Poerbelt bullet for elk

[Rooster52]

I plan on shooting 348 grain Powerbelt Areo tip for my elk hunt in Colorado on top of 95 grains of Blackhorn 209 powder. Have tried some of the other bullets that are legal in Colorado but accuracy just does not compare to the Powerbelt.Where I hunt 60-70 yards will be a long shot as thick timber limits your vision.
Powerbelt bullets gets some bad reviews but we have had good success with them.

 

[JohnCushman]

Everything I've shot with Powerbelts have died. They aren't made to penetrate and crush bone, so I don't recommend high shoulder shots, but put one through the lungs (ribs break easily) or heart and you should be good. I shoot 295 grain copper plated hollow points and they have killed mule and whitetail deer and antelope just fine with them.

 

[Muskeez]

Which gun are you launching them from? Both my friend and I have shot the original powerbelts 5+ years ago from our TC Omega and TC Triumph and had poor accuracy with them. In a couple years we will likely have points for a ML hunt and have just begun searching for a legal bullet (no sabot) that will shoot well from our guns.

 

[Rooster52]

CVA Optima V2. Great accuracy. The 295 shoots the best. The 348 is almost as accurate. Either would do the job.

 

[JohnCushman]

I shoot a CVA Accura, and TC Omega (scoped) and my wife shoots a CVA Wolf and the 295 grain Powerbelts all shoot well out of our rifles. My 2 rifles I had to play with loads a bit because they will both take 150 grains and I am of the school of big guns and big booms because I'm a big dude, but when it came down to it, I got the best accuracy with 100 grains of powder (Hogden's Triple 7). I'm going to re-zero my TC in at 150 yards, so I might see about bumping the powder charge up to maybe 120 grains and see what that does since they lose so much energy past 100 yards with 100 grains.

 

[elkantlers]

Another bullet to look at is Hornady's FPB. I shoot the 50 caliber 350gr FBP. I have shot them for about 8 years and have had real good success with them. They shoot very well out of my Knight MK85 and my sons TC Omega. We have killed several elk with them and they work great. I have yet to recover a bullet and we have shot elk out to 125 yards.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I plan on shooting 348 grain Powerbelt Areo tip for my elk hunt in Colorado on top of 95 grains of Blackhorn 209 powder. Have tried some of the other bullets that are legal in Colorado but accuracy just does not compare to the Powerbelt.Where I hunt 60-70 yards will be a long shot as thick timber limits your vision.
Powerbelt bullets gets some bad reviews but we have had good success with them.

Excellent Choice. I shoot a 348 gr powerbelt behind 90 gr of Blackhorn 209 as well. I get 3-4 in groups at 100 yrds with fixed sights. Also, do this. It helped my groups alot:
http://www.gohunt.com/read/skills/increased-accuracy-from-an-open-sight-muzzleloader

 

[10Dogs]

+1 for Blackhorn 209 powder
My results at 90 grains with the Aero tip Power belts and the hollow points 325 and 295 grains respectively were usually a dead deer but never broke the off side hide and a couple runners.
The jackets are very thin but again usually a very dead deer.
Most if not all shots have been under 40 yards but none on Elk sized game so your results may vary.
My endorsement here is for the Blackhorn 209 which allowed me to get out of the business of using water based solvents and Bore Butter / magic potions and Hokus Pokus sold to alleviate the traditional powder issues affected by gun oil and lubes.
I now use Rem Oil and Hoppes Copper Solvent or #9 cleaner.
When I got away from using Pyrodex Pellets and Triple 7 products .... I was able to remove the crud ring that would develop at the point of contact where the pellets met the sabot and went boom.
I had personally broken 2 ram rods trying to load shots 4 or 5 at the range.
To the original poster = Best of luck on your hunt ....I wish I were you.

10Dogs

 

[BBwheelgunner]

I Really like Blackhorn 209 powder.

I know a lot of people do or did like the Power Belts, but I am no longer one of them.

to be fair, I got a dead deer out of it, but when I shot a small buck at 20-30 yards with a 295gr Power Belt, it did not exit, and I found the bullet... it weighed 40 grains! wasn't a very big buck either. That is a lot of lead disintegrating in the critter. Never really got the accuracy I wanted either.

After that I switched to Barnes, and if I had to shoot a full diameter bullet, I would check out these: https://thorbullets.com/Home_Page.html
especially if I were hunting bigger critters like an elk. I put too much time and effort into my hunts to gamble with my bullet choice. Just my opinion made from my own experiences/ observations.

 

[Rooster52]

I found some 338 Platitnum Powerbelts in my ammo cabinet. Never shot them before .Have to try them and see how they shoot.

 

[fwagner]

No excuses

I use a 460 grain conical bullet from "no excuses". They are killers! I use a CVA V2 optima with 80 grains of BH 209 with a CCI magnum primer. The bullets group really well and every bullet I have dug out has retained their weight. http://www.muzzleloading-bullets.com/index.htm

 

[Rooster52]

Anyone have any experience with the Powerbelt Platinum bullets ?

 

[BBwheelgunner]

never used the platinums before

 

[NoWiser]

I shot 1 deer with a platinum power belt and I will never use one again. I hit it right through the middle of the heart. It never expanded and there was zero blood trail. Hardly a large sample size, but enough for me to look into other options.

 

[windymtnman]

I bought some powerbelt bullets to shoot out of my CVA rifle. Using a lead sled, I couldn't get a tight pattern at 100 yards. I was all over the map. I know a blackpowder rifle has some variations due to the powder loads and other factors, however I feel that shooting from a lead sled should make up for a lot of the differences, and give me a decent group. I walked away figuring my effective maximum range was 80 yards. These days, some are shooting Elk at 3 times that distance with muzzleloaders.
I like the concept of them with the plastic wad base, but convenience isn't worth a loss in accuracy.

 

[dk17hmr]

I used 295gr aero tips last year for antelope, they are really accurate in my rifle with 120gr of RS. I killed an antelope buck right in at 100 yards he ran 50 yards and tipped over. That said I won't be using them this year.

For starters after my first day hunting, when I got back home I was carrying my gear back in the house/ garage, muzzle down the plated bullet fell out on my driveway. The bullet seperated from the cup and slid out of the barrel leaving the powder and green cup in the barrel. I took my remaining bullets and super glued the cups on so that wouldn't happen again.

After I shot my buck I knew where he went because of the dust cloud when he plowed head first into the dirt but I still went to the blood trail. Which was rather disappointing. If I hadn't seen where the buck went down it would have been a stressful afternoon doing circles and following footprints in the dust. The exit hole wasn't any larger than the entrance, I didn't open the chest cavity so I don't know how internal damage was, other than that I guess it did kill him just fine.

Antelope aren't as dense as elk so maybe they will work better on elk.