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Powerbelts?

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'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.
 
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.
 
IMG_9924.webp

That's the 50cal 330gr ELR Powerbelt 2 different deer
 
DoubleRidge said:
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.
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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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Southern Sportsman said:
Same. I prefer the Barnes 245 gn Spitfire MZ, which is basically the same bullet without 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.
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You described my exact experience...very pleased with the performance of Barnes.
 
vonb said:
Spot on right here. They're accurate but that's about it. Hornady XTPs are tried and true.
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vonb said:
Spot on right here. They're accurate but that's about it. Hornady XTPs are tried and true.
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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.
 
I've killed several deer with the 295 powerbelts, all were bang flop. One of my boys lost almost every deer he shot with them though. Great blood at first and then just quit.
 
Never lost a deer but I don't do tv shots, heart/lung and almost all have been bang flops. If you want to shoot bone this might not be the bullet for you, if you like lung shots and bang flops you will like them. going to shoot some deer with the 250g this weekend, I hope will take pictures if I see anything to shoot.
 

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