well said, but the truth is with a .250 gr bullet at that yardage it's a crap shoot as to if the bullet will pass through. a 300 gr bullet has a far better chance.unfortunately Md's own pictures of powerbelts he has tested are a great example of why not to use them..

To be fair the only one I've seen that really likes the Powerbelts is MD, and that's because he gets them for free. You have to take his advice just like you would take it from a salesman. Not to mention that MD likes to advertise how great they perform with his inserts. So basically he admits you have to modify them to make them work decently.

As far as the best group, that's why I liked the Powerbelts. They were super accurate, but there performance was horrible. I ended up finding a bullet that's almost as accurate and performs great.

As for using 150 grains with Powerbelts, no way I'd ever do that. They like to be pushed slow. I tried 150 grains at a target and got horrible groups so I back down to 100 grains and that's when they shot great, but performed horribly. Even at 100 grains they like to fragment badly at close shots.

[quote=Northport buckslayr;3757714]
Just a side note it seems like bullets are similar to broadheads on archery forums, everytime you bring one up your gonna get some people that passionately hate a particular brand and some people that love them.

quote]

Northport, what I first did when I got into ML is get with friends and we went and purchased different bullets from all kinds of makers and shared them at the range to see what shot best out of our guns. Every single gun made will shoot different so you have to try all that you can. If a bullet does its job and kills game I do not care about how much weight was retained in the bullet after the kill, I skin em and hang em. All I can say is 250 grain Shockwaves work well in my guns and work on game so I use em and recommend them but I will not bash folks for using other brands as it is all based on your gun barrel and is not within your control. If you gun shoots well with powerbelts then use em lots of folks use em with no issues.

My list of must try bullets thus far includes Barnes and the XTP's everyone is talking about. If I can get a good group with either of those I probably go that route.

One more note about Powerbelts, I have noticed that obviously they dont have to many fans around here, but out of 95 reviews on Cabela's webpage they average a 4.4 out of 5 stars for the hollow points. There must be quite a few people out there who like 'em right?

Yes, until they start losing game, then they change lol! some people tend to learn the hard way! the XTP and barnes are good choices as are the gold dot/deep curls. shops push powerbelts, especially the shops that really don't know anything about M/L bullets or the rifles.

boy this thread sure got off the original topic.

Not really, the question was answered and now reasons why he should not use powerbelts. There are way better choices for equal or less money.

Actually yes it has gotten way off topic. Dear lord, you would swear some people were beaten as children by someone who shoots powerbelts.

I had someone weave those rubber skirts on the powerbelts into a whip and beat me bloody with it. It's just hard to forget something like that.

I have owned many CVA MLer's and out of all of them I used the 240gr XTP (wich I still use). They shoot Excellant Groups out of CVA's and better yet in all the years of shootting the XTP's I have never lost a single Deer, and have taken Many. Im sure your Optima will Love them.
(BP)