Well, thanks to Chet I won his drawing for the Powerbelts in .45 and .50 cal of various weights and configurations. So I felt it only fitting that, after receiving them, I would go out and brave the heat and humidity between rainstorms today, to try them out and give a report.
The rifle I was using to test these bullets today was my trusty .45 cal T/C Hawken with the Green Mountain Long Range Hunter barrel which I believe is a 1:30 twist. All shots (except last) were charged with 70 gr of Pyro P
I only shot 3 shot groups cause the clouds were pretty ominous (sort of like Semisane in his Darth Vader outfit).
But anyhow, the first group was with my normal 'dead on' hold using the 195 gr Aerotips. These bullets grouped 3" higher than my base line load of 70 gr of Pyro P and 200 gr XTP with Harvester blue EZ Load sabot. Group size was 1.07" C-C.
Next came the 225 gr Aerotips. I switched to a 6 O'clock hold and hit the bull just high of center. Nice. My second shot I knew was high as soon as it went off and called about an inch high. I was right and discounted that shot. Shots 3 and 4 were right there with #1 producing a 0.60" group.
The 275 gr Hollow Points were next. Again with a 6 O'clock hold, these bullets group the 3 shots into 0.74". But amazingly, the POI was identical to POA but about 1/2 left.
I moved the target out to 75 yds to check the 225 gr Aerotips and the 275 gr hollow points. At this range the 225s grouped 3 shots into 1.60" but I had a flyer (shot #3) that opened the group up to about 3". But the 275 gr hollow points did exceptional. Putting the 3 into 0.75".
I fired an additional shot using 80 gr of Pyro P at 75 yds with the 275 gr hollow point and that hit about an inch higher than the 70 gr charge.
Again I noticed that the 275s hit right at POA while the 225s were now 4" high at the 75 yd mark.
These Powerbelts were a breeze to load and all 3 weights shot acceptable. The 225s and the 275s however show a lot of promise. More than the 195s. I would give them a rating of 5 stars each for loading and consistant accuracy.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
Last edited by bronko22000; 08-14-2011 at 12:43 PM.
The 275s are real good bullets to anchor deer down with. They are one of the powerbelts i had a lot of trouble trying to stop in my sand traps. I sent out around 1,000 of my inserts for the 45 powerbelts and a few thousand for the 50cals, a good number of the 45 shooters used the 275gr 45cal with the insert and were blowing through both front shoulders out to 200 yards. I used the .45 225 on a doe some years ago and the blood trail she left was awesome.
Bronko, have you tried the .451 .340 gr full bore conicals from the Lee mould? the ones UC had great suscess with in a knight.seems the GMB would shoot this bullet since the rifiling is the same as the 1:30 .45 cal knight barrels.Ray
No Builder I haven't. But not saying I wouldn't should UC send me about 10 or 20 to try out. Lord knows, I have a lot of lead to use to cast.
I also want to try these 225s and 275s at 100 yds when I get a sunny day so these old eyes can see that far.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
No Builder I haven't. But not saying I wouldn't should UC send me about 10 or 20 to try out. Lord knows, I have a lot of lead to use to cast.
I also want to try these 225s and 275s at 100 yds when I get a sunny day so these old eyes can see that far.
You could always move to the dark side and scope it from what i have seen from GM and UC, that 1:30 twist really likes a conical from about .330-.360 gr.at least from the Knight .45 cal 1:30 barrels.my old renegade stock keeps screaming at me to stick one of the .45 cal GMB barrels on it! instead of buying a .45 cal Knight. maybe i should listen to it lol! Ray
SCOPE MY HAWKEN? ARE YOU INSANE MAN? At least not with one of them new fangled varible scopes with the 1" tube.
I am getting a GM LRH barrel scoped at the gun shop as we speak. But I am putting a 36" brass traditional scope on it. This 'tube' is only 3/4" in diameter. But I can't wait to try her out. The pictures will be forthcoming when I get it back.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
SCOPE MY HAWKEN? ARE YOU INSANE MAN? At least not with one of them new fangled varible scopes with the 1" tube.
I am getting a GM LRH barrel scoped at the gun shop as we speak. But I am putting a 36" brass traditional scope on it. This 'tube' is only 3/4" in diameter. But I can't wait to try her out. The pictures will be forthcoming when I get it back.
I did send some to Josmund the same day I received them. He should have his shortly.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
.45 cal GM LRH & Powerbelts
from what i have seen from GM and UC, that 1:30 twist really likes a conical from about .330-.360 gr.at least from the Knight .45 cal 1:30 barrels.my old renegade stock keeps screaming at me to stick one of the .45 cal GMB barrels on it! instead of buying a .45 cal Knight. maybe i should listen to it lol! Ray
