TNHagies

I am blessed that my in-laws live in Colorado so next year I will be fortunate to go out west and elk hunt for the first time. As some of you may know, CO does not allow sabots so I need to find a good conical for elk and I need some suggestions. Don’t know why but I’ve never really hunted w/them so I have very limited experience with the exception of shooting some Maxi-Balls. I will be trying some 385g Hornady Great Plains I know but what else would you guys suggest? I know Powerbelts work for some people but I would like to say away from them if possible.

I’m going to be using this load (as well as taking the scope off my Genesis) for deer this year simply to “test” and get some confidence in the load. I know it’ll be overkill, but I’m thinking big picture. These are obviously big beasts so what kind of charge are you elk hunters using?

FYI, I’ll be taking a Genesis and a 50cal Hawkins.

Thanks in advance for all help/suggestions!

cayugad

With the Genesis, I would try some powerbelts. Since you want to hunt elk, get some of the heavy as your rifle will shoot accurate kind. Also I guess they make a new Powerbelt that is designed to penetrate better. I personally have not shot them but others have. I hope to hear of actual hunting stories where they are used on elk and how well they did. Powerbelts big draw back is their cost.

You might also want to look as some .503 No Excuse Conicals in 460 & 495 grain. These are a well made conical and work good in many inlines and T/C rifles. Then there are BullShop Conicals that can be custom made to your rifle. My understanding is.. if you want to try some Bullshop coincals, place your order soon as he will stop taking orders soon.

sabotloader

TNHagies

Can not help you to much with the Genesis, but you could e-mail Underclocked, he had one he experimented with a lot - he might be able to help you.

As for the Hawkin, if it is a TC Hawkin - then I would tell you right now you could not go wrong with a 460 grain .503 Bull Shop conical. It is a slip fit conical ( no short starter needed) loads just like a real snug sabot combination. I would also suggest a .125 x .510 shot card under the bullet and on top of the powder... (stops the heat of the T7-3f from melting the bottom of the conical). In my Renegade - I shoot 80 grains of T7-3f and in the GM LRH barrel - I shoot 90 grains.

With these loads I can consistently shoot stationary clay pigeons @ 100 yards... just areally nice shooting bullet and I hate conicals....

MLKeith

I have shot elk with Powerbelts and 300gr. jacketed hollow points. At 100 yards or less a 90gr. charge of Black Mag'3 will send the bullet completely through a fair sized cow elk chest cavity. Unfortunately the lighter bullets do not seem to drop the animal very quickly. I have had to follow them for between 100 yards to 1/4 mile after a double lung shot and had them still standing when found. I am now working on 465gr. solid lead conicals as the proper bullet to use as I believe they will penetrate as well or better if the bullet does not get a clear shot through the chest and if the shoulder is hit they will likely outperform the Powerbelts. If you are after a bull I also recommend the heavier solid lead conical. If the range is 100 yards the load of powder does not have to be huge. Big bullets going slow do a lot of damage.

frontier gander

348 gn aerotip powerbelt, 385 great plains,410 gn great plains.

TNHagies

Thanks for the suggestions everybody! I will try all of these and since I was unaware that they had changed the Powerbelts, I will give them a wirl as well. How have they changed them and how can you distinguish them from the old ones?

frontier gander

The new powerbelt is silver while the older design is copper color.

TNHagies

So the Platnum ones are the new ones huh? Alrighty, I'll pick some of those up as well. Let the fun begin!

n5638b

Here's some testing I did this summer since I needed to figure out what conical I wanted to use here in Colorado. The 385 gr Great Plains is pretty impressive. The test was shooting into a 5 gal bucket full of wet newspaper with a piece of 3/4" pressure treated plywood about 2 inches into the bucket and 2 inches of sand in bottom of the bucket. Distance was 100 yards, The Great Plains not only passed through, but expanded to almost twice it's original diameter. Have since also shot Powerbelts 348 gr lead hollowpoint. It performs almost as well as the Great Plains and mushrooms nicely. Just for grins I also shot my handloaded .308 (41.4 grains IMR 4895 & 180 gr Silvertip) in to the same setup and the penetration was not as much as the Great Plains or Powerbelts. At 100 yards, these muzzleloaders pack quite a punch!

COElkScout

Regarding powerbelts and CO's law that the bullet not be twice it's caliber... so in other words in a .50 cal rifle, it must be 1" in length or less. My question is this... where do you measure the powerbelt from on the back-end? Do you include the plastic "belt"??

I would like to try some heavy powerbelts, but not sure which grains would be considered legal... anyone know?