I have hunted whitetail now for 5 seasons. My first season I bought a CVA staghorn magnum 50 cal. I started using the 295 grain hollow point powerbelt bullets. I had great luck with them, shooting a less then 1 1/2 inch group at 100 yards. I shot 6 deer over the next 3 seasons with the combination. Never had one of them run farther then 65 yards, in fact 3 of them piled up.
This season I wanted to flatten out my trajectory beyond 125 yards. I went to the 223 grain aero tip powerbelt. This year I shot 5 deer with that combo from 24 yards to 82 yards. No problem as long as I put it thru the shoulder or hit the opposite shoulder. I noticed that my length after shot increased. My hunting partner used the same combo and shot a buck on opening evening of shotgun season. He double lunged it and it bled ok at first, but soon went to drops. THen nothing. Luckly it was on a trail that worked back to a main trail and we found it about 200 yards away.
Then my son shot a nice doe last weekend of shotgun out of my blind at 55 yards. It was right at sundown so we gave her 45 minutes and then went to look. She ran off like she was hit hard, but we hunt in horseweed and its hard to watch them for very long. Well that night we found no blood trail, so we came back the next morning at daylight. Looked for 2 hours and found no blood or deer. Then two weeks later while making new paths thru the horseweed with my four wheeler I found her about 175 yards from where she was shot. The hit was a little back, but still she should have been bleeding.
My question is should I go back to a hollow point? or a heavier bullet? Or should I go to a 245-250 grain hollow point for an inbetween compromise?
I rarely have the opportunity to shoot beyond 125 yards.
Any suggestions or comments would be great
__________________
If God didn't want us to eat animals then why did he make them out of meat?
bowhunterjohn.. welcome to the forum. Nice to have you here. I have heard this same story so many times with Powerbelts. Some people swear by them some swear at them. I have yet to have the opportunity to shoot a deer with a powerbelt. I have tried now for two years but the deer will not cooperate.
Perhaps you might want to see how your rifle will shoot a 300 grain XTP. While this is a different design, if you place it in the rifle place, very few people have complaints with them. Also they are said to produce massive blood trails.
There are a lot of different projectiles out there you could try. All of them will still boil down to shot placement.
__________________
"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."
I have hunted whitetail now for 5 seasons. My first season I bought a CVA staghorn magnum 50 cal. I started using the 295 grain hollow point powerbelt bullets. I had great luck with them, shooting a less then 1 1/2 inch group at 100 yards. I shot 6 deer over the next 3 seasons with the combination. Never had one of them run farther then 65 yards, in fact 3 of them piled up.
This season I wanted to flatten out my trajectory beyond 125 yards. I went to the 223 grain aero tip powerbelt. This year I shot 5 deer with that combo from 24 yards to 82 yards. No problem as long as I put it thru the shoulder or hit the opposite shoulder. I noticed that my length after shot increased. My hunting partner used the same combo and shot a buck on opening evening of shotgun season. He double lunged it and it bled ok at first, but soon went to drops. THen nothing. Luckly it was on a trail that worked back to a main trail and we found it about 200 yards away.
Then my son shot a nice doe last weekend of shotgun out of my blind at 55 yards. It was right at sundown so we gave her 45 minutes and then went to look. She ran off like she was hit hard, but we hunt in horseweed and its hard to watch them for very long. Well that night we found no blood trail, so we came back the next morning at daylight. Looked for 2 hours and found no blood or deer. Then two weeks later while making new paths thru the horseweed with my four wheeler I found her about 175 yards from where she was shot. The hit was a little back, but still she should have been bleeding.
My question is should I go back to a hollow point? or a heavier bullet? Or should I go to a 245-250 grain hollow point for an inbetween compromise?
I rarely have the opportunity to shoot beyond 125 yards.
Read that over for ideas. As for what you should go to, I did this little experiment 3 years ago after having PB fragmentation issues. I asked the forum for advice and picked 5 bullets which I shot in my two muzzleloaders, I shot for accuracy and ease of loading. I also did penetration testing and did an extensive search on the internet for articles on bullet performance in ML. I documented my finding here:
Now I don't think you have to go to all that work to find a bullet/load that will work in your gun,a Nosler Partition HG bullet, a BarnesMZ Expanderare all excellent hunting bullets. I use a 300g Nosler Partition Jacket Protected Point in a Crushed Rib sabot, with 100g of 777 loose 3Fand I clean with bore butter between shots even in the field. Here is a Nosler Partition bullet taken from abrisket hit deerat 40 yards, I found it under his skin between the bucks legs when I went to gut him. Best wishes for find the right bullet/load combo that works in your gun. I have aKnight Disc and a TC Omega.
Chap Gleason Va
__________________
Chapman Gleason
Purcellville Va
http://www.the-gleasons.com
If range beyond 120 yards is what you seek then lighter powerbelts aren't a good choice. Wind is going to effect you and you will want a bullet which resists that better than a light full bore conical. Something like a 200 or 250 shockwave which has a much higher ballistics coefficient is going to get you to that range faster with less windage and muzzle velocity variation effects, meaning you will be more accurate with them.
This is the most important part of the equation. One must place the bullet where the animal will bleed rapidly. Failing do this, no matter what you use, whether PB, roundball, shockwave, or high-powered rifle, will lead to longer time to kill the quarry and may result in an unrecovered animal. Shot placement is critical.
You have discovered that at the ranges the 295 powerbelts are accurate, they will dump deer as effectively, and as quickly as any other alternative. Shot placement is the key to this kind of performance.
But if you are serious about long range shooting, think about switching to a saboted jacketed bullet with good flight characteristics and spend enough time at the range with these to understand the complexities of shooting accurately with them at those ranges, particularly the effects of wind on POI.
I have shot many deer with the power belts. I also use the 295 grain hollow points and 100 grains of triple seven powder and i have no trouble killing a deer from 100 to 200 yards with this combo and it is also very accurate. I to also shoot a cva except mine is a Cva hunterbolt. Also if you find that it is not accurate at 125 yards add a little more powder to the combo.
[/align]I swear by them.Of the last 5 deer I've shot, 1 ran about 30 yds 4 have dropped in their tracks.I shoot a T/C hawkins 50 cal flint lock100gns of fff and a 245 grn hollow point. None of my shots are over 100yds most being in the 30 to 60 yd range. Not an expert believe me just a satisfied customer.
__________________
WHITE TAILS AND BLACK POWDER
& T/C Fire Arms.
I started using the 295 grain hollow point powerbelt bullets. I had great luck with them, shooting a less then 1 1/2 inch group at 100 yards. I shot 6 deer over the next 3 seasons with the combination. Never had one of them run farther then 65 yards, in fact 3 of them piled up.
This season I wanted to flatten out my trajectory beyond 125 yards. I went to the 223 grain aero tip powerbelt. This year I shot 5 deer with that combo from 24 yards to 82 yards. No problem as long as I put it thru the shoulder or hit the opposite shoulder.
My hunting partner used the same combo and shot a buck on opening evening of shotgun season. He double lunged it and it bled ok at first, but soon went to drops. THen nothing. Luckly it was on a trail that worked back to a main trail and we found it about 200 yards away.
Then my son shot a nice doe last weekend of shotgun out of my blind at 55 yards.
Looked for 2 hours and found no blood or deer. Then two weeks later while making new paths thru the horseweed with my four wheeler I found her about 175 yards from where she was shot. The hit was a little back, but still she should have been bleeding.
My question is should I go back to a hollow point? or a heavier bullet? Or should I go to a 245-250 grain hollow point for an inbetween compromise?
I rarely have the opportunity to shoot beyond 125 yards.
Any suggestions or comments would be great
All the shots you have talked about were less than 100yrds. You even state that you rarely have the opportunity to shoot beyond 125 yrds. If you want to knock deer down and recover them, then it seems obvious you need to shoot a fatter or heavierbullet, or, at least one that expands better.A bigger wound channel will lead to more blood-letting for a better blood trail, and, the impact to the deer will put it down quicker.
__________________
NRA Life Member
NAHC Life Member
I have shot a deer with both the PB's and the XTP's.Both piled up after the shot. I use the PB's when I can because they load easier and are more accurate. Try both and see which one performs better.
__________________
Browning BPS shotgun, Browning Rage One bow, TC Omega muzzleloader, Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag pistol, Gamo Shadow 1000 pellet gun, Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun
thanks for the replies, I am going to do some testing this spring. I'll try out the XTP hollow points and maybe a couple more
If your going to be doing a lot of shooting, then do it this winter so the barrel will cool faster. Also try different sabots, since some are thicker than others. If price is big deal to you ($1/bullet for premium bullets is about the norm) then stay with an XTP or a Speer Gold Dot bullet. Also do some searches on the Internet for "Muzzleloader Bullet Performance or Muzzleloader Bullet Penetration". Most of us also like loose powder, because you can do an 80g or 90gcharge, and it is a LOT cheaper.
Chap Gleason
__________________
Chapman Gleason
Purcellville Va
http://www.the-gleasons.com
Any powerbelt users or bullet experts??
