Had a CVA staghorn .. decided to upgrade to the new CVA wolf. Dad...my uncles and everyone around hereshoots the 245 grain powerbelts with 100grain loads and loves them. I am shooting the 295 with 100grain to slow the bullet down more. i have read both really good and really bad about themand everything between. was wondering if anyone has had better luck with the platinum series or if there are better bullets that shoot better out of my particular gun. i really dont want to switch because these things shoot awesome i can hit a quater at 50 yards ... but i want to be fair to the deer to ... i refuse to shoot past 75 yards.. just my preference... but looking for ideas.. opinions... or whatever people would like to give me thanks

MR

Welcome to the forum. I guess the style of powerbelt is what you want the powerbelt to do. The Platinum would or at least should get better penetration and less fragmentation. I would think the set up you are currently shooting should work good, but I have no first had game taking experience with the powerbelt. Every time I tried, the test subject was uncooperative.

Have you considered a good sabot round also?

Welcome to the forum

If I were you and you are set on the Power belts I would drop my powder down to 80 or 85gr
Just me I do not like the BP I would rather shoot the Bull Shop Custom CONICALS they are alot cheaper than the PB , I shoot a 460gr NEX bull shop in a .504 with with a .510 over the powder wad and 85gr of loose 2gf 777 out of my KRB7 and you talk about ACCURATE . just orderd 400 of them with shipping was $113.50 the wads you can get 1000 for 7.50 .
I just had some Bad exper. with the BP and swore I would never use them again but like I said it is (JMO)
If I was going to shoot the BP I would shoot the 338gr platinum over 85 or 90gr of powder.

www.bullshop.gunloads.com

im not dead set on using them no.. and i have thought about sabots... im just new to this thing still even though ive been hunting since i was old enough ( currently 22 still a young'n ) and dont want to put something in my barrel that shouldnt be in there and blow it up or something crazy.... i just know that this is what my family uses and never would have thought twice about using them until i started reading .. and even then its mixed reviews both ways. so i dont know what to do .. i myself havent shot a deer with them yet so i dont know .. maybe i should just try them and see what they do for me????? i think the bullet game for ML is kinda like the broadhead guessing game in bow hunting everyone has preferences..?????? advice is always welcome.. always ready to listen and learn.

also ... noticed a pattern 150 grain load = bad reviews..... 80-100 = usually good..????

My CVA will shoot 90 grains and a powerbelt very accurate. Like I said before, I never got to shoot a deer with them. I have tried to claim a deer with them but with my luck I fell short. I would think you would be fine. As long as you're around 100 grains and not shooting out to 200 yards with the things...

When season is over then you can play with different loads..

i shoot 100grains and nope like i said i usually dont shoot past 75 yards... mostly cause where i hunt at i dont have to .. but i wouldnt anyways. so i guess ill give these a whirl and if they work great awesome and if not .. then ill figure something else out

Suggest if you like that type conical you try some 300gr Sabortooth they load and shoot the same in all my guns as PB's but have a better designed HP and hold to gether better. Lee

I have killed 2 big does with the 295gr lead pbs. the first one was approx. 80 yds. dec late season in mi , 90 gr of the old clean shot. they would group 1 in at 92yds off a bench. shot behind the shoulder , took a v-shaped chunk off the top of the heart. found it under the hide on the off side. the bullet shed 17grs of lead. the second one the next yr 70yds double lung ran 90 yds. that was with 80gr t7ff. good luc with pbs.

Michigan_Redneck

I think, and I am certainly not a Power Belt pro, but I think you have made the right decision with the 295 vs the 245... A Power Belt no matter what is is coated with is basically a lead conical. It is my belief if you are shooting solid lead you really should be up there in weight because straight lead tends to fragment when it encounters something hard like a bone. Hence, since the State of Idaho changed the rules this year and we were forced to shoot conicals I chose to shoot one of Dan's Bull Shop 460 grain NEx. This conical is a finisher and works very shoots very accurately... My general statement would be if you are required to shoot a conical shoot a real conical like the Bull Shop. The Power Belt or the Harvester clone are used and used by a lot of people for one reason - easy to load.

If you are able touse sabots and another projectile that would be my choice vs any PB. But, it would require a little searching on your part to find the correct sabot. For the distances you are talking about the perfect bullet for you might be the Speer Gold Dot either the .452-250 grain or the 300 grain. Cayugad can probably tell you what sabot to use as he has one of the guns...

Good luck in what ever you choose to do... Confidence is the key find a combination that you have confidence in and use it...

My son shoots 295 powerbelts out of his thunderhawk. 100grs of pyro select and he has shot numerous deer with them and had great luck with them. Put the bullet where it is supposed to go and you will be fine with that setup