Hi Sabotloader,

Question #1 - How many of you use PowerBelts because of the ease of loading? I would offer that this is the main reason why most folks use them. They are "easy" and blend nicely into the marketing fold of the modern muzzleloader. I am not picking on Powerbelt because they have certainly come up with a better mousetrap from a sales perspective. But I would say easy is the main reason. Perhaps that's a good reason?

Question #2 - How many of you use PowerBelts because of the ease of loading the follow-up shots... (when you do not have time to run a damp patch)?I'm sure folks are carrying speedloaders with powerbeltsbecause of a fast follow-up shot. This is somewhat marketing-speak, because what is fast in muzzleloading terms? You can load any other slip-fit conical just as fast. I can load a PRB pretty fast from a loading block. The fast MLfollowup is really a myth for many (if not most?)hunting situations. You still need to go through the motions of loading, de-priming and re-priming and then target aquisition and while all of this is going on the intended game is supposed to be just standing there waiting, which does in fact happen. But it only takes a couple of seconds for a missed or poor shot to result in a lost opportunity. Even with an autoloader.

All this said, I do typically carry a slip-fit conical of some flavor (normally a HornadyGreat Plains) for a quicker second shot. In the event I would need a second or finishing shot. I have yet to need a fast followup shot with exception to more than one animal opportunity. In those instances I was still able to load either a sabot or a PRB quick enough to be able to down an additional animal. The beasts cooperated in the those instances by not even knowing where I was on the initial shot and just stood there. On other occassions, I could have had an autoloader and the opportunity would have still dissapeared.

I don't buy into the "fast followup marketing". Yes you can with practice and the correct equipment and preparation rapidly reload. Along the same lines as pellets (of which I am not a fan). Pellets are supposed to save us huge amounts of time in loading and re-loading.

Question #3 - How many of you use PowerBelts because of their performance, both down range and their peformance on bringing the animal down? I have heard quite a few stories of Powerbelts not performing well on game. Excessive fragmentation is one routine comment and in-adequate penetration is the other. I have actually seen the excessive fragmentation and the poor penetration on four different deer. These could all be attributed to poor shot placement which is an essential element. But I doubt this is the case in all cases and certainly not in the deer I helped recover and one deer that I killed with a PRB afterit had been first shot in the shoulderwith a 295gr Powerbelt. I feel that the Powerbelt is among the worst performing projectiles from a consistancy standpoint. I would say in the lighter grains not even as effective as a PRB. At least I know that a PRB will penetrate. You can't always say that about a lighter weight powerbelt. Not much data to back that statement up though, just what I have seen in the field after kills and heard on the web. But Ibelieve there are vastly greater performing projectiles. The trade-off is the greatest performing projectiles don't load as easy as the powerbelt.

As you can likely gather, I am not a fan of the Powerbelt. But I am not saying they are not a good product because their ease of usehas many more folks hunting with ML's that would have given up on muzzleloading due to a lack of patience and effort. I don't mind that muzzleloading takes more effort. That's one of the things that I love and cherishabout it.

I have shot them on occassion when folks have given me somefor targeting fun and now and then I will toss a 348gr Aerotip along with 80gr or so of loose for my second shot. One that is only for finishing, not for accuracy or my one shot.

I have not purchased any Powerbelts, but I have shot about200 or soof them that were given to me in various weights in several different rifles.

If I were to hunt with one, I would hunt with either the 348 or the 405 grain Aerotip as I have seen kills with those that have performed much better with a blend of penetration and expansion.

1) I have had issues with powerbelts not releasing the "skirt" and theneither key-holing down range or accuracy shift on POI. I have found skirts at 100 yards at my range. For this reason alone I don't trust them. Plus the accuracy has not been as good as with other projectilesat the higher velocities that I like to hunt with. I find that you can only push Powerbelts so fast and then they "strip" the rifling.
2) I suspect that Powerbelts are too soft and fragment too much. I prefer a more conrolled expansion and more consistant penetration. I prefer a PRB (Patched Roundball)over a powerbelt.
3) Because they are really slip-fit (in some of my rifles they will all but drop to the breech), that upon inital firing, they raise off of the powder charge. This could be where I could have had accuracy inconsistancy.
4) After contacting Powerbelt regarding some accuracy issues I was having, they suggested that I shoot them from a fouled bore. They do seem to POI better on a fouled bore. The only problem for me is, that in 36 years I have never hunting on a fouled or otherwise dirty bore. The POI that I rely on is from a clean bore. I detail clean with alcohol-windex patches in-between each shot when working on hunting loads regardless of the rifle or the load (PRB, Conical or Sabot). I find my best consistant POI accuracy from a clean bore.
5) Powerbelt is owned by Blackpowder ProductsIncorporated, the same giant that owns CVA. Ordinarily this would not make any difference to me. But I am not a fan of CVA or BPI. Thus not a fan of Powerbelt either and would not recommend nor purchase any of their products regardless if they were the greatest thing on earth.

I'm sure that my comments could be taken as Powerbelt bashing. Which is not what I intend. I do think they are a hugely successful product in sales and general performance and do offer folks a fairly easy loading alternative which for some folks is the ticket. A dear friend of mine shoots the 348gr Aerotip on 95gr 777 FFG from his Knight MK-85. Why? Because after a terrible shoulder injury, he has great painful difficulty loading everything else and the 348PBelt was the only projectile he and I could find(I did most ofthe testing for him) thatthe easiest for him to load and still hold decent accuracy. He has harvested three bucks and one bear with the 348gr Pbelt.

Regards,



Tahquamenon