A little over three years ago, I was testing the
then-new Belt Mountain
Punch bullet. This is a bullet designed for the deepest
penetration possible through bone, flesh, hair, and hide. The
bullet is made of a lathe-turned bronze/brass alloy bullet with
a lead core. This is not just a thick bullet jacket, but the
bullet itself is made primarily of the brass alloy, with the
lead core portion only in the rear of the bullet to add weight.
The bullets have a very small hole in the nose, which allows it
to be used where full metal jacket ammo is prohibited for
hunting. As stated, the Punch is all about penetration. It has
proven itself time and again in penetration tests to penetrate
deeper than any bullet against which it has been compared.
Unknown to me when I was testing those first Punch bullets in a
.45-70, Paco Kelly was working on the same project, so we
compiled the independent results into that original review back
in the Spring of 2005. Both Paco and I found the Punch to
penetrate with a vengeance. Since introducing the Punch bullet, Kelye
Schlepp of Belt Mountain has been producing the bullet for
many other calibers as well. The Punch bullets are available to
handloaders directly from Belt Mountain, but now they are also
available to every hunter in factory loaded ammunition from Grizzly
Cartridge Company.
Grizzly Cartridge produces premium factory ammo
for hunters who need or desire the best quality ammunition
available. Using only premium components carefully assembled,
Grizzly ammo has proven to be powerful, reliable, and accurate
in my testing over the past few years. Now, Grizzly Cartridge
has started producing fine quality ammunition loaded with the
superb Belt Mountain Punch bullet.
Grizzly Cartridge ammo is some of the most
consistent and accurate available. Grizzly loads their ammo for
top performance, without trying to break your gun. I have always
got great accuracy with Grizzly ammo, but even more importantly,
excellent reliability. Grizzly cartridges turn in high velocity
results, but I have never had any sticky extraction with their
ammo. Testing these .44 Magnum loads shown here, extraction was
very easy from the Ruger Bisley and Winchester
94 used for all the shooting tests. In the 94,
cartridges fed easily and smoothly from the magazine. The
overall length of the 270 grain Punch load is 1.667 inches, and
fit both the Winchester and the Bisley with room to spare.
Advertised at 1300 feet-per-second (fps), clocking them over one
of my chronographs set at ten feet from the muzzle, the Punch
bullet registered 1370 fps from the seven and one-half inch
Bisley barrel, and a screaming 1560 fps from the sixteen inch
carbine. Accuracy was superb. From the Bisley, I could keep them
all in one tight cluster at 25 yards from the solid Ransom
Machine Rest. From the Winchester, I could do almost as
well at fifty yards, but open sights are fuzzier than they used
to be for me, but it was easy to see that this ammunition is
very accurate indeed.
The Punch bullet is a premium choice, and you
probably will not use a lot of it for plinking, unless you are
very well-heeled. However, as a choice for a hunting bullet
where penetration and bone-crushing power is paramount, the
Grizzly Cartridge ammo using the Belt Mountain Punch bullet is
downright cheap insurance. Going up against beasts that claw and
bite, the Belt Mountain bullet would be my first choice, and as
loaded by Grizzly Cartridge, the Punch is available to everyone.
You can order the Grizzly Cartridge ammunition
online at www.grizzlycartridge.com.
If you need just the bullets, you can order them
from www.beltmountain.com.
Either way, the Punch bullet is a fine
performer, and will not break apart and fail to penetrate. I
highly recommend it.
Jeff
Quinn
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Author tested the Grizzly Punch Bullet ammo in a
Ruger Bisley and a Winchester Model 94.
Grizzly Cartridge Company loads are powerful
enough to use on dangerous game, but not so powerful
that they hurt the gun.
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