I use 100 grains and like it. I tried Pryrodex pellets and T7 pellets and I got slightly better groups with the Pyrodex and it was cheaper so I stuck with it. I'd try both if you can to see which one your gun likes better and then stick with that. Mine just happened to like T7 slightly better.
If using 100 grains with the Powerbelts, and you get a close range shot, they are likely to fragment as they don't like close shots and high power charges.
I used to use the 295 Grain Hollow Point Powerbelt. The accuracy from them was great and I was originally thrilled with them. That's until I got the chance to shoot a deer with them. The first one I shot I made a perfect shot on. When I went down to find the deer, I saw no blood at all. I walked into the woods where I'd seen it go in and found the deer laying there about 15-25 yards from where I'd shot it. I reloaded and shot it again because it was still alive. The only blood I ever found was where he was laying.
The next deer I shot with it, a small doe, ran about 25 yards across the wide open field and fell where I could see it. Once again absolutely no blood trail that I could find.
The next deer is the one that finally made me give up these bullets. I shot one and it fell over and started kicking. This was at the same time as the above one. After I shot the above deer, this one ran even closer. This was the last bullet I'd had with me. Next thing I knew, it jumped up and took off into the woods. I looked for hours, and never found any blood. I had some friends come help me look and they looked for quite a while too. Eventually, one of my buddies found a small drop of blood on a small tree where you could see the deer had rubbed against. We never found anymore blood, or this deer. This was really a horrible experience.
The next deer I shot was the only one that I shot with the Powerbelts that left a blood trail. Something happened when the bullet hit, and it pretty much exploded upon impact. It had a softball size entry hole. This one left a blood trail, and the deer ran about 150 yards.
These also very rarely pass through. I only had one pass through and that was on the small doe.
I've got a few friends that all use this bullet with the same experiences. Some have switched and a few still use them with the same kind of luck. One of the ones that won't switch lost 2 deer this year as he couldn't find any blood. I finally had enough of that and switched bullets. These things just are horrible hunting bullets imo.
I and a friend switched to the Federal Fusion's and these shot just as accurately as the Powerbelts, but they performed a lot better on deer. They left a blood trail, and worked great just as they should. These basically perform like a Gold Dot. You can also get the Gold Dots for a fraction of the price of the Powerbelt. I think a box of 50 on Grafs is like $19 something, and the sabots are $4-5 for 50. I highly recommend these over the Powerbelts if you are going to hunt with them.
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