didn't know we were talking shooting matches, power belts were the rage a few years ago cause they loaded easy, only heard from a handful of knowledgeable shooter who claimed good accuracy, then the poor terminal performance reports started coming.
a bullet that performs very poorly whether it hits its quarry or not is better used for a fishing sinker.
RR

Seems to me a bullet that shoots well at 300 yards in a OEM rifle IS obturating. It seems to me the Parker BE or E-MAX jacket is tougher than a copper clad Powerbelt and would be even harder to obturate into the rifling.

Both have cores made from fairly soft lead. Ive shot some great 100 yard groups with 300gr 45cal PowerBelt Plats but they fell short in terms of holding together.

Me either. I don't digest paper very well :o Fact is I can get MOST ML bullets to hit fairly well. Granted not to MY standards but fairly well. That's just not all there is to a hunting bullet. If they perform poorly in terminal ballistics, they are, as RR put it, fishing weights! If all you are doing is punching paper then fine and dandy. But I would NEVER trust a bullet that blows up as easily as a PowerBelt. I quit using the Shockwaves after 2 blowups on shoulder. 1 is a possible "eh crap happens". 2? uhuh, nope, nadda, not gonna do it. My TC likes hot loads for the most part so I need a bullet that's going to hold together on close up shots. Hopefully this new Barnes T-EZ 290gr will do the job well. Granted the Whitetail here in Illinois aren't armor plated but they aint little bitty fellas either. Need a good strong bullet for these big strong beefy deer!

Quite often? They did in the May match this year. Last year's overall winner was shooting pellets and jacketed bullets.

The match shoots steel chickens at 200 meters and pigs to 300 meters. The only yardage shooting was 50, 100 and 200yds.

That's an interesting chart GM54. I note the 50% of all shooters listed were using real black powder, as were 50% of the top ten.

Results from 2014. Darn thing. Just click on the "no photo" and you'll see it.

LMAO, Barnes it looks like the "Hunter" class whooped the poop out the "unlimited" hacks on that one! I think we outta send ole 1878Sharpshooter out there to schoolum!

The only thing that separates the "Hunter" class from the "Unlimited" class, is the weight of the rifle. Hunter is anything under 10#, Unlimited anything over.

Send him out there this next spring. God willing, I'll be there again.

LOL I'd have to guess here but I would imagine there is a LOT more going on with them unlimited "custom" ML'ers other than just weight! That was kind of like saying the only difference between a Bench rifle and a hunting rifle was weight! :s11:

Surprisingly, some of those rifles that shot well in the Hunter class, were completely custom rifles with custom .45 barrels. Brux etc. The weight of my scope put me in the Unlimited class.