I have one gun that does great with them and two that don't like them. However, upon further review it could have been the powder I was using because the guns didn't handle Hornady SST until I changed powder also....

I have shot 2 deer with the Powerbelts. 2 antelope with Hornady.

 

My muzzy loves the aerolites, I get very tight groups. I use the lighter bullets. I have killed several deer with them, with no issues.

 

They kill things.



I like the hollowpoints, but the aero are just fine!

 

This question is like what's better...…. Chevy, Ford or Dodge/Ram.


Personally I don't like them and think they are junk. Other hunters swear by them, and wont use anything else. I never could get them to shoot strait, and I'm not an armature at black powder. Been killing critters with a "smoke pole" since 1981.

 

Woops...…… AMITURE :mrgreen:

 

If you push them to fast with some of the newer powders and shoot something close, you'll save on processing time\money as you'll get a good amount of burger
Will they kill? Absolutely, thousands of deer fall to them every year. Are they accurate? I don't know a CVA that doesn't like them, and even some of the TC's with their wonky QLA shoot them good.
I choose not to use them, not cause they don't shoot, but because they are soft and I don't know if my shot is going to be 10 yards or 150 and with 100+gr of BH209 I'm not wanting to play that game.
There are, imo, a lot better options than Powerbelts, but if you're confident behind the bullet and shot placement then that is what matters most.

 

This is my summation: Most people that hunt with a muzzleloader start out using Powerbelts. They work, they shoot well, nothing wrong with them. But for one reason or another, the people that stick with muzzleloading seem to end up going a different direction. I, for one, opted for a differently constructed bullet. I haven't hunted with the ML in a couple years now but my setup was 300gr Hornady XTPs with a black sabot and about 80grs of BH209.

 

The variety and social-media aspects have hit muzzleloading. Same as they hit everything.

Core-lokts were the powerbelts of rifles. They have probably had the most, or close to the most, total kills under their belt for a single bullet type. But now you can go to the store and federal has 8 different 30-06, same with winchester, etc...

You are correct in your assessment though! Lots of people move away from them, even when they haven't failed them before.

 

Everything I have shot with Power-Belts has died. From small whitetails to mature bull elk. Of course I have shot many deer and a moose with a round ball so......

 

I have been shooting Power-Belts for 12 years and still shoot them today. Like has been said before you can not push them too fast. I shoot 100 grains of Pyrodex pellets, and have tried shooting 120 to 150 grains but I lose accuracy. And like Packout, everything that I have shot with them has died. My farthest shot being about 145 yards on a quartering away mule deer, the bullet entered at the last rib and penetrated through the off shoulder becoming lodged in the hide. I know people have experienced loss of bullet weight retention, but I have not had this issue. I have recovered many Power-Belts and they are all in the 85% to 90% weight retention, they do tend to flatten out and become very distorted, but the damage they do is quite impressive.

 

I've tried the "fancy" aerolites and do not like them as much as the regular Powerbelt Aerotip. The Aerotips without exception grouped the best! I'm shooting a CVA Accura with 100gr. Whitehots (2-50gr pellets) and use the regular Powerbelt Aerotip in 295gr weight. I've tried probably a dozen different bullets from 5 different manufacturers. I even tried the loose powder (Blackhorn and Pyrodex) with the aftermarket breech plug especially for loose powder. For me it was a long summer of shooting different combos of powder/bullets until I found the most accurate. When I went above 100gr the pattern opened up at 100 yards and by 300 yards I couldn't hit a 8.5x11 inch piece of paper with any bullet and/or powder. So, save yourself a lot of money with trying different bullets and/or powders. The Blackhorn powder was particularly overrated in my opinion and was dirty. Also, its definitely not as easy as pellets, even with speedloaders. I even went down to the lighter weight Powerbelts and I didn't get as good of a group compared to the 295gr bullet. I'm sure there will be other that want to debate, and I'm not here to do that. Just here to report on what worked best out of a CVA Accura.

 

I had a different experience. I have a CVA Acurra V2and it loves 79 gr by weight of Blackhorn and a Barnes TE-Z. Will shoot MOA out to 300 yards all day with that load. Killed a 6 point bull at 197 yards, one shot through both lungs and stopped under hide on far side. He didn't like that load at all..

 

I f your having accuracy issues with ANY ML projectile, shoot the next grain weight up in that bullet. Some think that speed is the way to go, and try lighter bullet weights to achieve the "speed factor". I shoot 44 cal. 300gr. XTP's from my .50 and they are very deadly.

 

I shoot 44 cal. 300gr. XTP's from my .50 and they are very deadly.

Fricken fantastic bullets... love'em. I use 240s on deer, 300s on elk. BIG holes in, MASSIVE holes going out. Decently cheap to shoot too if you buy them in bulk boxes meant for reloading.

-DallanC

 

So I bought a new CVA Accura V2 and have been trying different loads. I think the load that I will use for hunting is what others have recommended. The BH powder, Hornady XTP 300 with Harvester crush rib sabots. The gun is shooting well!
However my son will be using my old Austin Halleck. The bullet that shoots the best out of this gun is the powerbelts. I have used them and killed deer with them, no problem. But he has drawn a Wasatch Muzzleloader elk tag and I want him to have the best chance at killing a nice bull. So we decided that even though the powerbelts get some bad reviews the gun he will be shooting is way more accurate with the PB's. Not sure if there are others that have the Austin Halleck ML but I have tried a lot of different slugs and nothing comes close to the accuracy of the PB's. Thoughts?

 

i will not shoot another bullet in my winchester ml. my traditions does not like them but my winchester loves them. i shoot the hollow point 348 gr and get very tight groups, 1" at 100 yards. i use 100 gr loose powder and have had great results on two mule deer.

 

Interesting. My Winchester does not agree well with the Powerbelts. I switched this year to the Federal Premium trophy copper. I've only shot at targets so far..but my grouping is better than it ever was with the PB's.

 

I shoot them and my Knight loves them.

 

My Knight likes them as well. Have shot them for years. I use the 348 grain hallow point.
It knocks them on their butt. But, I don't take many shots over 100 yards. Most are 60-80.
Longest was a 30" 4x4 at about 140 yards.
He died...... Knocked him off his feet.

 

I can't get good groups with them at all and haven't used them for 10 years... Terminal ballistics can't compare to solid copper... that said, friend with same ml as mine loves them (but he can't use sabot bullets in Colorado).