Powerbelt bullet reviews--members needed

[robby denning]

Hey all, so here is my set up and what I currently shoot.

Vortex striker fire with enlarged flash hole
Leupold 1.75-6
Black horn 209
CCI 209 M

Normally shoot pt gold 260s in the harvester smooth sabot.

Shoots 1 MOA

348 powebelt

This bullet loads easy, very little pressure needed.

Tried multiple different times with the 348 powebelt could not get reliable ignition. The gun would go off with a full report every few shots. This fits with my previous experience with the PT golds and crush rib sabots.

It appears that this gun with black horn requires a higher load pressure.

Unfortunately I did not have any other powder.

I will try to get some more done when I get back home out of covid land with my brothers CVA Optima.

Interesting! So are you saying the crush rib won't let the Black Horn ignite? Why? Anytime my gun won't fire, it's a dirty breechplug (or wet musket cap or #11), so this intrigues me much!

 

[rayporter]

209 primers will take a lot of water and still fire.

i was at a buds deer camp and the last day we were packing up, every one had their rifle out to clear. i was drinking coffee and i dumped out my primer from my encore and put it in my coffee. i tried to get the guys to bet me if it would fire as i finished my coffee, but got no takers. they all said it would not fire but i would have got their money if they had bet. so some day when you are testing put some primers in a cup of water and see how long it takes them to misfire.

i would guess that some brands are better than others.

 

[robby denning]

209 primers will take a lot of water and still fire.

i was at a buds deer camp and the last day we were packing up, every one had their rifle out to clear. i was drinking coffee and i dumped out my primer from my encore and put it in my coffee. i tried to get the guys to bet me if it would fire as i finished my coffee, but got no takers. they all said it would not fire but i would have got their money if they had bet. so some day when you are testing put some primers in a cup of water and see how long it takes them to misfire.

i would guess that some brands are better than others.

awesome! thanks

I edited my post in case you were referring to mine. In my Idaho brain, "primer" = musket cap or #11

 

[Michael54]

The coppers are used a lot around here with in lines and flintlocks. They end up in a lot of lessons in deer tracking. I switched to the barnes to get away from this issue. This year two doe were shot and massive blood trails to the deer. Both dropped within 60 yards. People argue shot placement with them but its not the case. It kills deer just plan on really having to look for them.

 

[rayporter]

I edited my post in case you were referring to mine. In my Idaho brain, "primer" = musket cap or #11

i was going to mention that but hit the button too fast!

 

[Jmort1754]

Interesting! So are you saying the crush rib won't let the Black Horn ignite? Why? Anytime my gun won't fire, it's a dirty breechplug (or wet musket cap or #11), so this intrigues me much!

It’s igniting but it doesn’t seem to be tight enough fitting, feels like it’s a reduce load to a misfire.

I spoke with harvester about it previously and they recommended to use the smooth high pressure sabots. Knock on would have never had a misfire with those.

The gun is clean and dry with 4 primers snapped. Use a pick and bit on the flash hole.

This gun won’t shoot the BOR lock Bullets either.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I wish I would have been apart of this. However, it would be awhile before I would have hit the range(our rut just kicked in and I’m spending my time in the woods).

However, I started out shooting Powerbelts in my TC Encore and loved the bloodtrails, but felt like they “blew up” shortly after impact with no exit wound. I think I had the earlier ones that had those issues, though.

 

[cobbc03]

After 3 foot of snow I finally got a chance to shoot. It is worth noting that I was not able to make it to my normal range due to the snow, but had a rock solid rest using the big pod death grip.

I shoot a CVA Accura MR, I generally shoot the powerbelt 250 grain aerolites with white hot powder and they shoot lights out.

I started with all lead 295g hollow point. First shot was about an inch high, second was close to dead nuts. They shot the best and most similar to the aerolites.

Second was the all lead 348g. They were all over the place. First shot 3 inches high, second 4 inches right. Obviously not happy with that group.

Third bullet was the copper 348g hollow point. I expected a pretty good group as I used to shoot the all copper with a ballistic tip, and boy was I wrong. 1st shot about 6 inches left 3 high, second shot 2 high 2 right. Obviously the worst grouping of the 3 bullets.

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[JonS]

I shot 5 rounds the other day, windy as heck for sure, 30-35 sideways. Forgot my cleaning rods, so didn't shoot them all. First shot was 3" high, and 4" right. 2nd was 2" low and 4" right. Easy to load. I ran a wet patch down after each shot.
3rd shot was in between the first two and closer to center, wind must have died down some.
4th and 5th didn't have a wet patch between them, one high, one low. about a 6" group, went through the paper, didn't find in the dirtbank.
Guess I didn't take pictures as I don't see any, took some of my .270 Rifles Inc and was excited, so must have forgot to take that target picture.
Triumph was dirtier than usual after 5 shots when cleaning.
I shoot Pyrodex FFFG and use 90 grains loose powder.
May try them in my Encore, not super impressed thus far. Might move to 50 yds, and see if it's me or the bullets.
Open sights, TC fiber optic.

 

[robby denning]

After 3 foot of snow I finally got a chance to shoot. It is worth noting that I was not able to make it to my normal range due to the snow, but had a rock solid rest using the big pod death grip.

I shoot a CVA Accura MR, I generally shoot the powerbelt 250 grain aerolites with white hot powder and they shoot lights out.

I started with all lead 295g hollow point. First shot was about an inch high, second was close to dead nuts. They shot the best and most similar to the aerolites.

Second was the all lead 348g. They were all over the place. First shot 3 inches high, second 4 inches right. Obviously not happy with that group.

Third bullet was the copper 348g hollow point. I expected a pretty good group as I used to shoot the all copper with a ballistic tip, and boy was I wrong. 1st shot about 6 inches left 3 high, second shot 2 high 2 right. Obviously the worst grouping of the 3 bullets.

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hey man I missed the notification that you posted. So looks like the 295 lead‘s were the best for your gun. The rest of those groups seem pretty typical if the guns don’t like them. Hey thanks for giving them a shot and appreciate your feedback


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[robby denning]

I shot 5 rounds the other day, windy as heck for sure, 30-35 sideways. Forgot my cleaning rods, so didn't shoot them all. First shot was 3" high, and 4" right. 2nd was 2" low and 4" right. Easy to load. I ran a wet patch down after each shot.
3rd shot was in between the first two and closer to center, wind must have died down some.
4th and 5th didn't have a wet patch between them, one high, one low. about a 6" group, went through the paper, didn't find in the dirtbank.
Guess I didn't take pictures as I don't see any, took some of my .270 Rifles Inc and was excited, so must have forgot to take that target picture.
Triumph was dirtier than usual after 5 shots when cleaning.
I shoot Pyrodex FFFG and use 90 grains loose powder.
May try them in my Encore, not super impressed thus far. Might move to 50 yds, and see if it's me or the bullets.
Open sights, TC fiber optic.

hi Jon, thanks for giving them a try. Let us know how they do in that Encore.


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[JonS]

Will do, both have the qla, which I’ve debated cutting off and re-crowning, but haven’t done so yet.
When I first bought the Encore. It was shooting so low i couldn’t adjust the sights low enough to get an aiming point. Sent it back to TC and they “straightened” the barrel. I was sure that was bogus, but the scratches on the barrel were the same from when I sent it to them. I figured they’d send me a new barrel, but it came back shooting just fine. No ideas what they did, but it worked with open sights after that.

 

[JGuest]

I know I'm fairly new and I don't expect you to send any but my brother, dad, and I have all shot powerbelt's out of our traditional muzzle loaders as we had some issues with round balls about 5 years ago.

I can speak to terminal performance on game within 100 yards and go out and shoot up what we have and write it up if you're interested.

 

[Summitdog]

There is no need for Powerbelt for me bc CA requires lead-free projectiles.

Any chance that Powerbelt is developing a non-toxic?


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[Millertime30]

I've been shooting the 295 grain Powerbelt copper plated for a couple years now and shot quite a few deer with them. With my CVA Optima and 100 grains of triple 7 pellets I can normally get around 2" groups at 100 yards. I haven't ever shot a deer more than 70 yards away with them and I don't believe the performance is great. They do have a tendency to fragment quite a bit inside of the deer (my teeth weren't to happy about that once). There has only been one time where I haven't had a passthrough and went through one shoulder and stopped right under the skin on the opposite side. I'm sure there is better out there but I have never had a deer go farther than 40 yards and have never lost one. The picture is of the one that I found on the opposite side under the skin.

 

[robby denning]

I've been shooting the 295 grain Powerbelt copper plated for a couple years now and shot quite a few deer with them. With my CVA Optima and 100 grains of triple 7 pellets I can normally get around 2" groups at 100 yards. I haven't ever shot a deer more than 70 yards away with them and I don't believe the performance is great. They do have a tendency to fragment quite a bit inside of the deer (my teeth weren't to happy about that once). There has only been one time where I haven't had a passthrough and went through one shoulder and stopped right under the skin on the opposite side. I'm sure there is better out there but I have never had a deer go farther than 40 yards and have never lost one. The picture is of the one that I found on the opposite side under the skin.


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hey, thanks for the feedback. As a deer hunter, I'm in the camp that fragment is good, as long as there is enough bullet to hit the other side. I used to shoot copper bullets and gave them up when I found the small wound channels. I'm not shooting elephants so I don't need 5' of penetration.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I used the all-lead Powerbelts (Idaho) 2 years ago in the December cow elk muzzleloader hunt. In a nutshell, I was super disappointed/pissed off with them. I shot a cow right in the front shoulder at about 40 yards and it blew the shoulder up, fragmented into a million pieces ( that I had to pick out later) and left me with a nasty track job in the dark.

Fortunately, my dog found her, and I ended up having to put another one in the back of her head. I won’t touch these bullets again. They’re very accurate, but total garbage when it counts.

 

[txhunter581]

I shot them a bunch in the past. As stated: load easy and were pretty accurate. Even killed a couple elk with them but moved on to better constructed bullets.

For the record:

ALL POWERBELTS ARE SOFT LEAD!

The copper bullets simply have a very thin copper exterior to protect the barrel from the lead but it does NOTHING to make the bullet tougher. If your copper bullets didnt expand, it wasn’t from the copper. It was because you didn’t hit anything but soft tissue. The fragmented bullets that Frontier shows above were copper covered

IMO, if powerbelts would make a bullet with a pointed plastic tip ( to aid in expansion) AND made the bullets out of a lead alloy instead of pure lead, they would have a bullet I would use.

The Hornady FPB bullets (discontinued) were constructed as I described above (lead alloy) and I had great luck with them. Here is an FPB found under the skin on the far side of a big elk I think the new Hornady has a shot at being as good

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I’m not opposed to soft lead by any stretch. I actually shoot a soft lead hollow point out of my 45-70 all the time, and that round is an amazing animal stopper. I don’t know why the powerbelt failed on me like it did, but it put me off bad.

We’re limited to pure lead in Idaho for muzzleloader. I’ve since switched over to a Lee real bullet which has been much much better.

 

[vonb]

I and my father in law had bad experiences with Powerbelt 295 gr. He lost a deer after taking it and mine had no blood to trail but found it. I’ll continue on with the XTPs.