Best deal on powerbelts?

[shorthair-on-point]

My hunting buddies and myself are doing a lot of shooting this summer. We all have, or are getting new guns. Where is the best deal on .50 cal powerbelt bullets?

[Blsum]

personally I don't like the powerbelt bullets. They don't shoot for crap out of my gun's. I tried the 290 grn lead. I've heard the heavier bullets shoot better but I've never liked them. Why go cheap on the most important piece of the puzzle. I'm switching to the Barnes tmz this year. Shoot great, but aren't the cheapest. I've also shot a lot of different types of bullets out of my guns. The ones that I liked the best are the Barnes, and the Dead center. The Hornady sst bullet's shot great but I wasn't to impressed with them after testing on milk jugs. They just kind of feel apart. Go big or go home

[carpsniperg2]

  thats funny same thing as me i love the dead centers but switched to the tmzs last year and i feel the same way about the power belts i have shot them and did not like them at all for group/bullet preformance

[Blsum]

One thing I've heard about the power belts is the only part that touches the barrel is the little plastic piece on the back.  I've heard of people carrying there rifle around and bumping it a little causing the bullet to come loose and shimmy down the barrel.  This hasn't happened to me personally as I've never hunted with them. Like I said before. Don't go cheap on the most important part of the whole equation. Bullet performance is key. I will see if I can post some pictures of three bullets I've tested on milk jugs.

[Blsum]

300 grn Hornady sst. accuracy was great. The two guys i hunt with both killed deer with them but as you can see the bullet kind of just cane apart.



290(?) grn Dead center. I think these bullets are great. They have good accuracy. I recovered a bullet from the bull I killed a few years ago. looks almost identical to this one. Good mushroom. If we couldn't shoot copper bullets I would still be using these



290 grn Barnes tmz. Accuracy is good. And as you can see they mushroom great and hold all of there original weight. I can't wait to try these out on an animal this year. I've seen some video and they look devastating.



All of the bullets where tested using my T/C Black Diamond. 100 yards 777 loose, German musket caps. If I remember right I might of posted the video's I took. You should be able to find them in the muzzy section. Penetration was virtually the same on all three bullets.

[Dirty Mike]

No such thing as a good deal on powerbelts 

[shorthair-on-point]

I hunt with Barnes tmz. I start shooting those right before hunting season to get dialed in. Barnes tmz aren't cheap and I shoot all summer. The powerbelts are cheaper for the range.

[benhuntin]

Orting at big J's has good deals not sure on the number but they would be a good place to call

[carpsniperg2]

great picks blsum i did the same thing but i shoot 125grains and they looked twin i might switch back to my dead centers i liked the tmz's last year they shot good and have great killing power. i shot my biggest deer at 85 yards threw both shoulders and just rolled him my 340 dead center still had 80% weight retension going threw a lot of bone i do not like to shoulder shoot unless it is the shoulder on the other side. but sometimes that is were the bullet goes and i am wondering as much as the barnes expands how well it will work on getting threw that bigger bone. i just deer hunt with mine but on a elk i don't know i know they smashed the deer me and my family shot with them this last year

[ML_Hunter]

One thing I've heard about the power belts is the only part that touches the barrel is the little plastic piece on the back.  I've heard of people carrying there rifle around and bumping it a little causing the bullet to come loose and shimmy down the barrel.  This hasn't happened to me personally as I've never hunted with them. Like I said before. Don't go cheap on the most important part of the whole equation. Bullet performance is key. I will see if I can post some pictures of three bullets I've tested on milk jugs.

This did happen to me!!  I was using .54 275 grains in my traditional rifle.  I took a shot at a deer one day the the load didn't go off, I capped again and pulled the trigger same.  At the point the deer was long gone so I got by bullet pulling jag and went to work.  When I did this i noticed that my ram rod only went half way down the barrel before stopping.  I took the jag off and same, So I pushed the bullet to seat, capped, pulled trigger and bang!

The bullet shimmied up the barrel and my powder must have moved with it, and I'm glad it did for if the load did go off no telling what may have happened!    To late to change bullets right, later in the week it started raining and raining.  I pulled up on an Elk and pulled the trigger, cap went off and nothing happened.  Thinking it was the same thing I tried pushing the bullet down but it was already seated.  After a half hour of frustration I went for the bullet pulling jag, pulled the bullet and discovered that yes, i did poor powder down the bore, but it was all soaked!!  Even with duct tape over the muzzle my powder got wet and I spent time trying to get clumps of powder out of my bore.  This after a busted 40 minuet stalk to get within range of the elk. 

The following season I went a field with a new muzzle loading rifle and have never went back to those powerbelt bullets
and i don't recommend the bullets to anyone!!

That said, I did kill three deer and one elk with that bullet and 95 grains of pyrodex powder.

[Gobble]

personally I don't like the powerbelt bullets. They don't shoot for crap out of my gun's. I tried the 290 grn lead. I've heard the heavier bullets shoot better but I've never liked them. Why go cheap on the most important piece of the puzzle. I'm switching to the Barnes tmz this year. Shoot great, but aren't the cheapest. I've also shot a lot of different types of bullets out of my guns. The ones that I liked the best are the Barnes, and the Dead center. The Hornady sst bullet's shot great but I wasn't to impressed with them after testing on milk jugs. They just kind of feel apart. Go big or go home

I beleive they cost my a couple nice 5x5's on my Late Alta hunt last year.

I had hunted for 10 years with the ML up until I took up Bow in the early 90's. I had always used Hornady great plains bullets with great sucess. I switched over to the power belts last year when I drew the Multi season deer tag AND the Late season ML Alta tag. I was able to hold a OK pattern in my late summer range testing up so I decided to go with the powerbelts. I tested out to 100 yrds. When it came to hunting the cold frozen Nov hunt I beleive that something changed and my gun could'nt hit the broad side of a barn  . Missed 2 nice 5x5's that were at least 170in Never again. I ended up eating my tag 

[Blsum]

personally I don't like the powerbelt bullets. They don't shoot for crap out of my gun's. I tried the 290 grn lead. I've heard the heavier bullets shoot better but I've never liked them. Why go cheap on the most important piece of the puzzle. I'm switching to the Barnes tmz this year. Shoot great, but aren't the cheapest. I've also shot a lot of different types of bullets out of my guns. The ones that I liked the best are the Barnes, and the Dead center. The Hornady sst bullet's shot great but I wasn't to impressed with them after testing on milk jugs. They just kind of feel apart. Go big or go home

I beleive they cost my a couple nice 5x5's on my Late Alta hunt last year.

I had hunted for 10 years with the ML up until I took up Bow in the early 90's. I had always used Hornady great plains bullets with great sucess. I switched over to the power belts last year when I drew the Multi season deer tag AND the Late season ML Alta tag. I was able to hold a OK pattern in my late summer range testing up so I decided to go with the powerbelts. I tested out to 100 yrds. When it came to hunting the cold frozen Nov hunt I beleive that something changed and my gun could'nt hit the broad side of a barn  . Missed 2 nice 5x5's that were at least 170in Never again. I ended up eating my tag 

Hey Gobble I drew that same tag this year. I'm so stoked  Here is my theory with the bullets. Yes they do cost more. But when it comes down to it. Why go cheap on the most important part of the hunt. You've spent all this other time, money and energy to get you to this point. Now you leave it up to some cheap a$$ bullet. No thanks. I would rather spend a little extra money on good bullets then have some problem with them not preforming and not getting my animal. Sounds like you had issuse with the power belts on your late hunt. I'm taking my barnes bullets with me.

[Machias]

I've had just the opposite results with powerbelts.  They are tack drivers and they make full contact with my .50 and .54 cal's barrels.  The bullets will not slide down the barrel...at least not on mine and they have whacked a couple of cow elk and two deer.  Great penetration and held together well.  I love the way they shoot out of my guns.   

[stumprat]

I've had just the opposite results with powerbelts.  They are tack drivers and they make full contact with my .50 and .54 cal's barrels.  The bullets will not slide down the barrel...at least not on mine and they have whacked a couple of cow elk and two deer.  Great penetration and held together well.  I love the way they shoot out of my guns.   

 

For those of you having accuracy problems with them. How much powder are you using?

[ML_Hunter]

For those of you having accuracy problems with them. How much powder are you using?
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I had good accuracy with mine in my Tridiional rifle, just had issues with the bullet moving up the barrel.  I was using 90 grains of pyrodex with a 295 grain lead bullet in a .54