# Why the disdain for powerbelts?



## RipperIII (Sep 9, 2020)

I don't do alot of muzzleloader hunting, but I've killed a few beast with my rig.
I've always used pellets and powerbelts through my CVA, first the optima, now the Accura V2.
Platinum and the newer Aerolite bullets in 250gr.-300gr.

They all fly consistently well, and I've only recovered one slug in the off side hide on one large buck.
Blood trails that Stevie wonder could follow.
so my question is:  why are powerbelts treated with such disdain in many forums?


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## Stingray23 (Sep 9, 2020)

I don't know, Aerolites shoot great out of my Accura V2, haven't shot a deer with one yet so I cant attest for knockdown, some barrels don't like some bullets...especially with inlines


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## MikeyD6 (Sep 9, 2020)

I tried them with my CVA Accura, but I couldn't get consistent grouping with them past 75 yards.  Hornady sabots worked much better, and they don't cost as much.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Sep 9, 2020)

Most people complain of lack of blood trails and pass thru’s. You are the first I’ve read of having a good blood trail. Their big selling point is they are easy to load, but they have never shot well for me in 4-5 different rifles. Chuck Hawks has a great page on rifles and bullets. They tested the power belts with and without the plastic cups.....no difference in accuracy. They are sized under bore and the cup supposedly engages the rifling.  Check out Chuck Hawks web page, it’s full of great info on everything shooting related. If you have good luck with them I would stick with them .


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## BuckskinBP (Sep 9, 2020)

#1 reason is they love to fragment and not penetrate deep into the vitals, when pushed to hard.

110gr bh209 pushed this 250gr aerolite into a buck at 80 yards.

Entrance,



"exit"




All I found of the bullet,






Was I happy with the performance? Yes, massive blood trail, huge entrance hole, pitiful exit hole if you could call it that. Poor bullet hold up as expected due to the design.


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## RipperIII (Sep 9, 2020)

Hillbilly stalker said:


> Most people complain of lack of blood trails and pass thru’s. You are the first I’ve read of having a good blood trail. Their big selling point is they are easy to load, but they have never shot well for me in 4-5 different rifles. Chuck Hawks has a great page on rifles and bullets. They tested the power belts with and without the plastic cups.....no difference in accuracy. They are sized under bore and the cup supposedly engages the rifling.  Check out Chuck Hawks web page, it’s full of great info on everything shooting related. If you have good luck with them I would stick with them .


yep, ive read the article from Chuck...one of the reasons I ask the question because thus far I have not experienced what he speaks of.


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## flintlock hunter (Sep 9, 2020)

I found powerbelts to be etremely accurate out of a 50 cal with a Green Mountain 1:20 twist stainless caplock that my son now hunts with in Tennesee where he lives. I killed a bunch of deer with them, none that dropped where they stood, but mostly not a long track job since I watched them go down.

Blood trails were never very good, but enough to find the deer, and my Son has had the same experience with them. Question is this: How dead is dead? Put a hole in the lungs they ain't goin' far......objective accomplished.


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## Todd Cook (Sep 9, 2020)

I don't shoot that type of muzzleloader anymore, but I have killed several animals with powerbelts. I never had any complaints. Course I never had any complaints with Core locts or cheap powerpoints in a .270 either. Some folks are just picky.


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## Twiggbuster (Sep 9, 2020)

shot a few out of the CVA in the avatar with powerbelts.
worked well
one has the best mushroom of any bullet Ive ever shot.. including modern
I don't like a lot of fragments in my venison.


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## 35 Whelen (Sep 9, 2020)

Tried them out once, no blood trail.  Now I use Hornady 385 grain Great Plains bullet.


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 10, 2020)

I tried them when I first picked up a smokepole and was not able to get much for accuracy.  Made the switch to TC 245 grain bullets and the accuracy improved. 

Changed to BH209 and it got even better.


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## RipperIII (Sep 10, 2020)

Jim Thompson said:


> I tried them when I first picked up a smokepole and was not able to get much for accuracy.  Made the switch to TC 245 grain bullets and the accuracy improved.
> 
> Changed to BH209 and it got even better.



I guess I'm just a little too lazy,..I like the ease of the pellets and the lack of a sabot, and as I mentioned. for whatever reasons, I get really good accuracy...and so far. no issues with bullet frags


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## Bowyer29 (Sep 10, 2020)

Hillbilly stalker said:


> Most people complain of lack of blood trails and pass thru’s. You are the first I’ve read of having a good blood trail. Their big selling point is they are easy to load, but they have never shot well for me in 4-5 different rifles. Chuck Hawks has a great page on rifles and bullets. They tested the power belts with and without the plastic cups.....no difference in accuracy. They are sized under bore and the cup supposedly engages the rifling.  Check out Chuck Hawks web page, it’s full of great info on everything shooting related. If you have good luck with them I would stick with them .


This!


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 10, 2020)

I think you will never find a better performing projectile at black powder velocities than a chunk of solid lead. No plastic needed. Lead works just as well as it ever did, including in inline rifles.


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## formula1 (Sep 10, 2020)

I don't have anything against them. I just think there are better quality and more accurate bullets I can use along with a good quality snug-fitting sabot. To each his own I guess.


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## frankwright (Sep 10, 2020)

I am going to try some when I get a chance. Anything .54 other than round balls are very hard to find. 
Several companies like Great Plains and T/C quit making a lead bullet in .54.


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 10, 2020)

RipperIII said:


> I guess I'm just a little too lazy,..I like the ease of the pellets and the lack of a sabot, and as I mentioned. for whatever reasons, I get really good accuracy...and so far. no issues with bullet frags



If they work for you now and have in the past, keep shooting them.  Half the battle is confidence in what we shoot


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## Buford_Dawg (Sep 10, 2020)

I love them and they perform excellent in both my ML's.  Very accurate and lethal on all the deer I have shot with them.  I do find that they do not provide a heavy blood trail however who cares when the deer is laying within 25 yards or less of the shot.  I will not shoot anything else in my ML's.  245 grain Aerolite and 2 50 grain 777 and I am good to go.


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## Todd Cook (Sep 10, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> I think you will never find a better performing projectile at black powder velocities than a chunk of solid lead. No plastic needed. Lead works just as well as it ever did, including in inline rifles.


Yessir. Pure lead shoots a lot better than most people think too.


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## Minner (Sep 10, 2020)

frankwright said:


> I am going to try some when I get a chance. Anything .54 other than round balls are very hard to find.
> Several companies like Great Plains and T/C quit making a lead bullet in .54.



Dang, I didn't know that. I had planned to switch to Great Plains bullets for my .54 Renegade when I shot up the T/C bullets I've been using. PRBs that we tried didn't group well in the rifle.


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## Jeetdawg (Sep 10, 2020)

I had issues with accuracy past 50 yds.  Also, shot a midwest buck at 40 yds dead center of lungs.  Absolutely no blood trail to follow, though I was able to recover the deer because I heard him crash.  Accuracy was really my biggest issue and I didn’t have confidence with them.  They are easy to load, but the lack of confidence in their performance was why I changed to Hornady.


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## Liberty (Sep 10, 2020)

If you buy the appropriately sized Lee Improved Minie Ball mold, you can cast good bullets from a ladel over a campfire.. I did it once just to prove a point. Lube them up with some Crisco, Bore Butter or whatever you have that is appropriate and you will have a fine shooting round. Just make sure to use dead soft lead such as roofers lead or plumbers lead.


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## hambone76 (Sep 10, 2020)

I’ve killed a pile of deer with Powerbelt Bullets. I used to hang the rifle up and finish my deer season with my muzzleloader, especially when thinning the does out. I’ve shot the 175’s all the way up to 245’s in my Optima Elite .45  and a bolt action, CVA that I started out with. Very few have ran off, most of them dropped like a bad habit. The ones that ran left a red carpet behind them for me to follow a short distance. I push them out of a 29” barrel with 150 grains of 777. Accuracy is great, not a single complaint there. If it ain’t broke, I ain’t fixin’ it!


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## Buckman18 (Sep 11, 2020)

In my old inline Traditions ML, powerboats shot well. In my encore, they're all over the place and some of them tumble (its obvious when the bullet hole is shaped like a bullet standing upright).

Now I shoot the TC Cheap Sabots. After reading what Hillbilly posted, I may try the cast lead great plains bullets when my supply runs low.

To me, muzzleloader hunting is ok, I've never been a huge traditionalist with them so the inlines are a good fit for me.


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## Railroader (Sep 11, 2020)

Seen a whole bunch of critters killed with a Great Plains Bullet.

Only ever seen one that didn't go through.  It was found in the off side hide of a big dead hog, flattened out to about the size of a quarter.

As simple, and as good as it gets...


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 11, 2020)

Buckman18 said:


> In my old inline Traditions ML, powerboats shot well. In my encore, they're all over the place and some of them tumble (its obvious when the bullet hole is shaped like a bullet standing upright).
> 
> Now I shoot the TC Cheap Sabots. After reading what Hillbilly posted, I may try the cast lead great plains bullets when my supply runs low.
> 
> To me, muzzleloader hunting is ok, I've never been a huge traditionalist with them so the inlines are a good fit for me.


Try the T/C Maxi-hunters. I've killed a train car full of deer with the 350-grain ones. They are also very easy to load.


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## Todd Cook (Sep 11, 2020)

For those of you who don't, you should try casting bullets. You can get molds for most anything you want, find some scrap lead and have at it. It's a lot of fun to me. I just shoot patched round balls, but the lead conicals are easy to make too.


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## Buckman18 (Sep 11, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> Try the T/C Maxi-hunters. I've killed a train car full of deer with the 350-grain ones. They are also very easy to load.



Are these the ones?


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 11, 2020)

Buckman18 said:


> Are these the ones?
> View attachment 1038181


Yep. Make sure they're the 350 grain. They make something like a 240, too. They hit like the hammer of Thor. Probably well over half the deer I've shot with those folded on the spot, the rest leave a blood trail that Stevie Wonder could follow. Of the dozens I've killed with them, I've only recovered one from a deer. It was a good-sized deer facing quartering strongly toward me. The bullet entered in the crease between the shoulder and the neck, and was stuck under the hide on the back ham. It was mushroomed about the size of a quarter. I first started shooting them in my first old Hawken that I could never get round balls to pattern well in, and after killing a few deer with them, got hooked.


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## Buckman18 (Sep 11, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> Yep. Make sure they're the 350 grain. They make something like a 240, too. They hit like the hammer of Thor. Probably well over half the deer I've shot with those folded on the spot, the rest leave a blood trail that Stevie Wonder could follow. Of the dozens I've killed with them, I've only recovered one from a deer. It was a good-sized deer facing quartering strongly toward me. The bullet entered in the crease between the shoulder and the neck, and was stuck under the hide on the back ham. It was mushroomed about the size of a quarter. I first started shooting them in my first old Hawken that I could never get round balls to pattern well in, and after killing a few deer with them, got hooked.



Good deal, just ordered a pack. Thanks for the tip.


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## Thunder Head (Sep 11, 2020)

Im not sure why.

There have always been lots on both size of this debate.

I have had good luck with them around here on both deer and hogs. 100 grains of 777 Ive only recovered 1. Stuck in the shield of a boar hog. Broke a rib and mushroomed nicely. Left a dust cloud it thumped him so hard.

When i put a scope on and tried longer ranges. They didnt preform to my satisfaction. I tried BH209 and T.C. sabots. Much better at long range.


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## Darkhorse (Sep 11, 2020)

Early on there was a lot of discussion about this bullet. The problem was that the belt came off and ruined a lot of shots at game.
I was following this because I had applied for Elk tags and was looking for better bullets.


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## flconch53 (Sep 12, 2020)

They used to make a power belt that was a hollow point. No trouble with a blood trail then


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## frankwright (Sep 12, 2020)

I bought some Maxi Hunters from track of the Wolf. They come unlubed. I read up on it and tried to heat a pan of beeswax over a hot plate and let it flow around the bullets and then after it cooled, push the bullets out.
I was not happy with the results. Lube was inconsistent and not in all the grooves. I may try again. Recently read an accuracy test on lead ML bullets and only lubing lower grease groove was way more accurate than having lube in both.
If the Power belts don't work out in my sidelock, I will try to relube.


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## DP308 (Sep 13, 2020)

Anyone tried these


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## flconch53 (Sep 13, 2020)

If they are tungsten they will not expand on deer size game.


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## Davexx1 (Sep 20, 2020)

Early model Powerbelt bullets (years ago) were known to detonate/explode on close range high velocity hits. Penetration was minimal.  Another thing that I didn't like was that the bullet itself was significantly undersized for the bore (to make loading easy) with only the plastic collar attached to the base of the bullet engaging the rifling until firing. At ignition, the soft bullet expanded, engaged the rifling, etc.  I am guessing it was the soft bullet construction that contributed to the poor penetration on game.


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 20, 2020)

Davexx1 said:


> Early model Powerbelt bullets (years ago) were known to detonate/explode on close range high velocity hits. Penetration was minimal.  Another thing that I didn't like was that the bullet itself was significantly undersized for the bore (to make loading easy) with only the plastic collar attached to the base of the bullet engaging the rifling until firing. At ignition, the soft bullet expanded, engaged the rifling, etc.  I am guessing it was the soft bullet construction that contributed to the poor penetration on game.


T/C Maxi-hunters are solid soft lead. They penetrate all the way through deer and considerably into the ground on the other side. But, they are bore diameter. And don't have plastic parts on them.


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## BuckskinBP (Sep 21, 2020)

Davexx1 said:


> Early model Powerbelt bullets (years ago) were known to detonate/explode on close range high velocity hits. Penetration was minimal.  Another thing that I didn't like was that the bullet itself was significantly undersized for the bore (to make loading easy) with only the plastic collar attached to the base of the bullet engaging the rifling until firing. At ignition, the soft bullet expanded, engaged the rifling, etc.  I am guessing it was the soft bullet construction that contributed to the poor penetration on game.


powerbelts still grenade. Its a problem they have no solved yet. One day perhaps.


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## RipperIII (Sep 21, 2020)

BuckskinBP said:


> powerbelts still grenade. Its a problem they have no solved yet. One day perhaps.


my experience has not been this...but I've never hit shoulder with powerbelts either. all pass through except on on off side hide


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## Jack Flynn (Sep 22, 2020)

The reason for the disdain.... In the beginning, when they first came out lot's of people had the bullets disintergrate or fall apart on impact and a lot of deer were lost. No exit wounds at all. They changed them I'm positive but that was the bad taste that hasn't went away.


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## GAHUNTER60 (Sep 27, 2020)

*Had an elk guide in Colorado that had a "no Powerbelt" policy.  He was partial to the extra-heavy "No Excuses" bullets, because of the guaranteed blood trail.*

*He was also not real keen on the 385-grain Hornady Great Plains bullets on elk because they don't always exit.  He did, however, believe they are among the best choices availabl e for deer-sized game.*


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## GregoryB. (Sep 28, 2020)

When I shot 100gr of Pyrodex and the 240gr Powerbelt accuracy was great and blood trails were decent. When I jumped to 150gr of Pyrodex the Powerbelts didn't hold together well and penetration went way down.


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## simpleman30 (Oct 28, 2020)

I shot a doe at Tuckahoe with whitehot powder and aerolite powerbelt.  It was a complete pass through shoulder shot at 50 yards.  She ran 40-50 yards towards the truck and fell... no need to track but I back-tracked her just to see the blood trail.  Wet  and boggy area but I trailed blood on the grass from where she fell back to impact.  I loaned the same rifle, powder, and bullets to my cousin to hunt Ossabaw Island.  He shot a doe inside of 50 yards the first morning and never found her.  No blood, nothing.  He shot 4 hogs and found 3 of them.  1 of the 3 had the exploded bullet on the opposite side of the shot.  The rest were pass through.


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## buckpasser (Oct 29, 2020)

I’m going a lot on memory, which I don’t have much of, but it seems like years ago the complaints were on the lighter grain PB bullets. I shot the 295, which always performed well in my very limited experience.  I only fired them with 100 grains of powder and it was a gracious plenty for the ranges I hunt.  I’d use them again today.


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## gemihur (Oct 30, 2020)

I love the Powerbelts!
The ease of loading is unsurpassed by all other projectiles and the accuracy is adequate for my needs.
I only use them in one old beater in-line, a Traditions Pursuit, that has put lots of meat in the freezer.
I only buy them from forum individuals as they are extremely overpriced at a retail venue.


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## Sharps4590 (Jan 25, 2021)




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## Sharps4590 (Jan 25, 2021)

Here is a 3 shot group fired with 54 cal powerbelt, Sharps, and 60 grains Pyrodex pellet.  I have successfully taken over 20 deer with them.  I hunt with an Encore, 50 cal Bergara barrel. The longest trail is the deer you see in my photo.  100 yards downhill, with plenty of blood trail.  The rest were not far off.  Most DRT.


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## gemihur (Jan 28, 2021)

They are aerodynamic and explosive on impact, what more could you want?
...maybe an exit hole?
This season's experience was 3 deer down but only one had an exit hole.
All shot with Platinum 270 gr. Powerbelts
A typical 50 caliber projectile shoots through a deer.
I still love 'em!
   They work real good.

... 'nuff said.


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