As for the Powerbelts I've used the 295 grain hollow points with 100 grains of Pyrodex pellets for the past two years but plan to change for this next season. I've shot 4 deer with them but only recovered 3. Out of those 3 I only had one pass through and it was on a small doe. What I like about the Powerbelts is that they are easy to load, you don't have sabots to worry about, and they shoot very accurately for me. What I don't like is the deer I lost and the lack of a pass through. I also don't normally seem to get good blood trails. The first deer I ever shot with them ran maybe 20-25 yards. Just a guess as I can't remember exactly. Anyway, I walked down there and saw him laying there and couldn't get up. I shot him again as I didn't want him to suffer and I didn't know exactly where I had hit him. He was further than I'm used to shooting so I aimed right over him and hit him right in the middle right behind the shoulder where you want to. After seeing it was a good hit I didn't really need to shoot him again but at the same time I didn't want him to suffer. I went back and looked for where he was when I shot him to where he was laying and I didn't find any blood until I got to where he was laying. Then it was a ton.

The next deer I shot with them I lost. I shot and knocked him down. I didn't have any other bullets with me to reload so I had to watch him from the stand lay there for what seemed like 30-40 seconds however, it's hard to tell how long it really was. He then jumped up and ran off to my amazement. I didn't find any blood at all where I saw him fell. I didn't know the exact spot but couldn't find any blood in that area. We did find some blood about 20 yards away on a couple of tree's. However, only on those two trees and we never found the deer. The blood trail ended and we couldn't find anymore signs of him. I looked and looked and looked along with having two friends help look for him also. Finally, we just had to give up as other than those two tree's we couldn't find any signs of him. This was very upsetting and is why I'm thinking of changing bullets.

The next one I shot was a small doe. It was a pass through on this one. She ran maybe 35 yards across the field. I saw her fall so I knew I got her. However, once again no blood trail that I could find. It was a great hit too.

Then the last one was a 6 pointer that was a decent sized deer. He came in really close to me around 20 yards from the stand. The closest I've ever had a deer come to me while hunting. I shot him and he ran off. When I went to go look I didn't find any blood trail for about 10-15 yards then I found a small puddle of blood right where he ran into the woods. For the rest of the trail is was small puddles of blood every 2-3 feet. I finally found the deer about 100 yards back in the woods. This was the only one I had a great blood trail on. It had been a good shoulder hit. The bullet must have exploded when it hit or something as the entrance hole was huge. About the size of a baseball. Maybe not quite that big but I'd guess close. I have no idea how it made a entrance hole that big. This I think is why the blood trail was so good. This bullet also didn't pass through.

So I've gotten 3 deer with it over the last 2 years. However, at the same time I only got one good blood trail, I didn't get any to drop right there other than the one that got up and ran off only to never be found. Then I lost the one which was upsetting. All of them were good shots other than the one I never found. I can't say if that was a good hit or not since I never found him. After that experience I just think it's time to change bullets.

I know a guy I hunt with uses them and likes them but he also said that he doesn't get pass through with them but he is able to kill deer with them.
The other guy I know that used them switched bullets due to the price.

The last Gold Dot i purchased were from Powder Valley, but now the ones i've ordered are on back-order.

This is a debate that will probably go on as long as there are deer and deerhunters. I have shot deer midway up the chest with the same bullets and get two differents results. One deer dropped in its tracks and another one ran 80 yards and died. Both were easily found, both had their lungs turned into jello, and both bullets exited. I have had these same results happen many times before not just with muzzleloader bullets, but modern gun as well. I myself am a lung shooter, I try to mess up as little meat as possible, the lung shot is deadly and has the biggest area to hit, most of the time they will run a bit but are usually not hard to find.

Natchez are sayin' they have these in stock right now. Yes, they do work well on deer. Better than most, and far better than some popular bullet.

http://www.natchezss.com/bullets.cfm...P&bulletType=0

Thanks for the link. Which sabots are best to use with these?

hometheaterman

The Gold Dot or soon to be called the Speer "Deep Curl" is one of the best 'poor man's' bullets i have ever shot... They are bonded and have a controlled expansion.... They are really hard to beet at the price...

Here is a picture of some GD's that i tested for toughness in a wet clay soil water bar. If they stay together in that medium - they will stay to gether in and out of animal

Mike I think they are hard to beat at any price. The deer and boar I shot with them were dropped with in one step on all standing shots; How much better than that can it get.
An other thing, Bullet performance takes in a lot of thing, like will it shoot with a decent load, how flat does that particular bullet shoot, does it deform if you are in a hurry and ram it down hard, does it hold together with a max load for the bigger game, does it stabilize well enough for long range. There is a lot more to bullet performance than just the terminal performance. The bullet also has to give good ballistics with the load the gun likes and give good terminal performance from the muzzle with the load the gun likes to the max range where it has slowed down considerably. This puts sever limits on a bullet that starts out at less than normal average velocity which for me is always over 2,000 FPS.

In the Omega(s), i use the Harvester Crush Rib sabot. In the Accura, i use The Harvester smooth sabot. Grafs is where i purchase the sabot. Your 'best' sabot depends on your rifle.

hometheaterman

I forgot to answer the sabot question... For me I use the MMP HPH-24 in all of my rifles - i prefer the longer petals to get the sabot off the bullet as soon as possible + I beleive the longer sabot petals will release with less possible interference on the projectile in adverse weather conditions.

Others have awfull good luck with the short Harvester... The last sabot i use is the 'crush rib' - forunately i do not have a rifle so tight that i need to use one.. so I am in good shape. I probably said that wrong the only time I would use a CR is if the rifle demanded it for loading purposes.

I forgot what rifle you are shooting and the real thing is to match the sabot to the rifle and the projectile.

And going back to Lee's note: He is right about that also as he most often is....

I would be shooting these in a Remington Genesis. Does that help? Or do I just need to buy a bunch of sabots and try them in my particular rifle?