vERN

We got new inlines last year (my son and I) and tried both 245 and 295 hollow pt Powerbelts. It seemed that the 245' s grouped a little better so we went with them. My son hit a deer at about 75 yds. and nocked it right down, but it was lying there with its head up so he tried a 2nd shot - for the head- and missed. While reloading it got up and walked away. We tracked for about 3/4 mile and only found five 1/4 inch drops of blood in all that way. The next day we went back to the range and he settled on 320 Maxi' s and I tried the 295 all lead as I really liked the way they loaded. I hit a doe on the last day, at about 10 yds running. She droped about 35-40 yds with a hole through her front leg and a huge hole in her brisket but not a drop of blood until she dropped! I had been shooting the Hornady Lyman 385' s but they are rather hard to load, so may try the 350 or 370 maxi' s before next season. I had noted the very mixed performance on game with the Powerbelts on these pages. It' s too bad because they are so easy to load and don' t foul up the barel with plastic like some others, but we don' t use them for punching holes in paper.