LAST EDITED ON Jun-05-15 AT 09:44AM (MST)[p]Some reviews from those who have shot game, and not dirt. I don't turn a blind eye to bullet reviews. If they don't perform for others it goes on my "don't use" list. They remind me of Powerbelts. If the fps on impact is perfect they work. Not interested. I want a bullet that will expand at all fps, and penetrate. There's better choices than the Feds.
Read.
They do load easy and shoot straight, but you can't kill anything with them. Shot moose in shoulder, missing the bone...bullet only went in a couple inches came apart and stopped. That's with three 50 grain triple pellets @ 100 yards. It never made it to the engine room. Similar shot with a Barnes bullet, blow up main should bone, two ribs on each side and stopped in the skin after passing through other shoulder. HUGE difference. Too bad, I had high hopes.
I was hoping this was going to be the muzzleloader round that was going to be my go-to bullet. Not so much.
First, let me say I shot two deer with this bullet this weekend and I recovered both of them. The bullet did do this but it still didn't perform as well as I hoped.
The first deer was a doe at 15 yards. I pulled the shot a bit, and hit her high. I hit the meat above the shoulder and she dropped immediately but did not die. I had hit her spine and the bullet did not pass thru. The bullet lodged or disintegrated in the spinal cord and I was unable to recover it. I'll take the blame for this not being a clean kill, it was a bad shot and I'm glad I was able to dispatch the doe and recover her. I was surprised that the bullet did not pass thru the deer.
The 2nd deer was that afternoon when a nice 7 point buck turned broadside at 7 yards and gave me a clean shot. The shot was good and I hit him behind the shoulder. He ran about 35 yards and then dropped and kicked for a few seconds before expiring. Again the bullet did not pass thru the deer. There was almost no blood trail to where the deer was laying. After cleaning the deer, I was able to see that the bullet had hit a rib upon entering the deer, traveled thru both lungs and then became lodged behind the opposite shoulder. The problem was that there was no bullet deformation or expansion, AT ALL. The plastic tip had come off and the cavity was filled with muscle/ bone but the bullet had not mushroomed. This was very disappointing to me. I felt lucky that the bullet had killed the deer so quickly and that the deer had not run further without a blood trail.
The bullets are easy to load, however it concerns me how little recoil there is with this bullet. It seems like the bullet might actually be too small for the .50 caliber bore.
I shot these deer with my CVA Optima .50 cal with (2) 50 grain Pyrodex pellets.