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I recently bit the bullet and tried Powerbelts this season. For no real reason I had always just used Hornady bullet/sabot combos. I was impressed with the how easy they were to load and how accurate they were out of my CVA. However, the other day I decided to do a bit of research and found some videos of them being shot into ballistics gel. I was super disappointed with how they performed. Almost no expansion whatsoever in the video I watched.
Anyone find the same thing when shooting deer?
I've had some mixed results with Powerbelts. I've had perfect expansion but more cases of fragmentation and long tracking jobs. If I remember, I'll post some pics of ones I've recovered when I get home.
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Can not comment on use-never tried them. However when i went into muzzle-loading,i was seriously considering them due of the easiness of use and good ballsitics.Just like You did Toddy.
Then read reviews about them(most issue was fragmentation,long tracking job or no blood trail)
Internet is really great tool for researches.....so i shy away from them, from the get go.
I can't find them but I have 3 recovered powerbelt bullets here somewhere. None of which are mine because they shoot like crap out of my Traditions. They were quite nicely expanded to be close to the size of a loonie.
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I use them never had a problem with tracking , no more than 10 yards. lol
The one on the left is an unfired 270 grain Powerbelt platinum (the other 2 are the same bullet but fired obviously). The middle one came from the opposite hip of a doe at around 90 yards, hit slightly far back but she fell almost on the spot after staggering for a few moments.
The one on the right came from a buck at about 50 yards, quartering towards me a bit. The shot went in through the front shoulder and the fragments were found in the neck, lung and liver. He went down quickly but didn't die in a hurry.
Another one that I didn't recover the bullet from was a doe at about 75 yards, hit not far from the heart but there were two exit holes in less than ideal spots. She went around 700 yards and lived nearly 3 hours after the shot.
I've been meaning to switch to another load but haven't had much opportunity during the ML season to hunt in the last couple of years. If I was going to stick with Powerbelts for the convenience and accuracy I would probably try the heaviest ones I can get and go to a lighter charge. I'm using 2 50 grain T7 pellets now. My theory is slower and heavier might not fragment.
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Are those the Arrolite or platinum bullets? The platinum are supposed to be designed for delayed expansion and magnum powder charges.Quote:
Originally Posted by GW11
The ones I had recovered were the original green belted hollow points.
Just picked myself up a pack of Federal Borloks in the 350 grain lead to try.
I had stopped carrying my ML due to the utter disappointment I was getting in the performance of the hornady bullets.
If I cant get these new ones to work I will try the Traditions bullets next.
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What hornady bullets we're you using? I would shoot a bullet actually designed for a rifle. 300 grain 458 sierra hollow points or the 458 hornady ftxs are tough and reliable. Another positive is that they are much cheaper to buy in a box of 50. Use some mmp orange 458 sabots and you will be laughing. I have flung 100's of these from my smokeless mls and they just plain shoot. I find guys are always looking for bullets that just slide down the barrel which leads to things not going bang and inconsistency. Give them a whirl, I have some samples you could try.Quote:
Originally Posted by oaknut
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The other I will mention is 458 TTSX. All copper and do a great job.
I've been using the SST bullets in the easier to load format. It's not that I'm looking into something that slides down the barrel but most standard bullet/sabot combinations are extremely difficult to load in my gun. After two shots 200lbs on the ramrod will not seat a standard combination.Quote:
Originally Posted by rippin_355
With the SST bullets I have taken 3 deer, the first two were 50 cal entry and exit holes where the deer ran 100 yards and flopped. Both were heart shots. The third was far from spectacular, 60 yards quartering to, I went to the impact site and found the copper jacket laying on the ground. I chased that sob for half a mile before getting another crack at him and finishing the job. The shot would have killed him eventually but when that bullet hit the shoulder it blew apart and it looked as though the lungs were sprayed with bird shot. I can't see any reason for this as I run these bullets barely over 2000fps.
I certainly appreciate the advice and should these new bullets spray like I fear they might I will definitely give the sierras a shot. I just wish I had more reason to shoot but with one tag, no dedicated muzzleloader season and my inability to stop filling my cabinet I have many options.
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Ya I gave up on using the power belts in my muzzle loader about 5 years ago. 1 I found that the first shot out of a clean barrel was always off about 5". 2 the bullet fragmenting issue, now I never lost a deer to one but there was some long tracking jobs and the last buck I shot with one, I bit into a small piece of lead in a steak from it. That was it and switched over to the Hornady SST's, problems solved.
They're the platinum, but in theory should work fine with 2 x 50 grain T7 pellets. I went to T7 because it's cleaner than Pyrodex, but it's also a bit of a "hotter" load.Quote:
Originally Posted by oaknut
My Dad used to use the copper bullets with the green gas seal, but after nearly losing a moose and bullet fragments found in the meat, he quit using Powerbelts.
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I've never used the powerbelts due to some bad reviews.
Here are some 240gr Hornady XTPs. They seem to do the job. XTP stands for extreme terminal performance, which means they are intended to expend their energy in the animal. They often don't have an exit wound due to this and I commonly find them just behind the skin on the opposite side. I've had a couple longer tracking jobs, which I have come to attribute to my tendency to shoot high lung shots rather than the performance of the bullet.
Most are down in 50 yards.
Attachment 39418
I was going to give the federals a whirls as well. There are some decent videos on YouTube about them. However, none of the videos show the common most concerning complaint of the bullet falling out of the gun if you point the muzzle towards the ground after loading.Quote:
Originally Posted by oaknut
That is definitely a concern and one I had not heard about. I don't think it's something I will be to worried about given the bore on my ML is tighter than a...... you get the picture. I will try and post some results whenever I get a chance to hit the range.Quote:
Originally Posted by toddy
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