Platinum Powerbelt Skirts
I got a bunch of the new 338 gr. Platinum Powerbelts last fall, and have been favorably impressed with themahead ofmagnum loads. I'm using 130 gr. of 2F Jim Shockey Gold. One thing that has been interesting is the new skirt they put on this bullet - it is thicker and longer than the original, and has serrations on the inside of its diameter. Recovered bullets still have a little wafer of black plastic attached to the base of the bullet. Apparently, this new skirt is designed to flare out and break away from the base; whereas the old ones were supposed to slip off the stem of the bullet in flight. We used to lube the stem of the bullet on the old ones to guarentee consistent separation.
Today, I was shooting a few of these through my Omega and one round hit almost a foot low from the rest of the group. Examination of the cardboard target and the plywood backer indicated, almost certainly, that the skirt had stayed with the bullet all the way through the target. Initially, I am tempted to lube the skirt of all the rest of the bullets like I used to do with the old ones. But from a design standpoint, this seems almost counter productive. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks. Roskoe