....tc's can be pure hell trying to get conicals to shoot in them. Pretty sad when the company has zero faith in conicals in their gun and advises you not to bother trying.
+1
I've owned a bunch of TC's over the years. Two years ago I bought a Triumph for a backpack elk hunt because its a nice, lightweight gun. Tried sighting it in, and couldn't get it on paper at 25 yards. I look down the barrel and its got a kink in it to the right about 8" from the end! I called TC, and sent it back (along with the little slip of paper from the "inspector" thanking me for my purchase and saying it met all their quality standards). I call them up and they said they could straighten it, and I said, no, I'd really like a new one, thanks, and told them the gun better have a new serial number on the barrel when I receive it.
Get the new gun and am excited to sight it in and prep it. Tried a bunch of powders, primers, clean/fouled barrel etc. behind Hornady FPB's and no luck, 8" groups at 100 was the best it could do. Tried a variety of Powerbelts, MaxiHunters, Great Plains, PR Bullets, No Excuses bullets, and still no luck. Bought some .501" Thor bullets and got 1.5" groups at 100 with a scope on the gun. HOWEVER, I could not adjust my peep sight enough to move the group down with open sights (Colorado elk tag) and couldn't use the Thor bullets because they grouped 12" high at 100 and I had no peep adjustment left, and no time to buy a different front sight.
All the while, this gun will shoot any sabot bullets under 2" whether it is clean or dirty. So I call TC and ask their technical support if they knew WHY the gun wouldn't shoot a conical, and the guy I talked to said I should try their sabots. I explained I'm hunting Colorado and they are not legal. He said he had never heard of conical bullets, and I explained that you sell them they are called MaxiHunters. Whatever.
So, I ended up with 3"+ groups shooting 90 grains of Blackhorn 209, CCI mag primer, and 338gr Powerbelt out of the dirtiest bore you could possibly imagine. I figured if the gun rusted to hell during the 9 day backpack hunt I didn't care because I was done with it after that hunt anyway.
Final tally, about 2 pounds of 777, 3 cans of Blackhorn 209, and untold pounds of expensive lead down range and additional hair loss I cannot afford. Really frustrating. I'm guessing its the QLA system that's the problem, but I'm really not sure. Some guys have had success cutting it off. In the end, its just cheaper and easier to buy anything other than a TC if you are an elk hunter that needs to shoot conicals. Its a fine deer rifle with sabots, but that's about it.
Sorry for the rant, but I hate to see anyone else go through the same thing, and I don't believe this was a one off situation. My hunting partner had the same problems with an identical gun, and you read plenty on the forums where TC's won't shoot conicals.
Best of luck to ya!
BT
