Powerbelt Platinums?

[Shop Rat]

DennisDW I had trouble getting a pattern also. That is why I never used them in the first place. I remember reading on some site that the flyers could be caused by the force from the 209 primer going up through the holes in the pellets and moving the bullet from the base at the same time as the ignition. My buddy had a condition where his black diamond only shot them well with a dirty barrel. It was funny because his first shot was always a foot high, then he was good. I would go into the woods with a clean muzzleloader and his was dirty. I am not an expert, so I don't know why that happens.

I am using a small rifle primer this year. It is supposed to eliminate flyers. The theory is that a shotgun primer can move the bullet without powder and is 10x what is needed.

Does anyone else need to dirty their barrel, not just with powerbelts?

[QuakrTrakr]

You're right about the flyers. As for the dirty barrel, I don't clean my barrel between shots when sighting in, as some guys do. The American Pioneer Powder actually lubricates the barrel after a shot. I get a good pattern with a dirty barrel adn stick with it. I shoot a fouling shot through the gun before heading out on opening day. American Pioneer isn't very corrosive, so it doesn't hurt the barrel.

[ENCORE]

[quote=Shop Rat] ........ Not to be a jerk about this I would like to ask how many deer did you shoot with them? How many deer did your buddies shoot with them? I don't mean any disrespect. I guess I feel strongly about this because the first year or two my hunting buddies seem to miss with powerbelts, then we really tracked the deer far and started to find the deer. You would think that within 50 yards with lots of snow there would be blood. It was something we never experienced before. We stayed on the track and started finding deer before we found blood. My shots had sprays of blood at the hit and huge blood trails. When we were in the Western U.P. 2 miles from our truck we had a problem because we could not go to a range and sight in with a different bullet. Pass thru shots give much better blood trails. Yes, we all want the deer to drop, but when they don't, there is no snow, no blood trail, then what?[/quote]

Just to provide a small opinion..... On my 240 acres "down below" we annually take approximately 28 deer (+/-). Obviously, most of those are does, of which numbers must be reduced. With bucks, its a voluntary 8pt challenge (NOTICE: NO MANDITORY STUFF?). Same on the neighboring farms. The main weapon of choice for us on the farm is a muzzleloader, and also for most that I have hunting with me. Only a friends wife shoots a shotgun (darn good shot too). All of the regulars that I have hunting with me have at one time, tried the PowerBelt bullets. All the other invited friends have also tried them. WITHOUT FAIL, ALL HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTED WITH POWERBELTS. These people are seasoned hunters and shooters and not weekend woirrors. They hunt throughout the complete hunting seasons and shoot during the off season.
Poor consistency as far as accuracy with the PowerBelts, weather conditions and unfortunately a few lost animals have been major problems. Pass thru shots are much better. I agree with you Its elementary knowledge that an entry wound and exit wound will provide 2 holes for blood to flow from. But, even with an entry and exit wound, if its extremely cold outside, warm blood will melt instantly into the snow and can be extremely hard to locate. Especailly a fluffy (new) snow.
No disrespect intended what so ever but, we harvest quite a few deer every year, so I just wanted to give my 2 cents worth. Good post!

[frontier gander]

Originally Posted by Swamp Monster

A good bullet will produce a lot of internal damage around the wound channel and still pass thru. Lots of muzzleloader bullets today are capable of this on a consistant basis even at ranges of 200 yards or more. Powerbelts are not capable of doing this on a consistant basis, why handicap yourself with an inferior load?

Power belts cant take down deer? i used my winchester x150, 150 grains pyrodex rs and a 245 grain powerbelt and dropped 2 mule deer doe from 148 and 146 yards and each one took a couple of steps before dropping. Both were hit with double lung shots. Maybe you guys that have problems with exit problems need to up your charge and use a heavier bullet. And the platinum powerbelts use a thicker coating that holds the bullet together better and have a new base seal that will help increase pressure. I wont use any other bullet out there. Shot placement is the key to dropping deer. If you dont like using charges over 80 grains, get a recoil pad on the rifle and stop being a wuss!

[QuakrTrakr]

Originally Posted by frontier gander

Power belts cant take down deer? i used my winchester x150, 150 grains pyrodex rs and a 245 grain powerbelt and dropped 2 mule deer doe from 148 and 146 yards and each one took a couple of steps before dropping. Both were hit with double lung shots. Maybe you guys that have problems with exit problems need to up your charge and use a heavier bullet. And the platinum powerbelts use a thicker coating that holds the bullet together better and have a new base seal that will help increase pressure. I wont use any other bullet out there. Shot placement is the key to dropping deer. If you dont like using charges over 80 grains, get a recoil pad on the rifle and stop being a wuss!

Maybe you haven't been reading all the posts. Most peoples problems with the powerbelts is the lack of blood trails. The bullets rarely leave an exit wound, and the entrance wound is minimal. I've seen this personally. I don't agree with SWAMP either about the killing power of the PB, but you can get the same killing power from another bullet that WILL leave a good blood trail.

[Shop Rat]

Originally Posted by frontier gander

Power belts cant take down deer? i used my winchester x150, 150 grains pyrodex rs and a 245 grain powerbelt and dropped 2 mule deer doe from 148 and 146 yards and each one took a couple of steps before dropping. Both were hit with double lung shots. Maybe you guys that have problems with exit problems need to up your charge and use a heavier bullet. And the platinum powerbelts use a thicker coating that holds the bullet together better and have a new base seal that will help increase pressure. I wont use any other bullet out there. Shot placement is the key to dropping deer. If you dont like using charges over 80 grains, get a recoil pad on the rifle and stop being a wuss!

Check their website, the coating you are talking about is not thicker. They say it is harder. .002 thick is the same as a sheet of paper. This plating is mistaken as a copper jacket as with some bullets. It is actually for looks and to decrease lead fowling in the barrel.

[frontier gander]

All the years ive been using them, ive had no problems with finding a blood trail. Double lung shots are always better than a heart shot. If you dont have a good blood trail, use heavier bullets and up your powder grainage by 5- 10 grains. When i used to use the mag 150loads, those deer would just drop. My dad used 295's in his cabelas hawken and 90 grains power and it leaves a very good blood trail. And when you live in a state that does not allow sabots, powerbelts are pretty much your best bet. Buffalo or hornady bullets are fine but if you are skinny like me, they hurt! www.possibleshops.com sells 240 grain .50 caliber hornady great plains bullets. Im trying 395 grain great plains bullets in my winchester x-150 and so far its doing good but i can no longer shoot over 100 yards due to the drop in powder and the heavy bullet. Drops around 26 inchs at 200 yards and around 16 and 150. I only like hollow points. I had a bad experience with TC maxi balls with the non hollow point. 2 shots on a buck and it took over an hour to die. So TC bullets get 2 middle fingers up in my book lol. One of the 2 shots was a lung shot also.

[QuakrTrakr]

Frontier- Where do you hunt where you can't shoot sabots? That would suck! Can you use a scope?

[Shop Rat]

Frontier Gander, you have a few good points. The tci maxi with a solid point is not for deer. I bought some and found out before I shot them. That is one case for sure that a hollow pt. it much better because of no expansion. The heavier powerbelts make up for the softness, the experts usually suggest the 300 grain and up for 50 cal. If they work for you, that is good.

Of course shot placement is extremely important, but with some conditions there are shoulder hits and some even a little far back, it is not the range. On small hunting parcels or near rivers and swamps you want a short blood trail, if not having the deer drop. With my setup, I don't usually drop the deer (6) so far, but the deer is within 40 yards with a great bloodtrail. I shoot 100 grains of powder, but with my farthest shot so far being 80 yards and still a pass through, I don't need more. yet.

[Shop Rat]

My daughter needed mapquest before I was finished, but here is what I wanted to ask. Do you recover the bullets on most kills? What condition are they in?

[twohats]

Hey Shop Rat ,I was a Shop Rat for 18 yr untill they closed the doors 5 yr. ago. Man I tell ya what,I miss it. Wish I could get back into it. Anyways I have taken 3 deer with the powerbelts 295 g. on top of 1oo g. powder. Two deer they did not pass throu but they went down like a brick. When I dressed them the internals were scrambled (Massive Damage).One had the top of the heart blown off.All that was left of the powerbelt were fragments. The third deer was a pass throu that went about 60 yrds. The shot on that one was high so all the blood collected in the belly so there was very little blood trail. But the exit hole was good size. I think the power belts are great! it just comes down to shot placement.

[twohats]

Sorry, in my above post that was useing the copper clad power belts not the new ones.

[Masterblaster1]

In my experience plain old lead great plains bullets penetrate about twice as much as powerbelts and actually hold together.

[Swamp Monster]

Originally Posted by frontier gander

Power belts cant take down deer? i used my winchester x150, 150 grains pyrodex rs and a 245 grain powerbelt and dropped 2 mule deer doe from 148 and 146 yards and each one took a couple of steps before dropping. Both were hit with double lung shots. Maybe you guys that have problems with exit problems need to up your charge and use a heavier bullet. And the platinum powerbelts use a thicker coating that holds the bullet together better and have a new base seal that will help increase pressure. I wont use any other bullet out there. Shot placement is the key to dropping deer. If you dont like using charges over 80 grains, get a recoil pad on the rifle and stop being a wuss!

Apparantly, you don't read so well. In the quote you pulled, I never said powerbelts can't take down a deer! I stated that a good bullet will fully penetrate an animal and still do massive internal damage. I've seen 8 deer that have been shot with powerbelts and not a one had an exit wound. All were using 100 grains of powder or more. Sorry, but their an inferior bullet marketed to people that don't know much about bullets, it's really that simple. (or wuss's that can't seat a real bullet....) I've never heard anybody with any real knowledge of bullet performance desrcribe jacket thickness as a thicker coating. I got news for ya, coating does not hold a bullet together...jacket design and internal construction does. The platinum powerbelts are like putting lipstick on a pig....at the end of the day, it's still just a pig.
I agree, shot placement is the key, but a good bullet is still very important.
As for being a wuss, I wouldn't let that concern ya much. I enjoy my Encore with 150 grains loose T7(sometimes more, but don't tell anybody!) and 300 gr Shockwaves.

[twohats]

Ok, why dont we all just go back to what ML hunting was all about in the beginning. Loose powder and patch and ball. Forget all the high tech and we wont argue about bullets anymore.