Powerbelt Platinum Muzzleloading Bullets

[duckmen1]

Has anybody had any experience with these bullets? Looking at setting up a muzzleloader for elk hunting. What are your past experiences with performance. This gun has shot all lead powerbelt 348 grains with good accuracy but looking for a tougher bullet for elk. And thought about running a similar style bullet to what I have ran in the past with the gun. They advertise it being the best magnum bullet and penetrating bullet they have. Not looking to push more than 100 to 110 grains of pyrodex loose. I had better accuracy with powerbelts then saboted bullets in years past but haven't shot the gun in a few years. I have a Thompson center system 1. I believe it is a 1:38 twist. Open to hearing any past experience with the platinum series and thoughts one might have. I don't wan't to be afraid about performance if an elks shoulder is hit. Thanks for any feedback or any other thoughts one might have for the twist rate. Short on time so don't want to go through the sizing process that sometimes comes with full bore bullets. Thanks for the help

[huntnnw]

looked at the Barnes line?  hard to beat a all copper in a muzzy. Wont fragment and lots of penetration

[Pete112288]

First off I will say I dont have experience with the platinum bullets but I do with the copper ones that are tipped. I shot the 348 grain in mine. Same twist rate with 100 grains loose 777. Shot amazing. Preformed horrible. Flat as a pancake with only 8 inches or so of penetration on a broadside elk with the only bone contact being 1 rib bone. Then following year took 3 shots over several miles of tracking to finally put a smaller cow on the ground.
I switched up to Harvester Hardcast 330 grain. Again same twist rate as your gun. It is in a sabot. I lube the sabot with bore butter. If I do my part off a bench with open peep sights and a 6 o'clock hold I can keep 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards. Shooting 90 grains 777. 3 bulls and 3 deer since. None went more than 20 yards. All complete pass through. Lots of damage too. 2 shots on elk were 135 yards and 155 yards. Then on the third I had a steep quartering away shot that entered behind the last rib on one side and exited through the shoulder on the far side.
They are really cheap too for the amazing performance that I have seen. I buy in bulk from the Harvester website. 50 sabots and 50 bullets with shipping I believe kept me under $30.

[Dan-o]

First off I will say I dont have experience with the platinum bullets but I do with the copper ones that are tipped. I shot the 348 grain in mine. Same twist rate with 100 grains loose 777. Shot amazing. Preformed horrible. Flat as a pancake with only 8 inches or so of penetration on a broadside elk with the only bone contact being 1 rib bone. Then following year took 3 shots over several miles of tracking to finally put a smaller cow on the ground.
I switched up to Harvester Hardcast 330 grain. Again same twist rate as your gun. It is in a sabot. I lube the sabot with bore butter. If I do my part off a bench with open peep sights and a 6 o'clock hold I can keep 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards. Shooting 90 grains 777. 3 bulls and 3 deer since. None went more than 20 yards. All complete pass through. Lots of damage too. 2 shots on elk were 135 yards and 155 yards. Then on the third I had a steep quartering away shot that entered behind the last rib on one side and exited through the shoulder on the far side.
They are really cheap too for the amazing performance that I have seen. I buy in bulk from the Harvester website. 50 sabots and 50 bullets with shipping I believe kept me under $30.

I also shoot the Harvester Hardcast, but I shoot the 400 grain.

Absolutely devastating wound channel on elk.
We've shot 25+ elk with them, and I am a huge fan.

I bought about a million of them (me and 3 sons).

If you want me to ship you 10 on my dime so you can try them, PM me your name/address.

[Twispriver]

My hunting partner and I have both used them and they shoot great out of our Knight Bighorn rifles and we've both killed animals with them with the same results. On both the bear my partner shot and the cow elk I shot the bullets went completely through on broadside shots with what appeared from the exit holes to be very little, if any expansion. Lots of internal damage and no fragments found during butchering. Neither shot impacted large bones and both animals died quickly so there were no blood trails.

[duckmen1]

Thanks for the help guys. I have thought about harvester hard cast in the past in other guns but never considered it with the twist rate in this gun. But after hearing what you are saying I may have to go this route. I do like what I have heard about these bullets in the past and now what I am hearing from you guys, and I do have to say the price is amazing. I feel more confident in a hard cast bullet that will penetrate on an elks shoulder.

I appreciate the offer Dan-o. I think I will go ahead and place an order on harvester site and try my luck. Hopefully shipping will be relatively quick with season coming up. Need to get some range time in.

I will say in the past I would have probably went  with the 400s for me but due to some circumstances I think I will go with 330s to try to reduce some recoil. This will be shot with a smaller framed shooter for the upcoming elk season.

I will keep you posted on range results of how they group.

If I can't get the harvester bullets to group I may try the Platinum bullets. With past experience I would never consider any other bullet from powerbelts for elk.

[duckmen1]

When buying the 330 gr harvester hardcast in bulk looks like the .451/.452 harvester crush ribbed sabots in bulk are the way to go, over the other sabots listed. That's what they use in their pre packaged boxes of 20. 

Just ordered bulk 2 packs of 50 for 300gr hardcast and crush rib sabots. And being time crunched did faster shipping which hurt a bit but worth it.

[Pete112288]

I dont know what the faster shipping runs but I did have an issue last time I ordered from Harvester. They over charged me on shipping. I just assumed they had hiked the cost for one reason or another. But I got a call within 24 hours of placing my order from them. They caught the issue and said they could refund the excess charge but also offered instead to include extra products of the same that I ordered. I opted for that. They included enough extra rounds and sabots that if you broke down the cost it gave me a little more product than the overcharge would have bought. Amazing customer service. The guy I talked to seemed to be all about the customer. Like it should be.

[duckmen1]

Bullets arrived today. There customer service did amazing and they did an added bonus for me as well with a note to go with it. Very fast shipping. Very happy with harvester company. Can't wait to see how they shoot.

[Dan-o]

Bullets arrived today. There customer service did amazing and they did an added bonus for me as well with a note to go with it. Very fast shipping. Very happy with harvester company. Can't wait to see how they shoot.

I hope they shoot good for you.

They leave an unbelievably devastating wound channel on an elk.

[duckmen1]

Update on the Harvester hard cast bullets. So to tell the story a little about how this went. The shooter is brand new to muzzleloading and I was using my gun to introduce him to muzzleloading for his first potential season with a muzzleloader. So many variables to how this range session could have played out. Taught him a lot about the basics of muzzleloading as well as the 6 oclock hold with an open site peep system. Starting out at 25 yards and working our way out to 130 yards. Didn't know how the load would perform or how the shooter would shoot while testing the load. Let's just say this load did awesome. At 100 yards he was grouping about 2.5 inches and at 130 yards he was grouping right at 3 inches and the gun was just about perfect sighted in with minimal adjustment. He was even practicing offhand at 50 yards after the bench session putting shots within 2 inches of each other. He can flat out shoot and so can the load. He is shooting much better than others I have watched shoot in the past! Thanks for the recommendations. Confidence is high for him and I also have a new load the gun loves. Super excited on how this turned out and it is thanks to you guys and your recommendations to go with a bullet that I had high confidence in performance but was hesitant due to twist rate of gun. Ended up twist rate did not play a negative factor here though.

Current load
330 grain harvester hard cast lead
Crush rib sabots
100 grains pyrodex RS loose powder
German musket caps

[TikkaT3-270Shortmag]

I've killed 3 bulls in a row with the Powerbelt platinum 270 grain.

[blackpowderhunter]

so many people overlook the harvester hard cast... love them, they pack a PUNCH.

[duckmen1]

Update about performance of hard cast bullet performance.

100 Grain Pyrodex RS Loose
German Musket Caps
330 Gr Harvester Hard Cast lead

TC system 1 50 cal muzzy

4x4 bull elk at 105 yards quartered away. Entered perfect center height. A few ribs back from shoulder. Exited front of far shoulder. Double lung shot. Complete pass through. Perfect shot placement. Only made it a few yards and fell over in sight. Blood trail for the 10 yards was amazing. Penetration of the bullet and  wound channel was awesome. Chest cavity trauma and blood loss in cavity was awesome. Probably the best performance on elk with a muzzy that I have seen. Super impressed. Thanks for the recommendations by fellow Hunt wa members to try these out. 

[blackpowderhunter]

glad to hear.
my buddy had similar results on his spike with the 330 grain this past week