This forums been a little quiet.  So to liven things up here is a question. 

What advantage does the PowerBelt have over the Minie Ball? 

-MD

Same essential concept. The PB uses a hardened bullet and the plastic skirt does what the Minie' ball's lead skirt does. You can push the PB faster than the lead Minie' because the plastic conforms to deeper rifling better and thus won't tear apart like lead at higher velocities. But, you lose weight with the PB and the PB also is known to leave plastic fowling in some rifles that causes loading problems.

Shiloh,

Thanks for the reply. 

I have not shot the minie ball but have read that it loads easier than a sabot bullet.  I like the powerbelt for its ease of loading.  I started looking for 50 cal. minie ball but have not found a supplier yet.  What would be the max powder load for the minie in 50 cal.

-MD

IMHO Powerbelts are garbage. I've hit three deer with them from 75 to 150 yds on none did the powerbelt make a complete pass through they did kill the deer. I'm shooting the Easy Glide TC sabots now still tough to push down barrel but I get a complete pass through everytime also make a bigger mess of the lungs than the powerbelts ever did which means they don't go as far.

Unlike gut, Ive had excellent luck with Power belts, both in accuracy and terminal performance. I have had a few come apart as they entered game (still killed quick though) but the new Platinum version is supposed to stay together even better when loaded hot. As far as the plastic fouling, I know its hard to believe but for the most part it can be eliminated just by going with an actual "black powder" 209 primer instead of standard 209, slightly lower temp in the "black powder" ones is supposedly why they work better. Out of my .45cal inline, Magbolt Iv'e yet to find anything that compares with the Power belts on accuracy though, I still try knew stuff every time I go to the range. My 50 cal. American Knight likes sabots way better than full bores though, so it may be just the difference in firearms.

These load easier because they are under-sized just slightly. They both operate by having the gas-pulse expand the skirt to swage it to a tight fit to hold the rifling. They also suffer from the same afliction that is 'weight-forward' meaning most of the bullet weight is in its front half. This leads to reduced penetration since there is less mass behind the penetrating side/front pushing it true and deep. I have heard a lot of mixed reports about the PBs. I have no 1st-hand experience with them however since I am a traditionalist and never use plastic bullet parts in my muzzleloaders. I use Minie's in my .58s" for target shooting but not for hunting. I may one day but so far have chosen a ball or a T/C Maxi-Ball or Maxi-Hunter. As for max powder it is hard to say since each gun and powder is different. What I find with the .58" Minie' is anything over about 70 gs of black powder causes eratic shots meaing at that velocity skirts are starting to skip on fouling and skip lands. That is right at about 1000 fps I think.

Thanks for the replies.

Does the skirting of the powerbelt blow off like a sabot? IF so then it would not suffer from the front heavy that the minie ball does.

-MD

Been using powerbelts for years. Like the 50 calib 405 grain. Have killed black bear deer and boar with them. Would not shoot anything else, Started shooting black powder 25 years ago. We were shooting Buffalo bullets, melting our own or using pistol bullets with sabots. Have tried numerous different sabots. They all kill if you hit them right. Try to do a shoulder shot, it knocks them down and they do not get up.
JMO
Joe Termite

I have been shooting Minne balls for close to 35 yr. in my 1861 Parker Hale 58caL.  AND HAVE SHOOT MANY DEER WITH IT WITH 70 OF  3F. and have good group's out to 150 yard's  if you push them to fast what happens is the skirt blows out as the bullet exets the barrel  back in the late 70's some one did a slow motion film off the bullet exiting the barrel and showed it blowing out  I think it was in the NMLRA mag Muzzle Blasts.   

What happens at the exit of the Minie' is not the skirt actually 'blowing-off' but rather the already weakened pieces of it beingrelease once the constriction of the bore is not holding them there.  I find skirts stacked in the 1st few inches of bore back near the breech quite often.  in fact it is sort of frowned up for re-enactors to live-fire their re-enacting guns because every once in a while someone gets whacked by a 'donut' of lead thatis dislodgedwith blanks.  The fouled bore makes it worse, ausing little rouh patches that the soft lead skirt hits and rip away at it.  I have actually had to take a torch to some gun barrel to melt out lead skirts.

I have hunted with a front loader rifle for many years but have shot a couple of minies and used powerbelts in one rifle. First I did not like the accuracy of either bullet. Second they both loaded so easy I was concerned that the bullet may move off the powder when hunting with either one. I did kill a deer at over 80 yds with a powerbelt but had to track the deer for about 60 yds through thick brush till I found it. I did get a pass through and hit both lungs so was not impressed with the powerbelts. From my reading the skirt of the powerbelt is supposed to fall off like a sabot but my experience I have had them bounce off a 25 yd target. I also do not like the expense of powerbelts. If you shoot much it is very expensive to shoot them and I get only ho hum accuracy from them. As far as I am concerned Michael McMichael can place his powerbelts where the sun don't shine.

Shilo never heard of  or had that happen with as minne only know as to what i have read about it as to the blow outs and my own experience shooting them . JTO.

Given the skirting problem of the minie I don't think I'll try finding one in 50 cal.

-MD

jimoest, I was thinking about what you said you saw or read about and think that it could happen to really poorly made/cast Minie' bullets when coupled with heavy charges. With the various black powder substitutes you very well may be getting a big blast erupting right as the bullet exits the bore. Black powder in modest loads shoudl not be doing it though. The skirts are already being twisted and pulled at as the slug rips along dragging the skirt over fouling and old rust pitting so any tiny air bubbles in the casting may start giving way and these are what causes parts of the skirt to crack and separate. Many would still fly out behind the bullet but some do get swaged hard in the bore making reloading hard. I actually have a .58" Minie fiasco in my camp box I use as a conversation piece. It is a Minie' rammed down through several skirt donuts with so much force that it swaged them into one long thin sleeve. To get it out I had to pull the breech and drive it all out together from the front. Ruined a steel rammer doing it.