Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders FPBs

i have both bullets brother, the FPB is just a very thin wash, its not thick at all and cracks off when its loaded into the bore, Just look at this picture,

well just as i said gents, The FPB copper wash IS thinner that the Powerbelt. The harvester Sabertooth has the thickest copper wash coating on it as you will see.

Powerbelt = .005
FPB = .004 " With lead stuck to copper wash! I easily pealed a section of copper off with my fingers" So in truth, its actually even thinner if the lead was completely off it.
Sabertooth - Unknown. The thickness is amazing as you will see in the pictures.



FPB VS Sabertooth copper thickness.

You should have made the bet before showing the pictures.

Too funny. Think I will stick with solid lead and flat points for big critters.

Hey 30338, go down to Crosfires thread "New 8 Bore" thread and click on page 4 and check out my homemade speed loaders for BIG CRITTERS .

Gunner

I love FPBs and my brother and I will be using them in CO this year for elk and deer, but I have never seen anything to convince me that the "jacket" does anything for terminal performance. The reason it is harder to push down is that it is not a pure soft lead bullet. It is a lead alloy and is harder than the lead in a powerbelt or any other pure lead bullet. Also, the skirt is the only thing that engages the riflings on the way down because it is 0.507 before you size it to your bore. The body of the bullet itself is smaller than .500 and "obturates" to engage the riflings when you pull the trigger, just like a powerbelt.

LOL, while an 8 bore would be very emphatic with 300 grains of powder pushing it, I am not sure I am man enough to carry 5 or 6 of those speed loaders! But big and solid lead they most certainly are.

Well, A couple of things. I think you're right on one count, the FPB is not what I would call jacketed, because the copper is not that thick. It's thinner than their description and cutaway diagram make it out to be. That kind of surprises me coming from Hornady.

But it's still thicker than a powerbelt, I believe. This is based on some highly scientific work I did in my basement with a hacksaw, some tin snips, and a grinder. I can't get the jacket to separate (didn't heat it) but eyeballing the thickness with a caliper it looks to be between 10-15 thousandths. Four thousands is barely enough to see that the calipers are open and to my eyes the copper on the FPB is obviously thicker than that. And I would say that if you heat the "jacket" to get it to separate, then you may be distorting the actual thickness because as you noted, the alloy in the jacket flows when heated.

Anyway, the main thing I got out of this is just what TX said above, and that is, the lead alloy in the FPB is definitely tougher than the PB. That's what's going to keep the bullet from pancaking when it hits, at least in comparison to a PB. When I cut the PB in half with the tin snips, I could do it with my hands. When I tried that on the FPB, no dice, I had to brace the tin snips on the floor and really lean on 'em to get it cut in half.

Plus, it's just more accurate in my rifle. So I'm hunting with the FPB this September.

350g FPB after smashing a bull's shoulder at 40yds. The bullet was against the hide on the off side(slight quarter to presentation). The bull was still flopping a bit and sliding down the mountain, so a second was placed thru the ribs and exited.




Damn site better than the 348PB HP I used on the trip. A broadside rib impact shredded that pill and deflected it hard only taking out one lung and leaving a tiny piece of the shank behind his diaphram.

Surprised you guys are having trouble loading the FPBs, I've ran them in a Knight, CVA Optima, Encore, and Omega and they are easy to start in all of them with just the rod.

I still have about 7-8 packs of them and wouldn't hesitate a bit to use them on a bull.

loder

good proof at how thin that copper coating is!

BB, you must have gotten a soft batch of the FPBs, the thin jacket on the lots I've gotten is much tougher than the last few batches of PBs I've bought. The PBs wash is easy to scratch off, but the Hdy not so much. Not that it really matters, they are so thin on either, I really can't see either having an advantage over the other. I believe the alloy is a touch harder in the FPB, hence the better performance as noted in the on game example above.

i look at the stores before i buy and i havent found one package of FPB's where the copper isn't all cracked up. No biggy, Thors are the better choice for me anyways and run just a few bucks more.

A few of my packs have some cracking in the cup under the base, but most seem just like a typical CF cnc pill as far as the look of the jacket.

No doubts, solids are the real deal. I love my TMZs. Haven't gotten on the Thor wagon yet.

And good proof at how tough the lead alloy is!

I have the same experience. Shot an elk and went through the shoulder blade, broke a rib, took out the aorta on top of the heart, broke a rib on the other side and lodged under the skin. I suspect it retained at least 300 gr. Was goint to photograph it, but alas I left it on the hotel counter when we went hunting the next day and the cleaning crew threw it away!

Looks good to me, thanks for posting that. FPB it is.