Mark,
I hope you don' t mind a few questions.....I' ve read some of your posts and you seem to be the guy to talk to about muzzleloader bullets.
Being from PA, I' ve always been a Flintlock hunter......and up until recently a patched roundball shooter. When the regs changed here for the traditional flintlock season to allow all bullet types, our entire group switched to 295gr HP Powerbelts. To a man these Powerbelts shoot wonderfully out of our Flintlocks even with the slower twist rates as high (or should I say as low) as 1-66" . In fact I' ve never had beter accuracy out of my custom T/C " PA Hunter" . Cutting holes quite a bit with 1.5" groups the norm at 50 yards. (My load is a bit hot but shoots terrific: Goex BP 100gr FFFg/295gr HP)
We have been thumping the deer pretty hard with these bullets, but as you have eluded to the blood trails have been less than impressive on some,........I hammered a nice doe with a perfect double lung shot this past season and the blood trail was less than impressive even in a foot of snow.......granted the deer only ran 40 yards but there should have been more blood.

I was planning on shooting the Powerbelts in my new .50 CVA Hunterbolt 209 Mag, but after listening to you guys it seems that there might be some better choices for on game performance.
I have yet to fire a round out of this new gun (bought for the new week long muzzleloader season where inlines are legal, as well as general firearms season....I' m not a centerfire rifle hunter)
I am hearing good things about the T7 powder so that is probably where I' ll start..........

My confusion now is bullet choice..........I want good accuracy out to about 125 yards tops (most shots will be 75 yards or under but i want to be able to reach one if need be)
I also want rapid but controlled expansion and a larger wound channel........I want heavyblood trails, or dropped on the spot.
I was thinking along the lines of the 250gr Barnes " MZ" ? Do I need any heavier bullet for strictly Whitetails?

Also have you heard of any difference in bullet performance between the different styles of CVA Powerbelts .....for example the " " Aero Tip" vs. the Hollow point.

Thank you for any insights,
Matt