Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Powerbelt test

Well I had some powerbelts left over and decided to try a little test. Using the old wet phone book method, duct taped groups of 3 phone books together and soak them in water overnight.

Today at the range I placed the phone books in a box(the kind reams of paper come in). The box was then placed downrange at 105 yards from the bench.

70 grains of Triple7 was the test load. 295gr aerotip powerbelts were the bullet. The gun was a CVA inline w/ a 26" barrel.

Shooting over a chronograph produced velocities around 1400 fps.

4 bullets were fired. Only 3 hit inside the target. I flinched on 1 and shot low. Upon digging out the 3 bullets I found something very interesting.

2 of the bullets penetrated approximatley 12" of wet media. They showed NO expansion. The only deformation on those 2 were from the groves of the barrels and the tip was somewhat "smushed" in.
These 2 bullets weighed in after recovery at about 296 gr. Both of these bullets impacted the target head on.

The 3rd bullet impacted the target somewhat higher than the other 2 causing the angle of entry to NOT be perpindicular (the box was on the berm and I hit just at the top edge of the box). This bullet had significant deformationbut penetrated approximatly 9" to 10" of wet media. The post mortem weight was 286 gr.


Pmc

that's interesting,,I have experimented with powerbelts in fast twist side locks and never really found the accuracy I wanted.

,, nun the less,, I wonder what caused the deformation of the 3rd round?

Maybe,Perhaps an upset of the recovery medium by the first two rounds?? Maybe??
Hitting an 8 1/2 x 11 or smaller, at 100 is definatley "minuet of Deer" trajectory.
I have always felt that deformation of any BP projectile is a good thing with large game..Deformation causes an upset in forward motion,,forceing the bullet/ball to expend it's energy quickly.
Energy equals mass times velocity. Accuracy is mass delivered. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

good thread!! thanks PMC,,, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Was that a 70gr load of 777 or the volume equivilent of 70gr of fff in 777 ?

What is the ROT of your CVA? [Most are pretty slow 1 in 32"????]

No offence, but either way that is a pretty anemic load, as evidenced by your paltry 1400fps chrono. I used to shoot 85gr.= and a maxi in my old Hawken and that was pretty tame even with a brass butt.

I have yet to use PB bullets, but have given them strong consideration and plan to try them out ASAIC.

It is my belief and understanding that PB projectiles were/are designed to perform at the much higher speeds and faster ROT of todays "magnum" muzzle loaders [that is, up to 150gr loads 1 in 28" or tighter bbl.'s]

Since you were at about 7% UNDER, 50% of a magnum load, I am not too surprized at the less than stellar performance you received.

If you pump up the load to 100gr. equivalent, perhaps more,I'm sure performance will improve, particularly if you have a 1 in 28" bbl.

I have only had time to shoot one elk with them using 100 gr of 777. Full penetration to under the hide on the farside, though both lungs, wher I found only fragments, the biggest the size of a dime. Looked like full expansion. Elk was about 70 yds.

See PMC;
Looks like Saddlesore concurs. Get some Umph! behind a Powerbelt and they work as well as one could expect.

Try a 100gr. equivalent load and I'm sure you'll change your tune <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />