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In need of Muzzleloader advice

Way too many of these Powerbelt threads out there. Switch to the Barnes Expanders or Barnes T-EZ and don't look back. I've also used the Hornady XTP, but they also had no blood trails. They did kill every deer I shot, but no blood. Barnes have had great blood trails.
 
T. J. Mercer said:
Wise ones,

I am at my wit's end.
More than once, I have taken well-placed shots on wall-mounter bucks, and I never get pass-through. Friends have told me it's a problem with PowerBelts.

I'm shooting 100 gr of White Hots with 270 gr PowerBelts. I have no struggle with accuracy.

My shots this far:
15 yds (harvested after 100 yd run, ZERO blood trail, got lucky to see the white belly across a ravine)
20 yds (never ran, just stood there, licked the air and fell over -- very strange)
25 yds (quartering away, shot just behind the shoulder blade, should have exited -- never found a drop, I know I hit it -- never recovered -- this was Monday)
65 yds -- knocked it over -- spent 11 min making a crop circle before springing up and teaching me the most valuable lesson of always reloading -- never recovered it

The pic is the one I didn't recover this week. Looking back at camera pics, I realize he might only be 2.5, but all that bone in the moment ...

I'd like to know if others have had similar experiences,
if I'm doing something wrong, or
if you have suggestions.

Thanks, and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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Man I feel for you and have been there several times too. All the advice so far has been awesome. And if you want to stick with the same weapon you have then follow it for sure. However, if you have a little bit of a budget ($800 or so), get yourself a smokeless muzzleloader and just be done with all of it. With smokeless you have access to modern bullet selections that give you great ballistics and pass throughs. You can leave your barrel fouled so it shoots better and not worry about corrosion. Havn't lost a deer yet since I made the switch.
 
ttf909 said:
The xtp are not designed for the velocity that these rifles are reaching .
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The xtp will handle any muzzleloader outside of smokeless or some crazy 200 grain charge junk, standard muzzleloader velocity's up to 110 blackhorn they will do the job from 10 yards to 300
 
knightrider said:
The xtp will handle any muzzleloader outside of smokeless or some crazy 200 grain charge junk, standard muzzleloader velocity's up to 110 blackhorn they will do the job from 10 yards to 300
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Modern muzzleloader and bh209 is too much velocity for the xtp. Sorry but it is. Way better options.
 
ttf909 said:
Modern muzzleloader and bh209 is too much velocity for the xtp. Sorry but it is. Way better options.
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Its worked for over 70 so far and half of those with blackhorn, never had one that wasnt a perfect mushroom when they didnt blow out the off side shoulder, between xtp and pt gold bullets they have accounted for over 100 dead deer in my thirty years of hunting so i think they are a very good option. Only two i ever lost were with tc shockwaves
 
Reliable set up for me. But like others have said not much of a blood trail
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knightrider said:
Its worked for over 70 so far and half of those with blackhorn, never had one that wasnt a perfect mushroom when they didnt blow out the off side shoulder, between xtp and pt gold bullets they have accounted for over 100 dead deer in my thirty years of hunting so i think they are a very good option. Only two i ever lost were with tc shockwaves
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I used xtp in a smokeless for many years. Lung/heart shots are usually 50-80 yard track job, shoulder shots drop them like a rifle. I switched to Barnes tez for better ballistic coefficient and no fragments. I wouldn't hesitate to use xtps again, however.
 
ttf909 said:
Modern muzzleloader and bh209 is too much velocity for the xtp. Sorry but it is. Way better options.
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deerdills said:
I used xtp in a smokeless for many years. Lung/heart shots are usually 50-80 yard track job, shoulder shots drop them like a rifle. I switched to Barnes tez for better ballistic coefficient and no fragments. I wouldn't hesitate to use xtps again, however.
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Same here. Since 2000, i used XTP's exclusively in my Smokeless ML and they perform great.
 
knightrider said:
Its worked for over 70 so far and half of those with blackhorn, never had one that wasnt a perfect mushroom when they didnt blow out the off side shoulder, between xtp and pt gold bullets they have accounted for over 100 dead deer in my thirty years of hunting so i think they are a very good option. Only two i ever lost were with tc shockwaves
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Are the 240 grain XTPs technically the XTP Mag? I seem to remember those coming in 240 and then regular XTPs are in the 200, 230 and 250 grains.
 
Shot my first muzzleloader deer this year, doe at around 80 yards. Complete pass thru, great blood trail. She only went 50 yards. Both lungs were really damaged. Shooting two 50 grain 777 pellets and Hornady XTP 240 grain.
 

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I had same experience with both 250 grain shockwave by Thompson and power belts.
The only thing different I did was went to a 300 grain shockwave and only use loose powder.

It may not be the bullets at all because my issues were when I used the pellets and not loose.
I use 100 grains of loose powder all the time. I have had no more issues.
 
I've been using the 250 gr XTP with a short black MMP sabot for years with both BH 209 and smokeless propellants. It's a devastating combination and I've rarely had a deer go far, more so just straight down. The blood trails have always been good, but I usually see the deer hit the ground.

I bought the bullets in bulk several years ago and have bought a new bag of sabots every couple years, fairly inexpensive that way. Most of my shots are sub 100 yards so I don't need something especially efficient from a ballistic standpoint.

I dislike Powerbelts from experiences I had with them 15-20 years ago, poor blood trails and hard tracking jobs.
 
Stalkhunter said:
I had same experience with both 250 grain shockwave by Thompson and power belts.
The only thing different I did was went to a 300 grain shockwave and only use loose powder.

It may not be the bullets at all because my issues were when I used the pellets and not loose.
I use 100 grains of loose powder all the time. I have had no more issues.
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Those pellets were a great marketing idea but never good for muzzleloaders. Ignition was the problem especially if there was any moisture whatsoever. Go back to loose powder for sure.
 
I shot a nice 10pt last year. Perfect broadside shot right in the armpit. He took off straight uphill without a single drop of blood that I could see, no pass through. Made it 100 yards and crashed. I will never use powerbelts again.

On a side note: The only reason I used powerbelts in the first place is because that is what CVA recommended over the phone to my dad. Rifle used was a CVA Accura V2 LR
 

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