I've been hunting with the PowerBelt 295 grain 50 cal bullets with 100 grains of Pyrodex pellet powder. My CVA Eclipse shoots these bullets really well. I've killed around 10 deer with this set up and never had a pass thru. I shot a deer about 5 yards away last week and never found any blood, but did find him about 80 yds away. Should I keep shooting these or try to find a bullet that would give more of a chance of a Pass thru. Like I said I've been really sucessful with the powerbelts, but am afraid it will bite me one day.

Chad

TO much powder.

Heres a link to help you bleed them out like stuffed pigs.
http://huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?...86&mpage=1

Within 125 yards, try a 250 or 300 Barnes MZ...

For longer work, say 150-160 yards, try a 250 SST/Shockwave...

You will have passthroughs....

Its a shame that you have an accurate load and the only way to get better performance is possibly lower the powder charge so the bullet has a chance to do its thing. I would keep with what you have for now, and start looking for a different bullet that will give you the results you want.

Look and try some Speer HP Gold Dots in 250 grain, Nosler Partition 260 grain, T/C shockwaves in 200 grain, 300 grain Hornady XTP, or some conicals like Great Plains, or Bull Shop conicals. If you can work up one of them, they might give you the pass through you're looking for or at least some major organ damage which would plant the deer a little faster.

DukhuntChad

If you are looking for a pss through you may be shooting the wrong bullet... A Power Belt really is nothing more that a elongated round ball. It is made of a very soft lead so that it will obterate to your barrel. On contact it will usually do two things 1. blow up or 2 flatten out to a very big piece of lead. So it chances of passing through are very slim.

There are two schools of thought here...

1. Some people want all the energy of the projectile expended in the animal, and pass throughs are really a waste of energy.... It is a good theory and often works...

2. The other thought is that 'penetration' and cutting of organs is the key along with the hydrostatic damage that occurs as the bullet passes through the animal. If the bullet works properly you will get blood pumping out of both the enterance and the exit holes.

If you like shooting the easy loading PB then you really need to slow it down or Hornady is coming out with a new bullet that loads like a PB but according to the company penetrates far better. It is to expensive for me and the jury is still out on its operation. You can look here and form some of your own opinions.

http://www.hornady.com/media/2008catalog/Page_0043.pdf

Personally I will continue to use Nosler Partitions as long as I can afford them, and when I can not I will switch to Speer Gold Dots either the 250 grain for whitetail or the 300 grain for both deer and elk..

Powerbelts only "blow up" If you push them to fast and hit SOLID bone.

In my opinion if the bullet does not pass through the deer than that means the deer is absorbing all of the hydrostatic shock of the bullet. If it's not broke don't fix it.

Agree on the 250 or 300 Barnes MZ, for longer range work (out to 200 yards with 3.5" high sight in at 100 yards) you can use a Barnes Origonal 45/70 bullet 300g in an MMP Orange sabot OR a black crushed rib or you can use a Barnes TMZ with supplied sabot or a BONDED SW all will give pass thru performance and mostly boom flops, also try high shoulder shots at close range with these bullets, no more tracking, 2 holes, 2x expansion, massive internal wound channel. So short range high shoulder, long range boiler room behind front shoulder.

Opinion on PB, shoot them as Frontier Gander recommends or dump them, I dumped them after several hits and no recover, for information on PBs (the negative, you can hear lots of positive):
http://www.the-gleasons.com/powerbelt_page.htm

Now do yourself a favor and do a google search for "Powbelt Fragments" or "Nosler Partition Fragments" or "Barnes MZ Fragments". You find very little for Nosler fragments or Barnes Fragments, but you see a lot of PB fragments. Also read the product review page of Cabelas and MidWay for the PB, listen to the whole story. You will find a lot of people experience what you did. I got the buck or doe, but no blood trail and the bullet fragmented, especially on close shot. Check it out, then make your decision based on logic, facts and not emotion or hype. I think they are a >>great<< bullet in a FlintLock with 60 to 80g of goex and sight in wiht open sights at 50 yards, the key is to keep them below 1400 fps, then you get "devistating performance" as advertised. Just 1 opinion, but I have "been there done that and I AIN'T going back".

Chap Gleason

They also blow up on "non solid" bone like ribs. You MUST see a pattern here FG, ask yourself this question. "What is the most talked about bullet for poor bullet performance"? It is the PB, hands down. You NEVER hear anything about the Nosler Partition or the Barnes or the Gold Dot, but the PB that is a different story. Best Wishes, Chap

I'd either drop your charge or try a different bullet.