Powerbelt Aerolite - Field Test

When i first heard of the new Powerbelt Aerolite series back in early January 2011, I knew right away that I'd be spending the entire summer working with these bullets.

The new bullet design offers a longer overall bullet length "Long bearing surface makes for a more accurate bullet" an increased Hollow Point making for fast bullet expansion resulting in a larger entrance hole. This Hollow Point however does have its set back, and that set back being either, Bullet fragments on heavy bone, no exit hole, limited penetration.
When my first order of 10 packets of the new Aerolites arrived i was pretty excited and went straight to the reloading room and filled up my Powder Tubes with 100gr Blackhorn209, CCI 209 Magnum primers and loaded the Caldwell FCX Lead Sled onto the back of the ATV and plowed through the snow drifts leading to my shooting range.



After sighted in my CVA Optima .50 equipped with the Konus Pro 3-10x44 scope and Durasight "High" Dead On Mount System, I had the muzzle loader shooting beautifully at 100 yards. How beautiful? Under 1" groups @ 100 yards with shots Two & Three Touching! When shooting, i always allow 10 minute cool down between shots so properly keep the barrel cold to the touch.


Once i saw how they shot i knew that i would have to put this bullet through an in the field - field test on actual game.

I sent in my New Mexico buck tag App. in March and around June, i got an email saying that i was successful in the Sept 24-30th Muzzle Loader season! This was my first time ever for applying for an out of state hunt and i was pumped big time.

The area i hunted was around Capulin New Mexico where it offers everything from Mule deer to Whitetail deer.

So skipping forward to my hunt, i got all my gear ready a week before, pre-measured my loads of 110gr Blackhorn209, CCI 209 Magnum primers and the 250gr Powerbelt Aerolite and had them all secured away in my belt bag, ready for the hunt.

Now this tag wasn't cheap. I don't have money falling out of my rear end and the $300 out of state tag cost wasn't easy to pay for but it had to be done so i could get some in the field knowledge of how this bullet performed on game.

You can shoot into what ever you want to test a bullet, but it is nothing compared to actually shooting a big game animal out on public land where private property boarders you on all sides. This was a big test for me as i had no clue how this bullet was going to perform. Would i place the shot and end up tracking it 200-300 yards with no to very little blood to follow?

In the area i was hunting i knew there was a lot of big antlers deer, a big bonus if i could hold out long enough to work into range of one of the local monsters.

Day one, we had hiked across a lava rock filled meadow " Boot killers! The camera mans sole on his boot fell off on day 6 of the hunt!" and walked to the base of a Mesa where we then had to De-prime the CVA Optima and CLIMB rock to rock, straight up in order to get to the top of the Mesa. I am not a person who deals with heights easily and so this was one of those, Turns your guts ice cold, moments i had to swallow and do if i wanted to hunt the spot.

With knees shaking, the camera man handed up my rifle to me and i put it in a safe place while i went back down to find my brother in law perched on top of the first 8 foot rock arguing with the camera man " My brother".... " No, I can't do it Stan! No, im serious, im freakin out, i can't climb up this." I of course called him a couple names i won't type here, just to see if i could get him to change out of his skirt and put his man boots back on and make the final climb to the top so we could hunt the Mesa.

After the Camera man got to the top with me, we watched my brother in law jog off down towards the field, his pretty pink dress flowing through the early morning breeze. We started laughing at how he couldn't make the climb when i was the worse " or so i thought" one with height fright.

Getting back to the rifle i went and re-installed the CCI 209 Magnum primer, locked up the action firmly an checked the GPS to make sure i was heading South East towards an open meadow.

Hiking for about 10 minutes i came around a tree and " You'll see this in the field as it actually happened! No planned action, we show it as it actually unfolds" a great little set of 3x3 antlers a Muley shed earlier. I of course love finding stuff like that and so i put them into my bag and plan on using them later for either rattling or just plain ol decoration.

Finding our Meadow to hunt we broke through some trees and got a 1/4 of the way into the field when a buck jumps up and stood there for us. He was a decent 2x2 but come on guys, i spent $300 for this tag! No way i was going to pull the trigger. I must admit though, it was extremely hard for me not to pull the trigger as i previously got skunked in the Colorado muzzle loading season. So we got some footage of the buck along with a group of doe's he had with him on that Mesa.

We had seen plenty of big 4x4's and 5x5's however they didn't get big by being stupid. They were allowing us to look at them at 300+ yards for about 3 to 5 seconds before they were running to the safety of private land or deep into the Pinon Trees.

On Day 4, the camera man and i had dropped my brother in law off at another spot and decided to head to the Mesa to see if that buck was still around, along the way we kicked up a doe, sat down for a while and watched and made sure there wasn't a buck in the group and then continued on for about 150-160 yards when i saw a deer jump up from under a Cedar/Oak brush grove and stand there.

Luckily i had already deployed my Claw Sling Stix and had them strapped over my barrel, ready for a shot and once i saw that deer, i sat down, got the scope on the target and checked out the head. I saw 3 points on one side and the other antler was blocked, after 4 days of long hunting and not being able to close the distance on a big 4x4 or 5x5, i decided it was time to test the bullet and report back on it.

Thumbing back the hammer, i took aim right behind the shoulder " high shoulder" and squeezed the trigger. BANG! The cameraman goes, what.... what.... wasn't that a doe? It looked like a doe in the camera! I go, heck no that wasn't a doe! I know it had at least 3 points on one side. Cameraman goes, Are you sure? I could have swore that it was a doe when i zoomed in. I didn't think much of it till later when we reviewed the film.

You were on the wrong deer cameraman! I had such a sick feeling in my stomach once i saw that. It was such a perfect set up, had plenty of time to get settled in and check out the rack before deciding the pull the trigger and in that time, a couple of doe's moved up out of the trees and it just happened to be the time when the cameraman looked up and aimed the camera directly on the doe rather than the buck that was standing under the cedar tree.

It happens.

After reloading and priming the Optima, i walked straight to the tree he was under and looked around slowly until i noticed a piece of white/reddish pink lung tissue on the ground, along with trail of blood! The blood trail wasn't far either, he choked up a great deal of lung matter and didn't go but 30 yards with a hard hit.

To see the hunt unfold, along with the tracking job, please view the video below.


In the video i make a remark of " One hole shots don't bleed you know" I am referring to many of the comments from others that say " if the bullet doesn't exit, you get poor blood trail." That was not the case as you can see! Poorly placed shots are what limit blood flow, resulting in no blood or very little to trail by! I didn't get my monster that i originally had my mind set on, but the bullet test was a lot more important than antler bragging rights so overall i feel i got my moneys worth, most certainly got one heck of a hunt to remember! And the best part, a great deal of deer steak in the freezer to enjoy this winter. As for the bullets performance, you saw my results. Place your shot and you will have a deer on the ground!

A Big Thanks to the Following!
CVA
Powerbelt Bullets
Western Powders - Blackhorn209
CCI Ammunition
Quake Industries " The Claw Sling Stix"
Caldwell Shooting Supplies
Birchwood Casey


Pictures from the Hunt


A gorgeous Antlered Skull mount we found! In New Mexico it's illegal to take a skull with antlers attached unless you pay a small fee to the Game & Fish. They say its to prevent someone from poaching a deer and letting it rot, and then coming back for just the skull. Every poacher I've heard of always take what they illegally kill, right away. So in truth, its just one more way for the state to make some extra funds.