clearanceman

I have a TC thunderhawk .54 and I use barnes bullets and it works great with tripple 7. Seems like the perfect combo, couldn't be happier. But recently I ordered a .50 cal barrel for my synthetic handirifle. They come with 1 in 28 twist 24 inch barrel. Anyway, I needed some .50 cal accessories, speed loaders, jags. I was just going to use barnes bullets. But walmart had a cva kit on sale, Short starter (which I don't need) all sorts of jags, speedloaders, breechplug grease (I need this, thunderhawk has no breechplug), solvent (don't need), video(don't need), patches, nipplepick (don't need but back ups are nice), and 16 powerbelt bullets. Well it was $46 which is too much but it was on clearance for $19 which was too hard to resist. So are these powerbelt bullets ok? Because I thought I might as well try them until they are gone then get Barnes. As long as they will kill a deer ok, I am happy. Looks like only the plastic contacts the rifling like a sabot, correct? If not, they may go back, I am spoiled by sabots, no more scrubbing lead and copper out of the rifling for me. BTW, the reason I am doing this is my .243 handi has to go back anyway and an extra barrel is cheap. It will make a good back up, also muzzleloaders are fun IMO. Plus, I have three little kids and one day it will make a nice MZ for one of them I hope. So maybe I do need the short starter, nipplepick and video.. Thanks for any and all comments.

duramaxlt

i've had very good sucess with powerbelts in my T/C 45 cal.and yes the plastic is all that contacts the rifling.good luck.

bigcountry

I hate the powerbelts myself. Out of three rifles, they would get great accuracy with slower loads like the 80gr-90gr of 777 or pyrodex. Stick with the Expanders and they handle a variety of loads from 85gr to 150gr. Also I always have nice blood trails with the expanders. I don't get that with powerbelts.

I admit I havent used the heavier powerbelts which some suggest. But I believe most people like them cause they are easy to load. Heavy loading with the barnes or my favorite XTP with harvester sabots doesn't bother me in the least. I just don't like a bullet like the PB with limited use. But everybody is different. You got the kit, shoot it and show us your groups. Every gun is a little different, expecially ML, where bore diameter varyies quite a bit.

clearanceman

Ok, I figure it can't hurt to try them. Honestly whether they work or not I'm going with Barnes once they are used up. Actually if they don't work, I'll go with Barnes sooner. Do you like the new barnes muzzleloading sabots with the new point? I haven't tried them as they don't come in .54 cal but I might try them with the new .50. Barnes makes the best muzzleloading bullet I have ever tried. Sure they are a little hard to push down the barrel. Who cares? I load my gun standing up with the scope facing away and the gun held between my knees. That way, I can use both hands. I shot a deer season before last in the neck, big doe. The bullet went all the way through the deer lengthwise and exited on the top of the rear leg. It didn't even tear the meat up too much. A bullet that expands then offers full lengthwise deer penetration on a big deer. They are excellent. And very accurate in my TC thunderhawk even with 1:38 twist.

bigcountry

Never tried the new spitfires. But plan too this year.