black powder

[Elkanddeer98]

What is the best 50 cal bullet? I have been shooting power belt platinums in a 270 grain out of my CVA accura But have heard bad reviews about them. I am also using 100 grain pyrodex powder. What is your opinion on this bullet and which will fly best, expand, and penetrate.

 

[txhunter58]

That is like asking what is the best car to drive! Highway miles or off road? Snow or ice? Same type of questions apply for what bullet: What animal do you want to hunt and at what range. Sabots allowed? Scopes allowed?

My take on the powerbelts for a conical is that they usually shoot great, but can come apart on game. That said, if you are hunting small/medium deer, you might be all right with that load. For a mule deer I would want something in the 300 gr range in that bullet. For elk, 350 minimum and 400 is better with powerbelts. They are also expesive.

I am leaving today to hunt for elk in Colorado. My load is 90 gr of fffg 777 powder and a 350 gr Hornady FPB bullet. It is a lead alloy (harder than powerbelts) so it stays together better when it hits something

Your powder (pyrodex) is fine, but as to bullets, it depends on what you want from them. I never shoot sabots, but the conicals I like are the FPBs, no excuses, bullshop bullets, hornady great plains. In the past I used the 405 gr aerotip powerbelts for elk, but feel like the others do some better and usually at a lower price.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[Elkanddeer98]

I am hunting deer but I have a cow elk tag too. I have a 1x scope and out to 150 ish

 

[txhunter58]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-11-13 AT 01:10PM (MST)[p]If you want to stick with powerbelts, I would use the 338 platinum for deer and a cow elk. Has a smaller hollowpoint, so it takes more to open up/fragment them. However, I would not push any powerbelt with more than the 100 gr of powder you are using.

The CVA barrel may be too tight to use the FPB on.

The Barnes sabot in 290 gr gets rave reviews too.

As I said, the pyrodex is a great powder and usually accurate. If you have enough time, you might want to explore using Blackhorn 209 powder. Could drop your charge to 90 gr and get the same power, but don't have to swab between shots and it is less corresive. I have shot up to 30 time in one session without swabbing once with this powder. I never went to bed without cleaning my gun after shooting with pyrodex, but have gone a couple of weeks with BH 209.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[Anaconda]

This question has been asked several times lately, I'll give you a detailed breakdown of all the answers given;

Best Bullets;


#1 Barns

#2 Barns

#3 Barns

Best powder;

#1 BH 209

#2 Bh 209

#3, you get the idea

 

[jarheadhunter]

You know I had the same problem. I kept hearing this guy had this happen or this happened to so and so. Very few people I talked to actually had any experience with Powerbelts. I do have a few of my close hunting buddies that have used powerbelts for years and have never had a problem due to the bullet. It would be shot placement that is the main factor.

I am not saying that they might have a failure every now and then. The reason you probably hear more about powerbelts is that they are prob shot 10 to 1 over any other muzzy bullet maybe more. They are accurate, cheap and load great.

I went out and bought a box of Thor bullets after hearing bad things and they are currently for sale with 4 missing from the box of 50 in the classifieds right now. The first one would load great. The second I had to get a rock and pound it down the barrel. Not what I want to do when I am hunting. I am going to be taking my chances with the Powerbelts on my muzzy deer hunt this year. I might be able to go down to the smallest size of Thor bullets and the second one might load great. As for now I don't have the time to order them and get them before the hunt and sight my muzzy in again.

 

[jarheadhunter]

>This question has been asked several
>times lately, I'll give you
>a detailed breakdown of all
>the answers given;
>
>Best Bullets;
>
>
>#1 Barns
>
>#2 Barns
>
>#3 Barns
>
>Best powder;
>
>#1 BH 209
>
>#2 Bh 209
>
>#3, you get the idea



Do you mean Barnes?

 

[dang302]

I shot a white-tail buck in the neck with a 295 grain powerbelt and it completely exploded (tiny pieces of lead and copper everywhere) and no part of it exitted. (I know poor shot on my part) The heaviest piece of lead that I found while butchering was just under 90 grains.

I definaly think they are not very tough. If I was only going to hunt white-tails, then it would be sufficient. But I would worry that it may not provide the necessary penetration to kill an elk humanely.

 

[tailchasers]

I shoot the FPB out of my CVA's and they do well, an Elite and Wolf. One with 90 grains BH209 and the other with 100 grains BH209. Open sites at 100 yards I achieve 3 inch groups. This is acceptable to me. Have tried the powerbelts and they shoot good too but after reading reviews about them exploding on game I lost confidence in them. Besides with the harder alloy of the FPB if I want to push them harder I know I can without risking the bullets integrity. That's also if my shoulder can handle the heavier load as a 100 grains of BH209 gets a bit stout.

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

 

[BillyBoB]

First and foremost, find one that your gun likes. (consistently shoots accurately). without accuracy it won't matter. Try a few different sabots and see which one performs best out of the gun. But my experience has been that Barnes TMZ 250 grains shoots best out of my CVA accura V2 with 2 50 grain pellets of triple 7.

I tried the Barnes 250 grain MZ hollow point sabot and it wasn't performing the best. The Hornady 250 grain worked well but the TMZ by Barnes was the best. (My bullet holes were touching at 100 yards)

You just gotta try a few different types out.
Good luck











Theodore Roosevelt's guidance concerning
conservation...
"The movement for the conservation of wildlife,
and the conservation of all our natural resources,
are essentially democratic in spirit,purpose and
method."

"We do not intend that our natural resources shall
be exploited by the few against the interests of the
majority. Our aim is to preserve our natural
resources for the public as a whole, for the
average man and the average woman who make
up the body of the American people."

"It is in our power...to preserve game..and to give
reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the
skill of the hunter,whether he is or is not a man of
means."

 

[alp75]

I agree it will be best to try a few different bullets. It is hard to go wrong with BH209 powder. It is clean and non corrosive and I have shot around 30 shots with it without ever having to swab the barrel. If you can get a bullet to group as good or better than the power belts I sure would go that route rather than risk a bullet coming apart and not being as effective. If you stick with power belts keep the weight up Personally, on my triumph I have sub 1.5" groups at 100 yards with 110 grains of bh209 and a 245 grain barnes spitfire. I just bought a accura and will be testing a few loads over the next couple weeks before I settle. The point is spend some time testing a few different bullet combos and ultimately go for the most accurate well constructed bullet possible. Power belts are really, really low on my list given the above criteria.