Powerbelt bullets experience

[180splitg3]

Hey guys. I know this is way out of season but I wanted to post this for future searches. At the recommendation of my local gun shop, I decided to try powerbelt 295 grain hollow point bullets this past season. My son shot a buck at 25 yards and it ran about 100 yards and died (double lung). The blood trail was really poor. We recovered the bullet while butchering and I wanted to post what I found. It expanded pretty well but a lot of the bullet disintegrated. The bullets weigh around 303 grains from the package. The section we recovered weighed about 81 grains. I know there are a lot of factors at play but I was hoping for better weight retention. I'll be trying Thor bullets for next season. Here are some pictures...

 

[MThuntr]

I've had the same experience. They shot accurately but being a soft lead bullet they do fragment pretty bad. That can be both good and bad but dang the make a mess of things.

Depending on the rules of your area, I've had good success with Harvester Black Sabots and 250gr Hornady SST.

Some areas I hunt, I cannot use sabots and on one property I hunt, I must use non-lead so Thor is high on list to try but I haven't gotten there yet. I look forward to hearing about your experiences with Thor.

 

[Westhunt]

I've had really good luck with powerbelt. I've been using the powerbelt ELR in .45 and .50. I've had fantastic flight performance and weight retention. I know they have different quality classes, so maybe the cheaper ones fall apart more.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[N2TRKYS]

I’ve only shot a handful of bucks with the tipped version, but I had great blood trails.

 

[Djacker]

My gun shoots them great. However I will only use the remaining ones I have for target practice. My results on game have been terrible. I now use Barnes TEZ. For what it's worth, last time I shot a PB at game was 15 years ago. Things may have changed since then.

 

[Elknutty]

I have also had poor weight retention with powerbelts. I shoot a “ No excuses” bullet now and have very high weight retention.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I shot two Nilgai with the .45 ELRs last month. One exploded on the shoulder, did not penetrate to vitals. The other barely did and really made a mess. No exit and couldn’t find a large piece of the remaining bullet.

 

[long hunter]

never had a problem with the power belts, buck deer this year was around 75 yards went maybe another 30 yards. Most deer I have shot with them D.R.T. 100 grs. Pyrotex pellets 50 cal.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

I shot 2 with tipped thor bullets this year, both at roughly 100 yards and through the heart. Zero blood either time, was lucky to see the second one go down in a thorny mess. They expanded great, but once I use up this blackhorn I'm going to no excuses conicals and 777.

This one hit 2 ribs going in, wrecked the heart, and stopped in the offside humerus/scapula joint - both those bones were intact. The penetration was much less than I'm used to with flintlocks, black powder, and lead conical.

 

[5MilesBack]

My daughter shot a big bull with 338gr Platinum's, two shots behind the shoulder.......not a single drop of blood out either entrance hole. Neither one passed through. We found one of them up against the opposite hide, it weighed 199gr so about 59% weight retention. The bull ran about 80-100 yards after the first shot, and she was able to sneak close enough along side to put another one through the lungs. But that lack of blood is something I continue to hear about frequently, regardless what legal conicals folks are using. If we would have had to find the bull only by blood trail......we would have had no trail to follow. Luckily he stopped where he did and I was able to watch him while she snuck in.

I've always preferred an entrance and an exit hole on elk, so we've been playing around with the 420gr No Excuses. But I've heard of folks not getting much blood or an exit even with those. Might have to get my daughters up to speed with their bows.

 

[Dejhavu]

I have also heard of the powerbelts fragmenting on impact.I switched to using Hornady myself.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I shot 2 with tipped thor bullets this year, both at roughly 100 yards and through the heart. Zero blood either time, was lucky to see the second one go down in a thorny mess. They expanded great, but once I use up this blackhorn I'm going to no excuses conicals and 777.

This one hit 2 ribs going in, wrecked the heart, and stopped in the offside humerus/scapula joint - both those bones were intact. The penetration was much less than I'm used to with flintlocks, black powder, and lead conical.
View attachment 537390
View attachment 537389

That’s a good looking mushroom.

 

[280Ackley]

I had terrible results with the .50 cal 348gr lead bullets. Shot a 5 point bull 5 times before he died. All under 100 yards. 3 behind the should, one in the left ham after the 3 behind the should and finally finished him off with one behind the ear. The one in the ham went in 3-4” max and was flattened. In my opinion it is way to sort of lead. I’ll never use them again.

 

[camelcluch]

I found they fly well but terminal performance was horrible. No blood and although the animals die, it seems to take a long time leaving long tracking jobs. Too many good choices to mess around with PB.

 

[180splitg3]

Sounds like poor blood trails are common with many of these muzz. Bullets - I was hoping the thor bullets would be good but maybe will look at no excuses...

 

[cowboy300]

Guiding elk hunters I’ve witnessed multiple power belt failures on elk. They tend to pancake out and not penetrate or slide sideways if they hit bone. I’ve had great luck with Hornady fpb but they quit making them. I’m looking forward to trying Hornady new ELDx muzzy bullet when it comes out.

 

[180splitg3]

Guiding elk hunters I’ve witnessed multiple power belt failures on elk. They tend to pancake out and not penetrate or slide sideways if they hit bone. I’ve had great luck with Hornady fpb but they quit making them. I’m looking forward to trying Hornady new ELDx muzzy bullet when it comes out.

do you know when these ELDx bullets are supposed to be available?

 

[jjwise97]

I know a lot of people that really hate them. I’ve only shot 2 deer with a muzzleloader and both were 295gr Powerbelt hollow points, one dropped in its tracks (most of the bullet exited) and the other ran less than 20yd (only a very small piece exited and there was no blood trail). For whitetails, I think their terminal preformance is fine but the risk is possibly losing even a well hit deer due to the lack of a blood trail they seem to leave.

The guys I know who have shot a lot of deer with muzzleloaders swear by Hornady XTP, I bought some the other day to try out.

 

[Ol’ Cheebs]

 

[cowboy300]

do you know when these ELDx bullets are supposed to be available?

I’ve heard hopefully late spring