Van

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