Grizzly Cartridge Company Factory-loaded Punch Bullet Ammunition

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.

Either way, the Punch bullet is a fine performer, and will not break apart and fail to penetrate. I highly recommend it.

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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