This will make 3 deer for me this year on my first season hunting with the smoke pole. I had some accuracy problems when I started shooting this weapon but it was a power belt problem. I shoot a CVA .50 Optima Pro 250 grain shock waves pushed by 2 50g pyrodex pellets.
I got these two deer at about 75 to 100 yards after a fast reload this spike was still there so I took him too. Both shots went exactly where I told them to.
I gain more respect for my muzzleloader after every shot, a skill all its own.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
The first deer I shot this year was with 90g of ffg 777 and a 295g Power Belt. The round hit low and didn"™t penetrate completely on a 90# deer. It was a heart shot so I was lucky. The next weekend I missed two nice bucks, so I headed back to the range. I couldn"™t even hit the target at 100 yards consistently. I switch to Shock Waves and shot a 3 inch group. I fire out my ML after every hunt usually at a pop can at as far as I can and haven"™t missed in about 20 shots.
I believe the Power Belt deforms under high power loads and can easily be dented or mashed when loading. They have the best ad campaign of all the ML rounds but that"™s it. Kind of like a fram oil filter that has the best ads but are the worst oil filter made.
This is just my opinion, but the shock wave has given me confidence that PB has not.
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no better friend and no worse enemy
The United States Marine Corps
2 Deer 1 Muzzleloader.
