I've shot the powerbelts, they looked great on paper but I too have heard too many stories of the not holding together. I tried 1/2 dozen other bullets and I'm going to hunt with the Barnes Expander MZ's. They pattern as well if not better than the powerbelts for me. I read on here or somewhere else that it was thought that the copper plating on the powerbelts caused the lead to get brittle......I don't know, I'm not a metalologist(?). I think if I was set on using the powerbelts I'd use the 295gr lead hollow points and drop my charge down to 80-100gr. I'm new to muzzleloading owning one only since last December and have yet to really explore the whole concept of what my gun can do. All I know is I'm shooting good out to 100 yards with what I'm using and will shoot out to 150 yards these next two weeks just to be sure if a shot like that presents itself.