Wife picked up some powerbelts by accident. Anyone have good performance on deer with the 295 grain hollow points?
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Powerbelts?
- Thread starter timberjack86
- Start date
Trade em, or trash em. They pancake flate on bone , hate em
The 295's were too soft for me to like. I never had a deer get away but I wasn't pleased with the penetration.
I switched to the Harvester Crush Rib sabots with whatever bullet I wanted to shoot. They load as easily as a powerbelt, shoot extremely accurate and allow me to shoot whatever weight and diameter bullet I want based on sabot size.
I switched to the Harvester Crush Rib sabots with whatever bullet I wanted to shoot. They load as easily as a powerbelt, shoot extremely accurate and allow me to shoot whatever weight and diameter bullet I want based on sabot size.
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
IMHO, powerbelts are the worst muzzleloading bullet on the market.
Spot on right here. They're accurate but that's about it. Hornady XTPs are tried and true.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I've killed deer with powerbelts but was not impressed with the performance at all. Almost no blood trail. Many times no exit. Swithed to Barnes T-EZ and I'm very pleased with the performance.
348Winchester
Well-Known Member
To get optimum performance from Powerbelts the heavier bullets are needed. Like many others posted they tend not to give full pass throughs.
Several years ago I tried their 348 grain pure lead hollow point. Over 80-90 grains of 777 full penetration has happened on every deer killed which amounts to 15-20 deer. The blood trails are very good too and the exit holes are big!
Powerbelt makes a 405 grain bullet also.
Several years ago I tried their 348 grain pure lead hollow point. Over 80-90 grains of 777 full penetration has happened on every deer killed which amounts to 15-20 deer. The blood trails are very good too and the exit holes are big!
Powerbelt makes a 405 grain bullet also.
Tweeter
Well-Known Member
That's the 50cal 330gr ELR Powerbelt 2 different deer
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
Same. Untold thousands of deer have been killed with patched round balls, but that doesn't make them a "good" option in 2024. In my experience, powerbelts were more accurate than round balls, but that's about the only positive I can say for them.
I prefer the Barnes 245 gn Spitfire MZ, which is basically the same bullet as the T-EZ, minus the polymer tip. And I load them with the Harvester Crushed Rib sabots. I've recovered a couple bullets over the years, and they all look like a magazine ad picture. Perfect expansion, excellent weight retention, and incredibly accurate.
Old blurry picture, but you get the idea. Bullet was 245 grains when it left the barrel. 150 yard shot through both lungs, a rib bone, and lodged in the off-side shoulder. Perfect expansion into six petals. Very short but VERY thorough blood trail, which is absolutely the norm in my experience.
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DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
You described my exact experience...very pleased with the performance of Barnes.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Never lost a deer with them, but also don't think I ever had a good blood trail with them. I switched many years ago
Another Barnes Spitfire T-EZ fan here.
Im not a fan. I went away from them a while ago and went with the bore loks
I've never tried them but, do have some. I had similar experience with Shockwaves 250 gr. They shot awesome but, expansion wasn't great, unless you hit bone or heavy muscle.
