cayugad

Today I wanted to try some of the 250 grain Harvester Sabre tooth's which as some know are a Powerbelt knockoff. I wanted to see if they shot near as well as the 245 grain Powerbelts and also how they loaded.

The 250 grain Sabre Tooth Conical is made by Harvester. They are all copper plated. They rest in a small plastic sabot. The nose design is not like a true XTP but I believe there would be excellent expansion with this projectile. The comes in various weights and I am sure are meant to be a marketing competition to the Powerbelts.

Loading. These are not a slip fit conical in my CVA Staghorn. The Powerbelts can be loaded with no effort, even on a fowled barrel. The first loading of the Sabre tooth on a clean barrel is not bad mind you, a short starter is needed in my opinion (your rifle may vary). The second loading on a fowled barrel is near impossible. I even had to get out my heavy duty range rod for fear of causing damage to my lighter ones. I never even tried a third Sabre tooth for loading until I swabbed the barrel clean. Then they loaded just fine again.

Accuracy. I was shooting 100 grains of Goex 2f under the Sabre tooth 250 grain "Belt" actually conical would be a better word. Conical with a plastic sub base is all they are. I could not complain with the accuracy. I was shooting at 30 yards off a rest and it clover leafed them. The CVA Staghorn has no magnification but does have a Bushnell Trophy Red dot. I was shooting off of 7 bright with a 3MOA dot and the accuracy was exceptional. I fired five shots and they all touched and over lapped. I could not complain about that.

Cost. This is the nice factor of them. $9.95 for 15 of the conicals. Still a little expensive when you compare them to other conicals but much better then most of the Powerbelts. Perhaps this will bring the powerbelt price down some.

I did not get a chance to try them at longer ranges or out of different rifles yet. That will all come in time. So far in my opinion for under 50 yard shooting like I encounter in my neck of the woods this would be an excellent deer projectile for those that want the larger conical effect with still the sabot flare. If you find a pack of them somewhere, and you have good luck with powerbelts, you might want to give them a try and see how they shoot for you.

sabotloader

cayugad

I have a couple of packages of those Sabre Tooth bullet but I have never tried them - maybe this summer i can get around to shooting them. They intriqued me because of price and I thought my son-in-law could use them in the state of Washington - no such luck projectiles have to be all lead...

eldeguello

Thanks for the report! I have been curious about these bullets, since the only problem I have had with Power Belts has been erratic grouping when the plastic wad fails to fall off as it is supposed to. I wondered if these new design wads would shuck off more reliably than the Power Belt wads, and thus eliminate that particular problem?

Are these bullets slightly larger in diameter than the corresponding Power Belt? What causes them to be so much more difficult to load?

cayugad

I never measured them but they are not slip fit my any means. At least not in my CVA Staghorn Magnum. When I shoot Powerbelts, I can push them under the muzzle line and then seat them with a ramrod. Even after shooting a few of them. With the Sabre Tooth bullets this was not the case. I needed a short starter to drive them into the barrel. On a fowled barrel I even had to get out my Thompson Center Rugged Range Rod to seat them for fear of causing damage to the flex rod I normally use for range work.

The accuracy was exception with them but of course I was not shooting a long distance.. I want to try them in some different rifles and at different ranges. I was hoping some place would put them in sale so I could pick them up cheaper still, and get some of the different sizes...

eldeguello

Thanks - Will be looking forward to hearing of additional results from these _(obviously, they are "fatter" than Power Belts-don't think that is an improvement!!)

lemoyne

I tryed the Sabortooth 250gr in both my Systrem one and my new Omega they shoot 1.5 inch groups in both guns where as the power belts shoot 3 or 4 inch groups. The thing I notice most is the more powder the better they shot ended up with 3 50gr sticks off APP. Lee