eldeguello

Thanks for the report and the photos! They are revealing! Looks like the 70-grain charge is closer to the ideal than thge 120-grain load, at least at your ranges. Also doesn't seem to be alot of difference between the regular bullets and the Platinum ones???

Hunter John

Lane - Yes indeed, very interesting thread. I will be sure to pass on to a buddy of mine who has been shooting PBs for 3 years and has yet to get a pass thru on even a 90 lbs animal broadside!

eldeguello - I noticed the same thing; the super high-priced Platinums seem no better than the regular high-priced PBs. Gotta wonder if it is a marketing ploy...give a shiny silver bullet a nice name and they will come I guess.[][:@]

I'll tell ya what, I know that many a ML shooter has experienced great accuracy with this projectile, but until they change their design so that a guy can at least seat one on top off 100 grs of Pyro, they'll never convince me to stuff one down my ML. To many other workable options out there to take a chance on a PB.

Geez, just use lead with a slightly harder antimony and you'd probably be on your way to solving this PB blowup problem. What gives?

I'll stick with my maxiballs & xtps for now....until I run out...then it's on to the gold dots. Thanks for the gold dot reviews guys!

ahankster

John,
You are correct, a little harder lead and smaller hole in the hollowpoint, or a thicker copper jacket and I am sure the bullet would be able to take a hotter powder charge without blowing up. But, I think that most folks would loose allot of accuracy by doing that too.

Look at some of the pictures of recovered PBs on this thread and others. At least the ones that aren't all blown to bitsbecause theywere shot w/ milder powder charges. The thing that one notices is that the bullet itself has very deep rifling marks. Many people think that the little plastic skirt is all that seals the bullet. I don't think this is entirely the case. I think that the bullet is so soft, try and squish one with a pair of pliars, that the bullet actually deforms due to the acceleration and obturates to seal the bore. The leadin PBshas about the consistancy of cold play doh. The skirt helps initially, but the bullet acutally does the seal and bite into the lands and grooves providing very good accuracy and performance when shot with proper powder charges. I also think this is why the heavier the bullet, the better the performance.

The only difference between a powerbelt and a maxi ball is the pretty copper color and the plastic hoola hoop, and about ten times the price.

Hank

sproulman

i am no expert on muzzleloaders, so take what i feel as just info..

if i was using inline shooting close with full load of powder,close would be out to 100 yards,i would not use a light powerbelt but would use the heaviest one.like 338 up to 405..

after seeing picture here,that light powerbelt with full load is no good..

me, if i was shooting inline i would want the hotest load i could get and bullet that would STAY together..

powerbelt is not one for inline shooting at max..

now, with flintlock, just opposite for me..i want a load that does not kick, shoots great groups,less noise/smoke..by LOADING down,which 80 grs of 2f geox in my .50 cal,is not a real hot load,i can get great groups with the 295 powerbelt AND i know that bullet will OPEN UP..

but again, i never shoot over 80 yds most of time..if i went say to 90 grs or 100 grs of 2f geox,i would move up on the bullet weight to the 338..

when i used MAXI-BALLS they would go right thru buck,they are best bullet i have ever used..370 gr was best..

i hate them for only 1 reason, i dont like bore butter in winter and dont like messing with it in gun in WINTER..summer i use bb all time with my roundballs ,winter,NO WAY!!

powerbelts let me use CLEAN barrel and are not messy and go in real nice in 5 below zero here in pa..

again, any hollow point bullet pushed hard will BLOW-UP if it hits bone..i seen 90 gr.sierra hollow point bullets that hit stomach of deer,no bone and never came out the other side and you could not find bullet..

hope this helps from someone would has not tested PB bullet but has tested bullets on many deer in 50 years..

personelly to sum it up..SHOOT FAST /LIGHT BULLET DONT USE PB..shoot light/med,powerbelt is bullet i want and as i said, my 295 at 80 grs of 2f geox on huge 8 point buck,behind shoulder,went right thru deer and dropped that buck where he stood..

no maxi-balls for me in flintlock now,its POWERBELT!!

Pglasgow

Here in is the wisdom. For their appropriate velocity range, NUTHIN beats an appropriately placedall lead hollowpoint for expansion and killing power. That is, if the competing projectiles are requiredto impact at velocities ideal for the all lead hollowpoint. Dependsentirely on how one wants to load. Use theappropriate bullet with the appropriate charge and I'm convinced no one will be dissappointed if they do their part and and appropriately place the bullet.

petasux

It was the bullets, I tried moving the paper away from the door and got the same results, tried a piece of 1/2 plywood behind it as well and got the same thing, like you I thought at first it must be the door either shooting metal back through or forcing air out of the hollow core inside the door but different backstops, ranges, etc.. made no difference.The first box of shells were ones I had left over from the previous year, the rest were bought that year and did the same thing so it wasnt the same lot of bullets either.

I did hunt with them that way the first year, they killed deer but even at extremely close ranges I never got a complete passthrough and there were always two distinct entry wounds on the deer.Dad was shooting a Knight also, same bullets, same powder charge, and never had any trouble with them in his gun, he even finished off what was left of my second box without any incident like that.

The main difference between his gun and mine was that my bore was a lot tighter then his, dont know if they were building up two much pressure behind the bullet and the lead and copper were seperating or what the problem was.The two bullets I found intact inside deer had little if any evidence of the copper being on the bullet.The Shockwaves had athinner sabot on them, dont know if that would account for anything or not but they loaded much easier even with a fouled barrel.

Wheatley

I tried the PB but they don't shoot straight in my gun. The shockwaves have left very good sized holes but I have got complete pass thrus with them using 85gr of 777.

Nice pics Lane.

Pglasgow

Then I must be incorrect. But I've got to tell you, I just can't make sense of xtps coming apart before impact. Lots of folks remark about their toughness even with 3 pellets on hogs and deer alike. This is gonna remain a mystery i guess.

ahankster

Pglasgow, I agree since an XTP is basically the same exact bullet in 90% of it's construction as a Shockwave. Very little difference, other thana bit of a tighter hollow point and a plastic tip.

Maybe his sabots were staying with the bullet and impacting the paper?

Have to say I don't understand this as it has a very thick copper jacket. Maybe a bad batch of bullets.

Hank

Pglasgow

Wondered the same things Hank. But lately I haven't been very lucky. Last night, I missed out on the free lightfield bullets, failed miserably at searching Hunting.net (cayugad fixed that, thanks), and if I get one more strike . . . . I'm OOOOUUUUUTTTTT!