what are your thoughts on hollow points for white tail?

my wife picked these up for me last year in 245 gr. they seemed to shoot better than the 270 gr aero tip i bought. i'm just not sure about hunting with hollow points.

do you think if i get the aero tip in 245 gr i will still get the same performance?

i am also wondering if it is the weight that made it more accurate or the type of nose?

last year was my first year for flintlock. i am also self employed and don't have the time to go to the range and tinker with different loads. i am just trying to narrow the variables.

thanks for your input.

You didn't say what kind of rifle, other than flintlock. I doubt the nose has anything to do with accuracy, but the length of the bullet will. Slower twists generally like shorter bullets. As far as using it on a deer, just don't push it too fast. Around 80 gr. of powder should do well. The main problem with soft lead bullets is that if you try to run them too fast, they break up. Stay conservative with your charge, and concentrate on accuracy. Stay away from heavy bone on your shots, if possible. A 245gr projectile through the lungs is deadly.

Just wondering why you are shooting PB"S . Usually the slow twist likes the heavy conicals like the maxi hunter or maxiball. Lot cheaper too.

Power Belts bullets would be my Last choise of bullets

I use the 405 grain Power Belt hollow point with a 90 grain charge from a T/C Renegade. This load is extremely accurate, expands well on deer, the bullet retains a good percentage of it's weight as I have found several now just under the opposite side of the deer, just under the hide.

This is a heavy bullet to be sure, but sure hammers the deer! Most of my friends shoot Power Belts in the 245 grain range. I think Power Belt recommends the 245 hp or aerotip and 295 grain hp for deer. Hope that helps you some!

T/C firestorm. 2 pellets of 777. when she bought me the gun, the guy at the store gave her "everything i need". thats how she picked up the 245 hollow points. in PA, you can't use a scope on a flint lock. at 25 yds, i can have all the shots touch, the groups open up a bit out to 50, but at 100, the iron sights cover the whole target paper, so its hard to pin point my shots. when i picked up the 270's, i wasn't as accurate, even at 25 yds.

i guess from not knowing a whole lot about flintlocks, i just figured the power belts were simpler than sabots. only 1 part opposed to 2. but i am open to suggestions. flinklock starts on the 26th, and i MIGHT have time to go.

I dont think it will make a difference at all

When I first started out I shot 295 grain Power Belt hollow points powered by 100 grains of Pyrodex, and quickly found out how poor of a bullet they are. In fact, many of the guys I hunt with used this bullet either in 245 grain or 295 and we all have had the same experience. The bullets were incredibly accurate, and that's what made me like them so much. However, when shooting deer, I rarely got a blood trail. While I did find the majority of the deer, I only got a blood trail with one deer. The majority of the time, the bullet wouldn't pass through, and would end up making the deer very difficult to track. This happened with everyone I know using them, and I lost one deer this way, that I know I hit as it hit the ground flapping around for 30-45 seconds, only to then jump up and take off leaving no blood trail. Others lost many more than I did. I also found several that had perfect shots and no blood trail.

I got online and read even more of these stories. So I finally switched, and ended up with the Speer Deep Curls. While I love them, there are many other good choices, but the PB bullets aren't one of them. After switching and seeing how these performed, I realized just how bad the Power Belts really are.

All of the guys I hunt with, with the exception of a couple, have also switched to something else and are having much better luck. One of them claims the shop that sold him his Optima told him it would only shoot PB's as that's what it was made to shoot, and not to shoot anything else it in. No matter how much we tell him that guy was full of it, he refuses to shoot anything else. Each year, he looses at least 1, and sometimes 2 or 3 deer. The other guy doesn't like them either, but bought a new gun this year and so far it's the only thing he could get decent groups from so he did use them, but never shot anything this year with them.

Another guy that hates them used them the first day of muzzle loading season as that's what his old gun was sighted in for, and he didn't have time to sight it in for anything else. I'm not sure why he wasn't using his other gun. The first day he shot a pretty large 7 pointer with these about 100 yards away. It took off running by his stand looking un hit. He reloaded, and it stopped again the second time about 20 yards from him. He shot it a second time and it took off again. This time it only made it about 5 yards and started falling. When I came over to help him get it out, we looked and there were absolutely no blood except where he shot it a second time there was a small drops, and where it fell it was bleeding, and had he not seen where the deer went, we would have had major trouble finding it. Probably would have thought he missed it. When we did get it, both shots were good shots, although the second one was a little high as in a high shoulder shot. The first one was perfect. He told me he forgot how much he hated these bullets, but this is the same experience we have all had.

never shot a deer with hp power belts, but have killed several elk using 50 cal, 348gr hp powerbelts. 2-3 were broadside at 30-80 yards and one was coming head on at 8 steps when i fired. all died from a single bullet. i'll use them the next time i hunt elk. wouldn't hesitate to use pb's on a deer, ymmv.

+1 on the 348 powerbelts. I shoot a 1/48 twist flintlock using 80 grains of Swiss black powder.

i have said this over and over,there are 6 of us that hunt in together here in va. we all us nothing but the 295hp powerbelt and we have killed over 250 whitetails with them. stay at 100grns of powder or less they kill great.

i've always got better groups from the hp bullets then the areotips

Really strange. Good old maxiballs have been killing deer and elkfor years an the PB is just a copper plated one.

I have never had problem recovering elk when shot with a PB,either 295 gr HP or Aero tip.Just like any bullet,use them in the velocity range they were designed for and put them where they need to go.

Are there better bullets out there? Sure. Do the PB's work?You bet.

thanks guys. i really appreciate it.

powerbelts are

easy to load
accurate as hell
kill great
available in every gunshop

we shoot them in
tc triumph and omega
cva
traditions
nef

they shoot about the same in all of our guns.
we are not tryin to shoot over 150-160 yds so they work just fine for all of us.

Yea, but why pay $1 per bullet or more, when you can get a bullet that performs 10x better like the Deep Curls for $.50 a bullet? That said, I was impressed with the accuracy of the PB's but that's the only thing. After playing with the 300 grain Deep Curls they are just as accurate, just as easy to load, perform 10x better, and cost half the price.

i was pleased with the 245 HP. not to pleased with the 270 AT. but like i said, i don't have a whole lot of time to tinker around. thats why i was asking for suggestions.

anyone else have some info?

to us there is no need to change ,we usualy buy in bulk and get them way cheaper.plus everything else we've tried loads to hard. how can a bullet perform better when we are killing everything we shoot at with the powerbelts. no such thing as a bullet that out performs a powerbelt by 10x. i do not need curls to kill a deer or bear and we kill lots of them. i find most powerbelt haters are kinda like cva haters,they really don't no what there talking about.

From my looking I find no full 50 caliber Deep Curls.,All take a sabot, which are illegal in CO. Don't know about PA

Try using a target with an over-sized (at least 12") solid colored circle. I've found that at 100 yards, I can place the front bead inside the circle and see the circle all the way around the outside of the bead, really helps to keep the hold consistent and see how different loads shoot. If you're using irons, look for orange targets.

And +1 on the 348 grain aerotips. I've killed half a dozen elk with 'em, and none got away. Shot three deer and never recovered a bullet, clean pass-throughs.

Powerbelt hollow points, lead conicals, patched roundball...I have yet to have any of those fail to go completely through a whitetail.
I don't think the last powerbelt HP even expanded on the doe I shot with a quartering shot through the ribs.

if you shot anything with a powerbelt and it didn't expand i'd have see to that to believe it. the way a PB is made thats just about impossible

smokepole, thats not a bad idea.

i was told by someone years ago that hollow points are useless to hunt, hence one of my concerns. from what i am hearing on this thread, thats not the case?

A power belt is just a lead bullet end of story and a very soft lead too boot!

Lead bullets have been killing stuff for generations. Especally .50 caliber 350-400 grain lead bullets.

I did not now there were varying degrees of pure lead softness. It's pretty much a given that one is suppose to use pure lead in muzzle loaders if not using a sabot.

I used 348gr copper clad PB's this year in .54 in front of two 60gr pyrodex pellets. Actually shot a nice mulie at about 85 yards. Long story short I ended up taking a bad angle shot and was most impressed with the performance of the PB. Broke a hip bone on entrance and and an offside rib which was left sticking out of the large exit wound. I have both aerotip and hollowpoint because I got a whole rack of them real cheap when a local sporting goods shop closed. Don't see any difference at the range. They overcame any bad reputation they might have had for me. They have always been accurate in my rifle.

Might be able to see the rib sticking out in the picture without the rifle.

Haven't had a shot at elk with it so no comment on that.

i used to shoot home made lead/wheel weight bullets in my old sidelocks. they killed just fine. i'm not a fan of anything lighter then 300 grns or so in a 50caliber.

nice buck

finally got out to the range today.

i am pretty sold on the 245 gr.

how do i get pics into the thread like 338win?

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/696239/1

i guess i should point out that all groups were shot from a clean barrel for the first shot, and no cleaning for the 2nd and 3rd.

on the 295 group, the flier was a definite flinch, that was my 2nd shot.

thanks fish head.

Corey, if you use photobucket they make it easy for you. You simply use the IMG link under the picture and copy and paste it into the post. Easy! You don't need to use any of the special tools. Just copy and paste it.
If you use photobucket a lot you can run into a broadband limit, but if you aren't selling stuff on ebay and craigslist with pictures on it you should be fine.

I only stated this because many think they are a jacketed bullets but they are only thinly plated with copper

I have shot Powerbelts for a number of years but have not really been impressed with how they kill, they shoot great but I don't think I have ever had a passthru. The buck I shot this year was at about 95yds andthe 245 Powerbelt with 130gr in pellets did not passthru. I shot the 223gr model into a 300lb bear at 25yds broadside and it didn't passthru and neither did the other deer I have shot with them using 100gr in pellets.
I like the accuracy but they seem to almost blow up sometimes for me. This is out of my Omega and also an old CVA.

but, they are accurate, and kill, right?

295 GR. powerbelts are accurate enough for me and I have taken 6 whitetail deer with them. Out of those 2 or 3 bang flops and the others just went a short distance. Each time the bullet exited the opposite side, 1 of those I did recover the bullet under the hide.

Yes they kill but I am really surprised to hear of all the passthru's when I haven't had even one.

They are accurate enough but I am always interested in what maybe working better for others.

Maybe I should try the 295's with 150 of pellets?

I've killed 5 whitetails with 295 gr PowerBelt Aeros. I load over 2 Jim Shockey Gold pellets in my CVA Optima; with that load my rifle consistently shoots 1" groups or less (3-shot) and I've shot one 5-shot group under 3/4". I weigh the pellets, btw, maybe a bit anal, but I get significantly better accuracy when the total weight of the two pellets is more consistent from one shot to the next.

Anyways, of these 5 whitetails, all shot in the chest, all have been shoot-throughs with devastating large exit wounds. I can't tell you why you're not getting good results. They're basically a copper-clad soft lead bullet, they should mess 'em up like any other soft lead ball or minie.

I've killed 5 whitetails with 295 gr PowerBelt Aeros. I load over 2 Jim Shockey Gold pellets in my CVA Optima; with that load my rifle consistently shoots 100-yd groups of 1" or less (3-shot) and 3" 200-yd groups. I weigh the pellets, btw, maybe a bit anal, but I get significantly better accuracy when the total weight of the two pellets is more consistent from one shot to the next.

Anyways, of these 5 whitetails, all shot in the chest, all have been shoot-throughs with devastating large exit wounds. I can't tell you why you're not getting good results. They're basically a copper-clad soft lead bullet, they should mess 'em up like any other soft lead ball or minie.

I used a 295 aero to take a buck this season. Complete pass though breaking the offside shoulder on the way out. Shot was about 75 yards and I use 110 grains of American Pioneer powder. Exit hole was not as large as entrance one was. Deer went about 50 yards before dropping.

i wouldn't shoot 150grns of any powder with a powerbelt,thats way to much powder . 110grns at the most. to much powder will cause them to fragment on entry. i shoot 90grns of blackhorn with the 295hp.

Agreed. Like I said, I use 2 Jim Shockey Gold pellets. I don't know why, but I don't get as good results with the loose Gold powder. I weigh all the pellets in a jar, and then put them in pairs with a total weight of (IIRC) 80 +/- 1 grain.

Every deer I've shot with these (all chest/heart-lung wounds) were down within 50 feet of impact. I suspect the bullets fragmented on impact, as the exit wounds were devastating. I'll see if I can find some pictures at lunchtime and post them. Range on these deer was 40 yards on the closest, 175 on the farthest.

Animals aren't very hard to kill, shot placement is the most important thing.

the 295 hollow points with 2 pellets of 777 out of my T/C firestorm flintlock are very accurate. last time out to the range, i had a 1.5" 15 shot group. should have taken a picture, but didn't. i cleaned the gun every 5 shots.

i haven't killed anything yet, i have only been out twice this year, and last year was my first.

my last post, "but, they are accurate, and kill, right?" i was being sarcastic.

Right.

That "sarcasm" smiley we keep asking Rick to install just never seems to get front and center on his desk...