Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders power belt bullets

Well I've used the .50 295 with 150gr Pyrodex pellets and non have failed. One buck was facing me straight on and shot him in the chest at 60yds. The PB traveled length wise and ended lodged in his rear hind leg. Bullet weighed 270 gr and mushroomed perfectly. The shot sat him on his rear and almost flipped him over. The rest have all been pass throughs with sledge hammer like effect on deer.

100 grains of Pyrodex,777 or blackhorn. With .348 pb aerotip and hollow points shoots good and kills well for me. Only 1 Whitetail 2 cow elk and 1 bull elk. But it works for me.

I won't tell someone what bullet to use or not use. We all have to decide for ourselves.

Powerbelts are probably the most controversial bullet out there for ML's. The fact is - whether they will or won't work consistently, their reputation for failing is out there. There isn't another bullet that has the bad reputation they do. And that reputation certainly didn't come out of thin air. It also didn't come because only hunters that use PB can't aim straight, or because it only happened a handful of times, or because someone started a rumour. It came because of poor results being reported by many many hunters over many years. I know guys that use them and are happy, as do some folks here. If you want to use them go for it, but do your homework first. With PB's...some are obviously better than others.

For me, I'd rather use a bullet that DOESN'T have a reputation for failing. The one thing I know, nothing is for certain with hunting. Things happen, and wild animals are amazingly tough critters.

Regardless of what weapon I choose...I want to stack the odds in my favor, which is why I personally won't use them. One less thing that I can control, that I don't have to worry about.

I'd guess that reported bullet failure of PB"s are mostly caused by poor shot placement or guys stuffing too much powder behind a pure lead bullet.

It doesn't make much difference what design a pure lead bullet has, pure lead can only so much.

I have killed deer with patch round balls, Maxi Hunters and 295gr PB's. Elk I have killed with Maxiballs,295 gr PB"s and 348 gr PB's.

The problem here of guys complaining about them is the muzzle loader season is suppose to be a primitive weapon season and guys want the muzzle loader to perform the same way a center fire rifle does.

When you think about it,the same problems surface with the center fire bullets. Poor shot placement or driving them faster than they were designed for.

I could take a 1/2 " diameter lead rod and cut it to the appropriate length and go kill elk and deer with it. Obviously there are people out there that can't.

I called Dicks sporting goods. They have from the manufacturer they be made in China. I dunno. I think the inherent trouble with them are adding plastic or poly carbonate to make them longer but lighter. The weight the light ones posses ain't much heavier than a round ball about 180 grains.. Lewis and Clark write about how many shots it sometimes took down a big critter with round balls. I think this problem was the reason the conical or buffeler bullets got started to be introduced. Go heavy....or go looking.

It came because guys on the internet endlessly repeat what others have said because it confers the mantle of knowledge to have information to share, regardless of the source of the information.

The farther you get from first-hand accounts, the farther you get from the truth. As far as "doing your homework" I choose to do mine in the field, not on the internet.

It's interesting that all who have actually used the bullets and commented on this thread have had positive results.

I have hunted flintlock season all my life, and although the power belts are relatively new, I never saw one fail, or anyone say they were not good. Load easy, shoot paper well, and flatten deer. I wish they were cheaper to buy.

First of all I am glad first hand hunting failures are not publicly posted. Second of all this is not a static population using this forum forum for information. Third of all physics,pyhsiology,and ballistics are good things to learn about. Fourth as my wife puts it "Are we trying to humanely harvest animals and recover them fresh enough for human consumption...or hunt in primatve manner"? That cow elk in this thread looks bloated to me. Maybe it is artifact but it looks like it been dead a while.

Physics, physiology, and physics are good things to learn about. Reading second-hand anecdotes on the internet is not a good way to learn about them.

If you think Saddlesore's animal looks bloated, you should ask him about that. Or just tell people you saw a photo of a bloated elk shot with a powerbeIt, and continue the tradition of internet learning. I'd be willing to bet that pic was taken within 60 minutes of the animal's death, and I know SS is not one to dally when an animal hits the ground.

You should be paying attention to what he tells you, rather than casting those kinds of aspersions.

A picture is worth a thousand words. I see two pictures.

What do you see in the picture that pertains to bullet performance, other than the bulge in the off-side hide?

How much do you want to bet that pic was taken within an hour (or two at most) of Saddlesore pulling the trigger?

Dicks is just a retailer that has wrong information on it's website, as is Walmart. Call the parent company BPI at (770) 449-4687 or the manufacturing facility in Nampa, ID at (208) 466-6927 to get the straight story. Your choice if ya like em or not, but at least get your facts correct.

It is strange Dicks claims it is what the company sent them. I wonder if the OPS wife just needs to get a good ball starter to load her regular bullets.

doesnt look bloated to me. Thats a young fat cow with plenty of green to feed on.

Nope I am sorry. I shouldn't have gotten all puffy. Does your wife have a quality ball starter and a T handled ram rod? She might have better luck loading your already tuned in loads.

That photo was taken about 20 minutes or less after the cow fell over. About ten minutes to get to her and a few minutes to get my pack off. The meat was quartered and hung in the shade within one hour of her demise. Just about every one on this forum that knows me,know that I pride myself in quick humane kills and how well I take care of the meat. Of the four big game animals I killed this year,deer, moose,elk,and antelope,all were processed in the field immediately.No animal I have ever killed was ever BLOATED from lack of care or left laying.

The cow was quartering towards me and the POI was on the opposite side at the crease of her shoulder and traveled at an angle taking out one lung and her liver.She ran about 30 yards and piled up.

I posted a photo of the bullet as every one keeps saying the PB's come apart.Proof that they don't.

I had to gut her as she was so full of grass from eating all night and I could not move her myself. As I remember,I killed her at about 7:45 AM.

In addition,maybe it's the newbies that don't know the history,but muzzle loader hunters petitioned the states to give them a primitive weapon season since most states a offered archery seasons. Just becasue a firearm is classified as primitive,does not mean it doesn't kill quickly and humanely.

Here is the same cow less than two hours after her death with the hind quarters being packed back to camp.



Here is another smaller cow,PB caused death.Complete pass thru.
That little dot at the shoulder crease was the entry wound.Shot was from about 125 yards. 348 gr PB, 100gr of BP.



I can post at least another 15 photos of recent kills that were photographed within 30minutes of the kill that look the same as the cow I posted.

Congratulations on such an excellent harvest. I stand corrected. I am sorry.

Congratulations on such an excellent harvest. I stand corrected. I am sorry.

To explain my deal. I had just bought a new hunting cabin on the divide of two idaho units. That was 10 years ago. One unit offered an October one a November muzzel cow hunt. I already got my elk with my bow and the guy I hunted with in October left early..he never got a shot. My other buddies came out in November to use the cabin. We were all using powerbelts but they were lead colored and the we're small. The Novembor crew faced 20 below weather and had to take a lot of shots to harvest. We regrouped and studied for the next year. Using 460 grain no excuses we started blowing huge exit holes and finding elk within feet of where we shot at them. I am glad the powerbelts work better for most than for my buddies ....but I am gonna stick with the no excuses as they for me are awesome and load so easy. But for the OP concerned about his wife 460 grains might not be the answer I again apologize and I think from now on I will skip any powerbelt disscussion. As my Dad told me " if you don't have anything good to say...shut the freak up."

like i have said over and over when these powerbelt threads come up(at least once a season). the group of guys that i have hunted with for over 30 years have all been using the 295pb.i don't remember exactly when powerbelts first hit the market but we have killed a lot of deer and bear using them.

almost all of the bullet failures that i have seen were with 120-150gr of powder.if you use them with 100gr or less they work great.some say they never got a exit wound with them,who cares when the animal falls dead within 50 yds max in most cases. i'd much rather see that then watch the animal run off like it was not even hurt.i see deer do that on tv all the time when those guys are using 150gr and a very light bullet trying to get there mls to shoot 250yds.

i'll buy all of the 295pb's copper clad in hp or aerotip that you want sell cheap. we all get better groups from the hp bullets then the aerotips.they are the same bullets anyway so i just pop out the aerotips.