Blood or no Blood

[LouiesMusket]

Has anybody hunted elk with powerbelts? What was there experiance? I have heard a lot of mixed feelings about these bullets.

 

[coyoteslayer]

I know that a deer my boy hit in the lungs took 1/2 hour before he expired, and a cow elk took 4 shots to get her down, but non of those shots were perfect hits.

 

[huntingjlc]

My dad shot a 6 point on an any bull unit in 2006 with them. It took 5 steps and fell over.

 

[LouiesMusket]

Sweet. What size did he use. Right now I have been using the 295 aero tips but they say I should get heavier.

 

[heartshot]

My bull went 30 yards before falling over with 295 powerbelt hollow point. I tried a heavier powerbelt at the range but my accuracy suffered so I ended up choosing the 295 accruacy over a heavier bullet.

(gun 50cal knight bighorn, 209 primer)

 

[LouiesMusket]

Sweet. That makes me feel better about my bullets. I got my gun shooting perfect with the 295 powerbelts but trying to decide if I should go bigger. How far was your shot?

 

[utahbigbull]

Heard too many bad things about them. I know they have taken a lot of elk but have heard a lot of failures with them as well. Everything I have studied on them indicates if you get too fast of velocities on them, they shrapnel. Lower velocities are ok. I am shooting a Hornady 325 grain FTX in a harvester crush rib sabot on top of 115 gr. of blackhorn 209 out of my Triumph. I did the milk jug test at 100 yards and after retrieving the slug, I knew that is what I will be using for my limited entry elk tag this year!

 

[huntingjlc]

My dads bull was 247 yards. He also used the 295's. He shot about 200 rounds at different yardages before the hunt and knew where it was hitting. The bullet mushroomed really nice and we weighed it after and it still weighed over 285 grains.

 

[ducksbucksandbulls]

+1 295 HP power belts... Last bull I shot in Az went just over the tank dam and died in the trail.

 

[longshooter338]

10-4 on the powerbelts my dad shot his six point with my gun with 270 gr platinum power belts and then with his 295 gr copper power belt the bullets were 3 inches apart the bull was so hot he never even knew he had been hit 106 yard shots the bull never took a step just lowered his head leaned foreward then tipped over thats all we use deer and elk .

 

[Shagnasty]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-15-10 AT 07:39AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Sep-15-10 AT 07:39?AM (MST)

We have had very poor results with them. I even shot a few last week just to get rid of the last 50 I still have. I shot a 1/4'' steel plate @ 100 yards and it barely dents it. I shoot Shockwaves and they dent it about 3/16 out the backside. (both 250gr)

I wouldn't hunt with them if they were free. We have lost 4 elk in our group with them and everyone is done. They load easy and shoot straight, but thats about it.

(I have killed 2 elk with the shockwaves now and neither elk went more than 5 feet)

I'll look for some of my bullet test pictures and report back.

my 2?

Powerbelt

Barnes

You be the judge.

 

[ELKHUNTER66]

i would not give 2 cents for a powerbelt my brother shot a 6 point bull 7 times and i still ended up cuttting its throat to finish him off and he has shot two cow elk and each of of them took 4-5 shots so i would stay away from them the one we retreived was still in perfect shape never mushroomed at all go with the thors or the hornady fbp

 

[F350]

My wife killed her buck last year with a 295gr areo tip powerbelt last year. He dropped in his tracks didnt even have a dying quiver! Love them super accurate. Slug held together very well mushroomed like its supposed to. Good Luck.

 

[huntnrich]

I say bull too those that don't like powerbelts. I've used them for years. Killed big elk, deer, and others. I've never seen a better bullet.

 

[nm_alazan]

I agree that there are better constructed and higher performance bullets out there. But for the ease of loading and good accuracy I get out of my gun, I still like the powerbelts. Last year, my dad and I drew muzzleloader elk and I was also concerned about the reported softness and fragmentation of the powerbelts. My best resolution to that was to use the 444 gr flatnose w/ 100 gr of pyrodex. I didn't take any shots, but my dad got to try the setup out on his bull. The first shot was about 110 yds and the bullet entered near the left kidney and traveled forward and was stuck underneath the skin between his front shoulders above the brisket. This bullet had nearly no deformation, but had excellent penetration (probably 36" at least). A follow up shot was needed to put the bull out for good due to the first shot's placement and angle. The follow up shot was from a couple of yards and straight into the chest as the bull lay on his side. This bullet was found just under the skin between the shoulder blades (went through ribs and through the spine) and was significantly mushroomed and had about 85% wt retention. What this demonstrated to me by this was that the heavy 444 gr bullet will likely expand very little at normal shooting ranges, but will definitely hold together and penetrate well. The point blank follow up shot was an extreme example for this bullet, but shows that at higher velocities, fragmentation will occur on even the heaviest powerbelt bullet, but not enough that a kill will be sacrificed IMO. However, having seen how the second bullet perfomed, I would not use anything much lighter. Possibly the 348 gr aero tip would be okay most of the time if you don't push it too fast, but I am still sticking w/ the 444 gr which is a beast of a bullet. My two cents...

 

[Silentstalker]

Powerbelts did a great job on my wife's 5 point bull a few years ago. Shot it with a 338 platinum with 90 grains of Powder.

You can NOT shoot them at high velocities and expect them to perform well. 90-100 grains of powder and they do a great job IMO.

I have had great results from the Barnes too. They are an incredible bullet just harder to load.