tazman7

I have a 45 cal CVA Optima Pro Muzzleloader that I am shooting 150 grains of 777 pellets with Powerbelt 225 grain projectile. I am going to the range today to try out loose powder Pyrodex RS and Hornady SST Sabots. 200gr.

Just wondering how much powder I should use with this load...

I only deer hunt with the gun, and have shot three deer with it and haven't been too impressed with the Powerbelt's. Shot one directly broadside in the shoulder 50 yards away and it bounced off and slid up the neck.. She ran 250 yards before piling up.. Maybe i'm expecting more knock down power?

spaniel

Oh my. If you search around you'll find a TON of complaints about Powerbelts, especially the light ones like yours, driven too fast. You are using nearly DOUBLE the ideal amount of powder to get best performance from this bullet! It sounds like the bullet massively over-expanded, so it couldn't penetrate the shoulder and slid up. You will NOT see this with a 200SW.

I think you will be happy with the switch to the 200 Shockwave. It is a great bullet I used for many years and will be going back to next year in my new 45cal I'm building. I would recommend starting at 80-90 grains and working your way up in 5 grain increments. My Omega had best accuracy at 110gr 777, but YMMV. I shot deer with it to very long ranges and it performed well.


The bullet on the left was about 180 yds if I recall, and on the right 208 yds. They expand well even at lower velocities. While I have never recovered a bullet from a deer shot at close range, they always exited and the deer usually went right down. This is what I like about this bullet -- it performs up close, and it performs far out.

marshall9779

I shoot 200gr shockwaves out of my Optima Elite and she shoots just under 3/4" at 100yds using 100gr of BH 209 with the supplied sabots. They load really tight, but are super accurate. I have a few crushribs I need to try and see how they do with them.

Big Z

...just go ahead and cut your charge in half if you want to use them powerbelts

Increase your bullet weight and slow it down--something like a shockwave would be much better at that speed.

MountainDevil54

way to much powder. Take a look at this post for load info,
http://thepowerbeltforum.powerguild....g-day-t685.htm

oldsmellhound

I used 90 - 100 grains T7 FFFG in my CVA Hunterbolt .45 with the 200 grain SST. I've taken 1 deer with this and it worked just fine. I would suggest trying 2 T7 pellets with the 200 SST and see how that shoots. I would highly suggest switching to loose powder if you want to get the best accuracy. You can use 150 grains of pellets with the SST, but definitely not the Powerbelts. Based on my limited experience, I would use the SST over the powerbelts, but if you want to use powerbelts I would use the heavier 275 grainers with 100 grains of powder or less.

tazman7

Well I went to the range today and shot 100 grain 777 pellets, and Hornady Sabot 200 grain SST. Was shooting a 2" group at 100 yards. So i'm pleased with that. I wanted to shoot the Pyrodex RS loose powder I had but dont have a way to measure it out yet. They dont have anything in the stores around here for 45 cal....should have got a 50.

sqezer

The best groups out of my Knight, have been 90 gr. RS Select, CCI ML primers, Hornady 200 gr. SST. The 195 Powerbelts shot good with 110 gr. RS Select. I'd start with around 75gr. and work upward not to exceed 120 gr. I've also had good grouping using JSG (FFF) up to 120 gr. Take a look at my thread( .45 Hornady 200 gr. SST) I'll be using a different bullet next year.