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295 grain Powerbelt AT "hunt" report
We were at a ranch bowhunting axis deer. The owner said some folks had come to take down two watusi for meat. A watusi is kind of a big cow (or bull) that has extremely large curved horns. The guest were going to shoot the watusi with archery gear but realized how big they were are and skittish. They could not get near them. They asked if anyone had a rifle. We did.
My son has a .50 caliber that we cobbled together from a 24" Traditions 1:48 ROT barrel (percussion) and some other parts for the lock and stock. This rifle has shallow rifling and really likes the plastic tip Powerbelt bullets (known as AT for Aero Tip). It will group 245 grain into a nice group at 100 yards, but really likes 295 grain and will shoot one big hole at 100 yards off the bench.
We've not used this rifle with these 295 gr bullets on game prior. (We had used 245 gr for deer).
With 80 grains of Triple 7 FFFg powder and set off with a Remington cap the 295 grain projectile gets 1734 feet per second average (chronographed).
This was not so much a hunt but rather a killing of animals that were not corral-able.
The first Watusi was facing us at 54 yards (Rangefinder). I told the client the rifle shoots 2" high at 50 yards. He shot and hit the bull in the inside corner of the eye. The bullet came out the back of the head. Due to the slightly downhill angle the bullet re-entered the animal in the center of the ribcage. The bull did a face-plant and went down right-here-right-now. There was quite a bit of foam coming out the hole in the rib cage. Later inspection showed there was an exit hole directly below the entry hole on the belly line.
The second Watusi stopped at 118 yards. I told the client the rifle is dead-on at 100 yards. He aimed center-chest and squeezed the trigger. I could hear a substantial "whop" and I saw dirt and moisture fly off the rear near the tail. At first I thought he made a bad shot but the bull ran less than 30 yards and fell over. It turned its head side to side a few times and then lay still. Upon inspection, the bullet did enter center of rib cage and it exited about 4 inches below the butt-hole, going through the ham.
This bullet performance was much more gratifying than I anticipated. For all the bad reports and complaining about Powerbelts that are on internet land this real life situation proved the bullets are quite capable. The first bullet penetrated about 9-inches and then another 20-inches with the first section through the skull. The second bullet penetrated about 36-inches through a thick hide and meat.
These animals weigh several hundred pounds and are very similar to domestic cattle.
I have no doubt the bullets would easily punch through a whitetail deer or hog. They should be capable for animals up to elk if just these two examples are used as benchmarks. I'm not sure if there'd be much penetration on a light, thin skinned animal like a deer.
The fairly ho-hum velocity seems to be a good match for the bullet construction.
I hope this info is helpful/useful to someone. I am going to buy another pack of these bullets and be confident when deer hunting season comes around. My young son will have no trouble with this rifle/load combo.
We were at a ranch bowhunting axis deer. The owner said some folks had come to take down two watusi for meat. A watusi is kind of a big cow (or bull) that has extremely large curved horns. The guest were going to shoot the watusi with archery gear but realized how big they were are and skittish. They could not get near them. They asked if anyone had a rifle. We did.
My son has a .50 caliber that we cobbled together from a 24" Traditions 1:48 ROT barrel (percussion) and some other parts for the lock and stock. This rifle has shallow rifling and really likes the plastic tip Powerbelt bullets (known as AT for Aero Tip). It will group 245 grain into a nice group at 100 yards, but really likes 295 grain and will shoot one big hole at 100 yards off the bench.
We've not used this rifle with these 295 gr bullets on game prior. (We had used 245 gr for deer).
With 80 grains of Triple 7 FFFg powder and set off with a Remington cap the 295 grain projectile gets 1734 feet per second average (chronographed).
This was not so much a hunt but rather a killing of animals that were not corral-able.
The first Watusi was facing us at 54 yards (Rangefinder). I told the client the rifle shoots 2" high at 50 yards. He shot and hit the bull in the inside corner of the eye. The bullet came out the back of the head. Due to the slightly downhill angle the bullet re-entered the animal in the center of the ribcage. The bull did a face-plant and went down right-here-right-now. There was quite a bit of foam coming out the hole in the rib cage. Later inspection showed there was an exit hole directly below the entry hole on the belly line.
The second Watusi stopped at 118 yards. I told the client the rifle is dead-on at 100 yards. He aimed center-chest and squeezed the trigger. I could hear a substantial "whop" and I saw dirt and moisture fly off the rear near the tail. At first I thought he made a bad shot but the bull ran less than 30 yards and fell over. It turned its head side to side a few times and then lay still. Upon inspection, the bullet did enter center of rib cage and it exited about 4 inches below the butt-hole, going through the ham.
This bullet performance was much more gratifying than I anticipated. For all the bad reports and complaining about Powerbelts that are on internet land this real life situation proved the bullets are quite capable. The first bullet penetrated about 9-inches and then another 20-inches with the first section through the skull. The second bullet penetrated about 36-inches through a thick hide and meat.
These animals weigh several hundred pounds and are very similar to domestic cattle.
I have no doubt the bullets would easily punch through a whitetail deer or hog. They should be capable for animals up to elk if just these two examples are used as benchmarks. I'm not sure if there'd be much penetration on a light, thin skinned animal like a deer.
The fairly ho-hum velocity seems to be a good match for the bullet construction.
I hope this info is helpful/useful to someone. I am going to buy another pack of these bullets and be confident when deer hunting season comes around. My young son will have no trouble with this rifle/load combo.
