bullet expansion help

[jimmonn01]

hey guys i need some help i have a cva kodiak and my 16yr old son has a cva wolf both hold a 1/2 in. group at 75 yds.using 100grains of pyrodex(2 50/50 pellets)and295grn.powerbellet bullets,but my problem is the bullet have not expanded an leave little if any blood trail,i had 3 deer with this problem last season,what bullet can i switch too without uping my powder because my 14yr old daughter may shoot my gun and i dont want it to kill her shoulder but kill the deers!! lol.
any help would be great. thanks,
jim

[10ga]

Go to the lighter powerbelts or TC or Hornady sabots. My daughter shoots 70 gr of 3F Swiss under a 225 gr or 245 hollowpoint powerbelt. If you shoot loose powder you can very easily modify charges. However loose powder needs to be about 10% less to equal the pellets, ie 80 gr. of loose = 100 gr of pellets. You can get some of the smaller gr pellets and shoot 80+- gr of pellets and a lighter boolit too. If you go to a lighter boolit = more velocity with same load. Get some of the open hollow points and they really tear things up. With the aerotip powerbelts I just use a pair of needle nose pliers or diagonal cutters to pull the aerotip out and you have a wonderful hollowpoint. The POI should not change much when you go to lighter powerbelts. Perhaps only a little higher as your velocity will go up. If you go to the 250 or 240 sabots the POI could be very different. This has been my experience and my daughter shoots a TC Firehawk with tuperware stock. It is a very accurate gun. Shoots MOA with 250 SSTs but the 225 powerbelts have slightly less recoil and shoot 3" at 100 yds. = MOA of deer. My suggestion is 70 - 75 gr 3F under 225 powerbelt hollowpoint. My daughter has killed quite a few deer with this load. It should be acceptable out to 100 yd. on any whitetail. I still shoot hammer guns with roundballs a lot and 85 gr of 3F Swiss under a .565 RB with a pillowtick patch will shoot clean through almost any deer on a rib shot out to 100 yards. Of course shot placement is everything no matter what you shoot. 10 ga

[whyohe]

if the powerbelts are not expanding( first ive heard of that problem) try the hornady SSTs. they are known to be a more "fragile" bullet with fast expansion. excellent for boiler room shots. i shot them out of my savage using 2 pellets(100 grns) of t-7 and performed very well for me!

[blackhawk7204]

I've never heard of a powerbelt not expanding. I only shoot 80-90gr of Pyrodex with a 24" barrel and my 295gr powerbelts will expand to twice their diameter.

[wilmsmeyer]

Did you find the bullet....or the deer? If the answer is "no" then I would ask 2 questions: How do you know the bullet didn't expand and how do you know where you hit the deer?

A non-expanding 295 gr 45 or 50 cal bullet through heart and lungs is plenty big enough to not have to expand as well as leave a hole big enough for blood to squirt out...and kill deer quickly.

If you are indeed shooting groups as small as you claim, I would begin honing my shooting skills from positions you are likely to encounter in the field. An offhand shot, a shakey rest and some nerves will take a 1/2" gun and turn it into a 10" gun quickly...and hence bullet placement is not where you may have thought.

[Deleted]

switch to the hollow point. Im a powerbelt fan and my problem is that they over expand. Another option is to aim for shoulder.

Or try www.thorbullets.com these are bad ass! Expansion/Accuracy wise.

[jimmonn01]

thanks for the help,hollow points it is,those deer i got were hit right behind the shoulder,but its hard to track them in thick brier patchs without a blood trail.

thanks again,
jim

[Tarheel]

Are you shooting the Aero-Tips if so, maybe you could try the hollow points or the lead powerbelts

[monster99]

got a 8 point today an while skinning it found the bullet,hollow points work perfectly great blood trail and the bullet mushroomed to look like a quarter thank for all your help.


jim

[atvrider465]

I shot a doe with a 245 grain aero-tip last year & watched her go down about 150 yards from were I shot her & I couldn't find a drop of blood in the field from were she was shot. No blood trail at all that I could find now I'm trying the 295 hollow points.

[Deleted]

Hornady XTP's are a good and inexpensive alternative as well. They seem to shoot extremely well out of all 3 of my guns and have proven to be devastating on deer. I haven't tried power belts yet but they seem to be pretty popular. As long as I keep my powder charges 110 grains and under the XTP's perform great, anything over 110 grains I switch to the SST's. Pick up some XTP's and give em a try someday, they are a great hunting bullet, maybe not the best but darn good for the price. Happy hunting

[zakjak221]

Hornady XTP's are good bullets as well as Speer Gold Dot's.
I have used both with great results.
Never really tried the Powerbelts.

Mark