Should I change bullets?
 

So I've been shooting 295 Grain Powerbelt Hollow Points for the last 2 seasons in my black powder rifles. I've had no reason to change and they seem they seem to be accurate at 100 yards. I shot and killed my first and biggest buck with this setup at 136 yards or so. It ran maybe 15 yards and fell. Didn't find much blood except where he was laying he was laying in a pile of it. I hit it in the lung area. I didn't get a pass through on it though. It was right behind the skin on the other side.

Then this year I shot 3 deer with it. I only found 2. The first one I killed was a small doe that weighed about 80lbs or so. It was about 90-100 yards away. I got a pass through on this. Not a huge hole going in or out of the deer just a clean pass through. This deer made it maybe 10-15 yards and fell. I didn't find any blood for this one and the only reason I really found it was it ran out in the middle of the field and fell over.

The second one I shot which was a buck but a smaller buck I shot at around the same distance. Around 100 yards. When I shot he fell over and started flopping. However, I before I could get another shot loaded he jumped up and ran off. We found blood in 2 spots but they were far apart and where he had rubbed on a tree. It got to where it was a really thick area and we couldn't find where he entered nor any blood. So we finally just started searching in the thick stuff which wasn't fun at all and still never found any more blood or the deer. I searched by myself for quite a while and then had 2 others also help me search both of whom helped me look also for a while. This shot really bothered me as I didn't like not finding him.

The 3rd deer was a 6 point buck. I shot him at around 20 yards. I hit him a little lower than I intended to. The entrance hole going in was about the size of my fist balled up. I've never seen a entrance hole like this. I think it hit the shoulder area and made it expand right there. I also hit him in the lungs. It was a great blood trail. Blood every 2-3 feet and a lot of it but he did run probably close to 80-100 yards. He made it a lot further than I thought he would but it was a good blood trail going to him. When I got to the end of the blood trail I found him laying there dead.


So the one I lost really bothered me and none of the others were dropped right there.

Then I talked to a friend that switched to the Hornady SST's and he said he loved them. He had shot 2 larger deer this year and both passed through and neither went very far afterward.

So what I'm wondering is the powerbelt a good choice or should I switch to the Hornady's? Do I want a pass through or as long as I'm finding them is that all I need? Seems like I'm dropping the majority of them but that one worried me. It doesn't seem like I'm getting great blood trails though although it was great on that 6 pointer but it was also a huge entrance hole and it was close when I shot it.

Just wondering if there is a better bullet out there or should I stick with this? Some guys I hunt with use Powerbelts others Shockwaves and others the Hornadys. They all seem to have a reason or another why their bullet is the best.

Nothin' wrong with switching stuff up to see how you like them. I use shockwaves/ssts. No problems here- big holes and dead deer.

if you want a good blood trail use the BARNES 250gr. expander [the flower of death]

Where can I get those?

Here's an exit wound from a deer taken Yesterday at 130 yards.
40% of the heart gone, a fist size chunk of lung on the ground next to the deer and the exit hole was the size of 3 fingers. The shot was 130 gr 777 250 gr shockwave at 130 yards slightly downhill. He dropped on the spot . I would recommend the shockwave , the sst or the barnes tmz.

hometheaterman

Personally i would never hunt with a power belt, but a lot of people do and a lot of people love em...

If you a looking for an econmically priced bullet for whitetail I would suggest the Speer Gold Dot. The .452/250 will shoot point blank to 175 yards and is an extremely good bullet. If you want to go heavier and shoot farther then look at the .452/300 grain Gold Dot.

I call them a 'poorman's Nosler'. He is a picture of some I ran through a torture test and recovered. Shooting a clay soil water bar is definitely a tortue on any bullet. They are bonded and can only expand to a certain point - then just keep driving.



These are just a plain jane bullet a little more expensive than Hornady XTP's.

Premium priced bullets? for the most part since Nosler quit making the handgun Nosler partitions then by default Barnes might be my next choice, but at this time i am trying another premium bullet from Lehigh. I shot a buck a week or so ago and it worked very well. I'll try another later in December with a .40/200 grain Lehigh, which has already been proven as a very good whitetail projectile.

http://lehighbullets.com/

For me, If i ever do stop shooting powerbelts, i'll go to the Thor conicals. I love how they open up and i like the fact that i can use a 250gr bullet on pretty much every game animal in colorado and not worry about it coming apart. Very sturdy and accurate bullets.

X2, except that my Savage with the faster twist 1:24" bbl likes the 300 grain version better. The Expander MZ's open fast, open big and almost always go all the way through no matter which way you hit them. They are a bit pricey, but they are a wicked bullet.

Mike

Hmm nice write up. You really have me wanting to try these. What kind of sabots would I need to get? That's one of the things that drew me to the powerbelts I didn't have sabots or anything to deal with. However, if they are that much better I might have to switch to them.

In general are saboted bullets as accurate or more accurate than ones like the Powerbelts? Or should I expect a loss of accuracy?

its really a toss up. I get pretty much the same accuracy with powerbelts,thors, xtp's. It just really depends on how hard you go at it and how much you are willing to send on experimenting.