Sharp Shooter

How many of you have killed anything with one of these. I have a box of these with my other stuff and was thinking about doing an expansion test on them. I am leaning toward big conicals but was wondering if anyone has killed anything with the 54cal 310gr or maybe another one and how well they did. They look like good little concials. The reason I am re-considering these over big conicals is because they are cheap, come 50 to a box, and are good all around.

cayugad

I shot a doe one year with a 310 grain .54 caliber ball-et out of my Renegade at 17 yards from a tree stand. I was real impressed with the knock down power of the ball-et. I shot her in the neck at the base of the skull where they meet, and she never took another step. I never found the ball-et because it went out the front of the throat and I really did not look all that hard to find it.

My friend uses them in his .50 caliber Knight Wolverine for all his deer hunting. They must work because he's shot a lot of deer with them. He shoots the 270 grain with 85 grains of powder and claims he's never lost a deer yet with that load.

Pglasgow

You know, I like ballets, but I do like them better for deer. They lose energy quickly but you get extra velocity up close. Just depends on your hunting situation. Really its kinda like choosing the 425 GP over the 435 BB. You get less penetration and greater expansion.

That said, I buy lots of ballets in .50 cal. While I don't hunt with them, I think they make great hunting bullets out to 100 yards, better I think for deer than elk. If penetration is your biggest concern, maybe you should consider scrapping your 54 and go to a .50 cal. Like the load below.

The GP 460 has a lot more sectional density than the BB435 and will penetrate alot better, you arepracticallyguaranteedpass throughs on double lung. Its a thought. To me whole reason to choose .54 over .50, (and right now I wish I had one for hunting this fall), is to get a bigger hole, not more penetration. Besides once one has passed through, one can't hurt the critter any more anyway. The perfect situation is to stretch the skin on the otherside barely piercing the hide if at all.

Pglasgow

I have a little Microsoft Works worksheet which I have designed to look at impact properties. One of the things I have in it is a hollowpoint index. Its a function of momentum density and energy densityand gives one an idea of how explosive a hollowpoint will be at the impact velocity. (I would like to point out that any pure lead bullet can be explosive, it just has to be going fast enough). I spent quite a bit of time accumulating powerbelt data from reports and through private message to determine the index properties. Hollowpoint index below 200 -EXPLOSIVE, Above 250 SAFE, Above 275,DEFINITE PASS THROUGH DOUBLE LUNG FOR DEER.

I wantedto gather more data, so I haven't posted it or offered to let anyone use it. I can't upload the file to Hunting.net because its not a picture. But if anyone wants to play with it I will email it at your request. Also any who plan to hunt with them this fall, gather data. Record your load, distance to impact, and performance of the bullet, and, if you have the opportunity to chrony the load, please take advantage of that too.

Happy Hunting, Phil

sproulman

good info.i like the 295 powerbelt in my .50 cal tc hawkins flintlock.i load around 80 grs of 2f geox.90 is max.it shoots real good. the 348 would be a better bullet for deer but i only take a side shot on my bucks, lungs or neck. if people are around, i take neck shot, no one around, i take lung shot,IF its available. if you load hot with any hollow point bullet, its going to blow up. thats not bad if you hit deer in lungs but a quarter shot, you are in trouble.thats why in hands of hunters that shoot as saying goes,BROWN ITS DOWN,they would be better off shooting a maxi-ball than a powerbelt.i lost many a buck because i waited for clear ,clean shot only to hear others shooting their whole box of shells up on that buck.next day i would go out, walk the stream and find dead buck,all full of holes.sooooooooooo,2 different bullets for 2 different ways of hunting.

Pglasgow

Sproulman,

I think your load isan appropriate load for the 295 powerbelt. With 70 grains, I propelled the 295 to approx. 1320. I figure with 80 will propell it to about 1410 fps. At20 yds the velocity is about 1313 fps. The Hollowpoint Index is 260. While some of data points indicated pass-through some bullets were recovered. This is about as hot as one should load it -- if one cares to keep the bullet in one piece. One the other hand, if one doesn't anticipate impact at less than 70 yards, then strengthen the load to impact at 70 yards at 1300 fps or so.

The 350 has better Hollowpoint index due to its heavier weight. There is more bullet to mushroom, so it takes more to break it apart. Works kind of like this, "When the tail of the bullet reaches the nose of the mushroom, the bullet flies apart"

I'm not surprisedby your success with the PB's, you are just one of many who have been pleased with performance at the impact velocities associated with your load.

Happy Hunting, Phil

Sharp Shooter

I know that my 54cal is much better than a 50cal and I would NEVER go to a 50cal. My 54cal renegade will do more than get the job done.

sproulman

great info.thanks.

Pglasgow

I think the .54 cal with the 435 BB or the 425 GP will do far better than "ANY" .50 cal projectile. If there was one thing I wanted you to consider, it is this. Too much ability to penetrate is just too much ability, resulting in smaller wound channels and wasted energy upon exit. You've got the right rifle for elk.

I have the sense from this post and previous onesthat you might feel more comfortable with a BB Ballet than you would a 425 GP HP. The reason for your comfort seeming to be that the Ballet has no hollowpoint.

Obviously, a hollowpoint assists with expansion, but I would be willing to wager, that given the same charge, the 425 is no more likely come apart than the ballet, I would think the 425 would have superior penetration at all ranges. The hollowpoint assists with expansion at velocities the lead doesn't expand well at, 1200 fps and below. Usually theydisplace a volume of 15 to 20 grains of lead, once its peeled back the 425 still has 400 grains of flatnosed bullet behind it. Theballet, on the other hand,is going to be slinging along at velocities it doesn't need a hollowpoint to expand well at, at least at the closer ranges.

Here is what I would hate to see happen. The435 BB disappoint you with accuracy while the 425 disappoint you for having a hollowpoint (yet shooting well), leaving you with the ballet to go elk hunting, which probably won't give you the penetration of the 425, which already isn't enough. I hope the 435 BB does well for you in the accuracy department, then all your troubles will go away. I wish you the best in that department.

Happy Hunting, Phil

Sharp Shooter

I agree!!! The nice thing about a pass thru though is that you have two spots for blood to exit.