.45 BH209 Powerbelt load advice

[bowbender6]

Looking to try to get a lower recoil ( for wife and kids) .45 load using BH209 and Powerbelts any one shot these? How do they shoot? Probably 80 grains. I have .45 optima pro and .45 Kodiak. Guns and 175,195,223,275 Powerbelts.

[oldsmellhound]

I haven't used BH209, but if you want to find a lower recoil load IMO Powerbelts are not the way to go. Personally, in the .45 I've used the 225 grainers, and I wouldn't use anything lighter than that for deer because of the terminal performance issues. The 225 grainers might kick a bit much for women/children depending on their comfort range, especially with 80 grains of powder. The 195 grainers and 60-70 grains of powdermight be a decent short range load without too much recoil, but I've never shot them and am skeptical about their light weight and poor sectional density.

Personally, for a light recoil load I would get some MMP .357/.45 blue sabots and some good quality .357 hollow-point pistol bullets in the 150 grain range (XTP, Nosler, Gold Dot, etc.). Load with 60-70 grains of powder, depending on what shoots most accurately. That should give you a lighter-recoiling load and still good performance out to 100 yards or so.
My 2 cents...

[oldsmellhound]

I forgot to add - BH209 is considerably hotter than blackpowder or Pyrodex - 80 grains probably will give you the velocity of 100 grains of Goex/Pyrodex. For a short range/low recoil load, I'd be looking at more like 60 grains of BH209 - that should still give you plently of velocity out to 100 yards or so, plus less recoil.

Keep in mind that round that was the slayer of countless bison used only 70 grains of black powder (maybe the equivalent of 50 grains of BH209?). Higher velocity loads only make much of a difference past 100 yards - inside of that a deer is going to be just as dead regardless of whether you're pushing your bullet with 60 or 100 grains of your BH209.

[LaneNebraska]

I highly recommend 50-60g of BH209 and the 300g Platinum PowerBelt. This equals abot 1400fps, perfect from 20-120 yards. And very easy on the shoulder.

If you choose the lesser 225g PB, then use the same powder charge...50-60g BH209

[lemoyne]

Consider the Sabortooth They are very similar with a better price and a better design hollow point. Lee

[bowbender6]

I am shooting them as we speak (I can shoot outside my walkout basement). I think there might be better bullets with a better SD but I have these left from last year and they load easy. I have shot up my 175 and 195 with 80 grains, nothing spectacular. I will shoot 223 and 275 with 70 Grains and see what happens. I"™ll post pics and velocity reading when I am done. Thanks I was wondering how low to go. I have some .357 sabots and I"™ll try that tommorow.

[frontier gander]

saber tooth is not available in .45 and if it were, i would not use it! A 50-60 grain charge would not expand it enough. A 250gr .50cal saber tooth only expands to the size of a dime 100 yards with 80gr RS.

For a child, a 195-223 platinum or 225 Aerotip with 60gr RS would be a perfect load out to 100 yards.

223 plat and 275gr will do great with up to 90gr RS. The 275 is a hard bullet for me to stop in my trap.

bow,
This is a 225gr Aerotip .45 Powerbelt that i used on a good size doe last year and put it directly through the shoulder.
When i got home i weighed the bullet and it weighed exactly the same as a new 225gr bullet.

This load was 80gr Triple 7 3F. Thats roughly over 100gr of RS for comparison.




225 is a real winner and a darn good deer bullet!

[bowbender6]

Thanks Gander "“ I was pretty sure you had some .45"™s . I will try the 223 with 80gr