Hornady's NEW FPB Bullet! ***UPDATE*** Released and IN STOCK***

[Busta]

Look out PowerBelt, there is a new kid in town. I'm glad to see a real bullet company building something to make the unpredictable PowerBelt/CVA sit up and take notice. IMO anything would be an improvement.

http://www.hornady.com/media/2008catalog/Page_0043.pdf

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

i'll stick with powerbelts until hornady can give a range of different bullet weights.

Still interesting but not impressed with the overall mushrooming they show advertised.

[Busta]

I guess you haven't witnessed a PowerlessBelt failure yet. If you keep using them, trust me you will. I would also like to see more weight options, and I'm sure we will. If their ad is accurate, these bullets can be pushed at MAGNUM (not for me) velocities, try anything even close to that with a PB and you will be sorry. After shooting PB's into several types of media, I have everything from disintegration to bullets that look like you could put a new skirt on and shoot again. I have also witnessed my buddy shoot a big 6x6 bull elk at 28 yards, in the same place I had shot one, the bullet failed to penetrate into the boiler room. The difference was he was using 110 grains of Pyrodex RS and a 295 grain PB aero tip, I was using 80 grains of 777 FFFG and a 430 grain lead conical. Mine went 56 yards, we tracked his for over 3/4 mile and looked beyond last blood for two days, just got sick. No game animal deserves that.

70 - 80 grains powder with a PB should be a max load, anything above that can be explosive. I tried to warn my buddy, but his loads were working on whitetail, so he thought they would work on elk too. The shoulder on an elk has about 4 to 5 times the mass of a whitetail, and they are tough buggers. I wont even give the PB's I have left over (about 50 or so) away, because I don't want to be responsible for somebody thinking they can hotrod these bullets and wound game. The only thing I would shoot with a PB is a coyote!

I think the FPB stands for "Forget Powerless Belts".

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

I guess you haven't witnessed a PowerlessBelt failure yet. If you keep using them, trust me you will. I would also like to see more weight options, and I'm sure we will. If their ad is accurate, these bullets can be pushed at MAGNUM (not for me) velocities, try anything even close to that with a PB and you will be sorry. After shooting PB's into several types of media, I have everything from disintegration to bullets that look like you could put a new skirt on and shoot again. I have also witnessed my buddy shoot a big 6x6 bull elk at 28 yards, in the same place I had shot one, the bullet failed to penetrate into the boiler room. The difference was he was using 110 grains of Pyrodex RS and a 295 grain PB aero tip, I was using 80 grains of 777 FFFG and a 430 grain lead conical. Mine went 56 yards, we tracked his for over 3/4 mile and looked beyond last blood for two days, just got sick. No game animal deserves that.

70 - 80 grains powder with a PB should be a max load, anything above that can be explosive. I tried to warn my buddy, but his loads were working on whitetail, so he thought they would work on elk too. The shoulder on an elk has about 4 to 5 times the mass of a whitetail, and they are tough buggers. I wont even give the PB's I have left over (about 50 or so) away, because I don't want to be responsible for somebody thinking they can hotrod these bullets and wound game. The only thing I would shoot with a PB is a coyote!

I think the FPB stands for "Forget Powerless Belts".

Been using them for going on 7 years now. Farthest a deer ran was 30 yards.  Now that im shooting traditional only 80-90 grains powder is our max that we used in our rifles. I prefer 80 grains pyrodex P in my .45 with a 225 powerbelt.
Your friend using a 295 grain powerbelt didnt follow cva's rules for the powerbelt. 348 grain MINIMUM for elk sized game.
what kinda powerbelts do you have left over? I'll pay shipping if you dont want them.

I know all about the powerbelts and what charges work best for them. Ive used 150 mag charges but those shots were close to 150 yards. I think you'll agree that most reports that we see are 150 grain charges and short 30-50 yard shots.

Powerbelts are excellent performing bullets when you use them right. I personally see no need for 150 grain charges.
 I guess some feel that powerbelts are the modern day roundball?

[Busta]

Your friend using a 295 grain powerbelt didnt follow cva's rules for the powerbelt. 348 grain MINIMUM for elk sized game.

It wasn't that, it is Colorado's rule where a "conical projectile, the length of which can not exceed twice the diameter". The 348 gr is over an inch with the skirt, with or without the aero tip. The 295 gr is just under, and therefore the heaviest legal choice.

The biggest problem with the PB, is the deep hollow point and people thinking they can shoot 100 to 150 grains of powder with them.

I just checked (dug out) my left over .50 cal PowerBelt and Black Belt inventory, 110 bullets in all. I have 348 grain PowerBelts in Aero Tip and Hollow Point. 348 gr and 295 gr Hollow Point Black Belts. 260 grain Aero Tip Knight PowerBelts (those might be collectors items). 245 gr Aero Tip PB's. I guess I'll use them to shoot up some paper out back with some old powder as soon as it warms up a bit.

The big 405's would be my minumum for Elk, but not legal in Colorado. I guess they want wounded elk running around? I just don't get it.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

The plastic skirt on the powerbelts is not considered part of the projectile. It flys off the bullet as it comes out the end of the rifle. Im from colorado and know the rules.

260 grain Aero Tip Knight PowerBelts- Those would be interesting to see, do you have any pics? I've never heard of those before.

I dont agree either with the 1" rule but hey, theres a wide assortment of conicals out there for the 50's.

110 grains pyrodex was still a lot of powder for that 295er.

[Busta]

The skirt may not be, but the stem and the plastic tip are part of the projectile. Like I said, the 405 or 444 would be a much better choice, but they are too long for Colorado. I can get the 460 grain Bullshop or No Excuses for much less, they are under an inch and will do a much better job than a PB.

[30-06man]

Ill try these out. My Encore shoots power belts fine but none of my other ML's do. The only reason I shoot them in the Encore is because it is so dang hard to find a 45cal sabot around here and it won't shoot conicals other than the power belt good. I haven't had a failure yet but I don't want one.  Are they going to have it in a 45?

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

Ill try these out. My Encore shoots power belts fine but none of my other ML's do. The only reason I shoot them in the Encore is because it is so dang hard to find a 45cal sabot around here and it won't shoot conicals other than the power belt good. I haven't had a failure yet but I don't want one.  Are they going to have it in a 45?

No.

Just a 350 grain .50cal 

Have to offer more than that!

Whats your encore load?

[30-06man]

195grain powerbelt pushed by 100grains of T7. I haven't had any problems yet but I am still in the first case. No telling what will happen in the next which is why I need to switch before next deer season.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

Now that photobucket is working again, Heres one of my latest powerbelt experience



Exit,




Wasnt a lung shot.



Powerbelts will do it all if these guys just tame down their load. I prefer 80 grains with this 225 grain powerbelt. First time with this .45 and i took this deer, father took another deer a couple hours later with the same rifle and load, same results.
I will continue to use them when im carrying my .45

[30-06man]

Looks like it works fine for now. I would still be weary of them.

[Busta]

http://www.hornady.com/media/2008catalog/Page_0043.pdf

[Busta]

From what I understand, the knuckleheads made them too long for the Colorado 2x diameter. They measure 1.152" to the flex-tip, however with the tip removed they would come in under 1". One could also modify the flex-tip by grinding it down to legal length. I'm sure this will finally get Colorado to finally make a determination as to whether the tip is actually included in the bullet length. I would say YES, due to it actually flying with the bullet, but the skirt on the PowerBelt is not considered in the length.

Of course the base of these would be coned out to over .500" so the swadge down to fit the various bore diameters. If it were say .505", that could gain you another .010" (1.010"), but still no where near enough to shoot as designed.

Grafs is the only place I know of that has them in stock at the moment, but I have heard they shipped out to others such as Cabelas, MidwayUSA, also heard that Wally World bought 500,000 of them. So they should be hitting the shelves shortly. I tried checking Midsouth, but there muzzleloading page wasn't loading for me.

$13.79 per 15 is a better price than I thought they would be asking, especially when you consider G & S pays the freight. Compare that to PowerBelt.

http://www.grafs.com/product/189418

[30-06man]

Thanks. Sounds like this and the Blackhorn 209 are the best things this year. Still waiting on the BH209 and probably even longer on this.