Elk bullets at the range

I see my other thread got locked so thanks for that. :yeah:

here are the results of the No Excuses from my Knight Bighorn and my sons Encore.

2.5" group at 100 yards from my Bighorn
18" group at 100 yards from my son's Encore.
But he bought some 300 grain Power Belt Platinum bullets and those shot very good for him giving 1.5" Groups at 100 yards.
100 Grains of 777 was the only load shot today from both guns.I am sure the No Excuses can do better if I spend some time with them but I think I can live with a 2.5" Group for hunting elk

Glad I could help on those Powerbelt Platinums. I had a similar problem with the No Excuses in my Omega. They were acceptable until around 75 yards, then went haywire out to 100.

jcb - did you get my PM?

No PM from you...please try again

18" group from an encore...imagine that? At least now you know what the problem is...

Have you or your son ever shot an animal with a powerbelt? I wish you good luck an good hunting!

The Bighorn will serve you well. Hard to shoot much farther with open sights anyway.

No we have never used Power Belts,I have always heard they were a very poor bullet on game but the Platinum's are a step up from the regular ones.My son shot one through a 2x6 and then into a pail of sand today and the it mushroomed out very nice and held together like it should.

Its to bad we cannot just use a sabot and bullet out there in Colorado and we both would be shooting Barnes Expanders but we cant

I am also going to try the 338 gr. Powerbelt Platinum.

I would try the 350 gr fpb one more time..

If the 300gr Powerbelt shot good, and you were going to use the 460gr NoExcuses. Why not the 444gr Powerbelt? It's a better choice for a bull elk than the 300gr.

Muley Hunter said:

If the 300gr Powerbelt shot good, and you were going to use the 460gr NoExcuses. Why not the 444gr Powerbelt? It's a better choice for a bull elk than the 300gr.

Click to expand...

Makes a lot of sense to me.

Personally, I'd cut the QLA off and use the 460 NE's.

WV Hunter said:

Personally, I'd cut the QLA off and use the 460 NE's.

Click to expand...

:yeah: what Mike said...

jcb, personally, before cutting the QLA, (which will or possible will reduce the value of the rifle and the warranty) I would suggest you try some MMP sub-bridges under the bullet. I honestly do not know if it will work for you, but others have tried and have had success.

If you decide to go with the Power Belts, I would suggest the 348 grain minimum for Elk. There PB's have been known to break up/explode on tough targets. Another way to insure a better success is not to shoot them at higher velocities. For myself if I were going to use them I would suggest 100 grains of T7 or an equivalent load max. With the 348 shooting 80-90 should be all that you need especially using open sights.

Just throwing this out there also another really good source of lead conical bullets is Bull Shop. The advantage of Dan's bullets he can size the bullet to your bore. With the correct size you can push the bullet into the bore with your thumb. I have used his .503x460 gr. bullet very successfully for years.

jcb - try loading just a conical down your son's bore (without any powder) with your normal tamping/seating pressure. Then remove the breech plug and push the conical back up and out of the bore and see what the nose looks like.

Years ago, I shot my big 9 point with a .54 cal Renegade using a Hornady conical and nailed it at 105 yards. I couldn't find the bullet hole until a couple days later and it had hit him in the back of the head since he was looking away. I could never figure out how the bullet 18" high and 18" to the left. I continued hunting the remainder of the season and at the end, I decided to "pull" the bullet instead of shooting it. I found that the nose on that Hornady had been mushed over rather severely - I realized then how the bullet had hit 18" high and to the left.

To solve that. I bought a 1/2" wooden dowel, added a handle, and used the flat end of the dowel to seat the bullets - never had an issue with flyers after that. Good luck.

The 338 Platinum Powerbelt I recommended early-on in the locked thread is enough for elk. I also recall suggesting you try the 385 Hornady Great Plains bullet. In my opinion, it's a better option than T/C Maxis in your Omega.

We don't have many gun shops around here. We have fewer that sell any muzzleloader supplies. The ones that do generally stock just Powerbelts. I mention this, because the PB's are used a lot around here.

I have one good friend who hunts with a muzzleloader. He hunts for bull elk, or he doesn't hunt. He has gotten 10 bulls in the last 12 hunts. He uses the 444gr Powerbelt. All the elk were clean kills, and pass throughs. A couple of the shots busted up a shoulder. He calls me to help him get the meat out, so i've witnessed the kills. No lead was found anywhere in the animal, so i'll assume they never broke up. Comparing the entrance, and exit hole i'd say they expanded as they should.

A lighter Powerbelt may work, or it may fail. Your odds of success are with the 444gr. Lots of hitting power. Why use a lighter bullet on such a big animal? They cost less than the Platinums, and work better.

Powerbelts get a well deserved bad rap, but you never see complaints on the heavy ones. Even Randy Wakeman recommends them, and he hates Powerbelts

I was at Gander Mountain today and they have some Power Belt Coppers.All copper would be great too but I drought my son will switch to something else now that the 300 grain Platanums are shooting so good.On deer we have always shot 250 grain bullets and less with pass throughs on about every thing we ever shot with a muzzleloader.II'm sure most of you will agree poor penatration is a non iissuewith a muzzleloader

The copper and platinum Powerbelts both have just a thin coating on them. They're all lead bullets.

Penetration is a definite problem with Powerbelts. Especially, the lighter ones. They over expand, and break up. An elk is much tougher than a deer.

I would at least jump to the 338 platinum bullets for elk and like Muley, I used the bigger ones when I used PBs for elk (405 and 444).

Every single powerbelt is a soft lead bullet. The copper and "platinum" have a thin copper/"platinum" plating on the outside to protect the lead from the barrel and the blast. If you push ANY of them too fast, they will break up and you won't get good penetration. The reason the platinum may hold up better is not because of the platinum, but because it has a smaller hollowpoint.