45 cal inline bullet test

[FlintsNSticks]

so i been curious for a while now reading all the diff posts about power belts and a couple other muzzle loader bullets, and decided to do my own bullet test. i used wet phone books standing on edge, lightly packed(so i could get them in and out easily after shots) inside a 16x9x14(LxWxH) box wrapped in masking tape to help hold it together and i had 2 more wet phone books 1ft behind the main box just propped up w/ 1/4" ply wood to catch any pass throughs. i used a 45 cal cva hunterbolt mag., 26" barrel,1:28 twist w/ 80gr triple 7 powder for all shots @ 50yds, swabbed and dried between each shot. the bullets are 225 gr powerbelts, both hp and aero tip, 245gr maxi-ball, and 250gr Lee REAL. the powerbelts both weighed in around 230gr , the maxi-ball was 246gr, and the Lee was 250gr. lee & maxi are before lube.
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the hp main chunk weight is 139gr-178 w/ the fragments i could find and had only about 6" of penetration. the aero tip weight is 225gr (i figure that is due to the loss of plastic) and had full penetration and was between bk of box and last book. the maxi kept its weight @ 246gr and had full penetration and lodged into the other set of books so that its base was flush w the front cover of the 1st book. the Lee weight is 247gr, it lost about 2-3grs, but had about 15" of penetration and was in the last book about and 1" from the back.
the only way i'd use the 225gr hp powerbelt for hunting deer is if i was making neck shots, wouldn't even trust it for lung shots after this test. maybe a good yote bullet?
the aero tip didn't have any expansion but it had good penetration.(both bullets started very easy w/ thumb into muzzle).
the maxi had good pen w/ the top of the bullet flattening out some to about 9/16"(this will be my hunting bullet)was easy starting w/ the 1st 2 rings but the 3rd need lil extra push w/ thumb.
the Lee had good pen also, but i ordered these online from a guy and think he used wheel weights to cast them and they were hard to start, had to actually use the bullet starter w/ a good smack to get it started into rifling(can see the starter ring on top of bullet), after that they went in ok but had to use more force than any of the others to get it down all the way. maybe pure lead might be lil easier.
i also shot 1 of each, powerbelt aero tip, maxi, and Lee at 50yd, 2" bull, and 100yd 3" bull to see how much diff they had.
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the 50yd target, top to bottom is maxi, aero tip, Lee. the 100yd target, top to bottom is aero tip, maxi, Lee
somewhere down the line i'm gonna try the 275gr hp powerbelts w/ all the same set up and see if they hold up and if for nothing more its an excuse to get out to the range.
hope these pics work out cause they r from a flip cell phone cam.
hope this helps some people w/ bullet performance that had the same questions i did.

[johnson1942]

it would be interesting to do a paperpatched bullet of 350 to 400 grains to see how it preformed. that 1/28 twist should handle a 400 grain bullet and with a fiber wad between bullet and powder you could up the charge a little. if you want to try it and post for us to see the results i can send you a couple of my swaged .440 bullets already wrapped and lubed and wads for them?

[FlintsNSticks]

sure send me a pm, but 400gr bullets is max for my rifle according to the manual.

[TCLouis]

I went back and re read the post and noted the REALS were hard cast.

I was wondering why there was no expansion.

Of course many smokeless rounds/bullets brag when they expand to 0.450".

Did anyone notice that those targets show a minute of dead deer group with a mixture of three different projectiles.

[Rattus58]

it would be interesting to do a paperpatched bullet of 350 to 400 grains to see how it preformed. that 1/28 twist should handle a 400 grain bullet and with a fiber wad between bullet and powder you could up the charge a little. if you want to try it and post for us to see the results i can send you a couple of my swaged .440 bullets already wrapped and lubed and wads for them?in my experience with lead bullets, and most of mine are very heavy, starting with 470 and up to 600 grains for my 45's, 470 being about my favorite all things considered, you don't need a lot of powder to make the bullet work. I use 70 and 80 grains as loads and I'm sure 80 is of little value overall in my hunting world.... 123 yards being my longest lasered kill. Light bullets might need more powder but not heavier. Bullets of weight do a great job of carrying the message, so stick to your regular loads and in fact, I'd think about starting at 70 grains and moving up if you need to.

Much aloha... :cool:

[FlintsNSticks]

i managed to get out to the range this past monday to do more bullet testing. Thanx to johnson1942 for sending me some of his own made bullets. i did the same test as above, 50 yd wet phone book, and targets w/ 3" circles. 45 cal rifle has a 24" 1:28 twist barrel. he sent me 2 different sized bullets (22 in all) one size weighed around 327gr and the other around 376gr. both are dry paper patched w/ #9 onion skin and lubed w/ lee liquid alox. i used 70gr trip7 and 60/1000 fiber wads he sent for both bullets.
the 327gr bullet had 12" of penetration and rounded out to .708", and had nice tight group on target. the 376gr bullet had a full 16" penetration and lodged in wet phone books 6" behind the main box of books, its nose rounded out to .598". the group for the 376gr opened up some but i'm guessing if i'd of used a lil bigger charge for the bigger bullet it would of had just as tight a group as the 325gr.
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i didnt get to shoot 100yd targets cause i ran outta day light. if it ever stops raining here ill get out and try them out at that distance. i might bump up the charge for the 376gr to 80 or so and reshoot the 50 yd just to see what happens. personally i really liked the 325gr one best because of the expansion, i think this would make a great deer smaker. sry for grainy pics they r from flip phone camera, but you still can see the results.
thanx again to johnson1942 for sending me the bullets.

[FlintsNSticks]

oh, i forgot to mention that i fired my 1st shot w/ the lee REAL on the same target as the 325gr, just to get the storage lube and stuff outta the barrel. yes i swabbed & dried barrel 1st before shooting, but that don't get it all. ;-)

[johnson1942]

thanks for testing those bullets. ive shot a lot of the 325 grain my self in the last couple of days. the new gun i built for them seems to like 80 grains of black horn 209 powder. ive also been shooting a .45 cal 486 grain bullet in a 1/18 twist .45 i have. it also uses 80 grains by volume of blackhorn 209 powder behind the bullet. both will be a good deer gun and hit hard. the larger bullets i sent that didnt expand as much may have been a little harder lead. im going to do a lot of testing on all my bullets for ft per sec. and accracy soon as the blackhorn 209 people want me to do a article for them on their blog. the purpose of the article will be to make shooters of modern inlines be aware of the potential of their guns useing paperpatched bullets. thanks again for testing them.

[johnson1942]

P.S. boy that first group is really tight, very good. ive found i have to foul my barrel for the first shot to be as tight as the rest. the way i foul it is to do about 4, 209 primers to clear the breech and put some dry soot in the barrel then the rest of the shots are right on.