Thoughts on Hornady SST....

The only thing I have hit with an SST is a groundhog out of a 260, opened him right up, with him splattered all over the corn stalks behind him. I think I choose bullets like a few on here. On the idea DesertRam is on, for my important game (to me, like hunts I pay a good amount of money for and leave as little as possible to chance), i'm going to choose a bullet that will make up for any mistake I make. My last elk hunt, I could have used my 180sst out of my 300wm, but chose to go with 180TTSX. I hit an elk at 500yds in the shoulder and she dropped like a rock. If I took the same shot with the SST, I might have expected different results due to the lack of weight retention compared to the TTSX. I"m hoping to get a WT this year with one of the SST, if I do, i'll post some results. My guess it if you keep the velocity down a bit, you will have more controlled expansion and less fragmentation.
 
We have shot over 20 deer in the last 10 years with 165gr. SST's, out of 30-06's. I can't say anything bad about this bullet, last year a 11-point muley at 385 lazered yards dead where it stood. Longest shot 465 yards a couple years ago, same results. Closest shot about 60 yards, we will not change what works. Good luck with whatever you decide to use.
 
I have shot several whitetail deer with SST bullets out of different calibers and always got pretty much the same result. All were mature bucks that weighed in the 150-160 pound dressed range. All shots were under 100 yards. All the deer were hit in the chest and all but one had what sure looked like pretty massive lung damage {neither lung was recognizable}...none of the deer dropped in their tracks. All of them went at least 100 yards and one went a good 1/4 of a mile {he only had one lung blown up}. All of them had a decent blood trail that never got hard to follow.
One was shot with a 140 grain SST out of a 260. One with a 139 grain out of a 7mm-08 and the one that went the farthest was shot with a 150 grain SST out of a 30-06 Ackley Improved.
Obviously, none of these bullets were flying at the same speed. The 260 was doing something like 2600 if that...the AI was cooking along at right around 3000fps. I never found any exit holes and I never found nothing but tiny little shards of copper. In fact, after the third deer I even went to the spot where I left the gut pile the next day and metal detected for bullet parts, but found none. Maybe most of the bullet bits were lost in the guts, maybe they really did explode that bad.
Now, all this might sound like I don't believe the SST is that great of a bullet...that is not the case. They are accurate, I had no problem hitting the mark. I shot the deer in the chest, in the vital area and always hit lung, is there a better place??? The bullets all totally fragmented {exploded} and did not exit, that means it expended ALL of its energy on the target, I don't know if you can ask for more. The real question here, to me, is; if I had some different bullet how many deer would have gotten away???? Don't get me wrong, I would very much like to find a bullet that will give a hunter a really good chance of dropping a deer in his tracks. You can believe it is not for lack of trying different ones that is the reason I haven't found it yet.
I believe that a whitetail deer is one very tough animal to drop DRT and they also have a very strong will to live. They are just plain hard to kill period.
 
I have a few pictures of a buck shot with a 25 06 117 gr SST. It made a good exit hole. I have had one never to run yet out of my 280 or 25 06.
 
The 120gr SST in the 6.8 is a one trick pony, but its a really good trick. Bullet goes in chest cavity and begins comming apart rapidly throwing razor sharp shreds in every diretion. Massive damage occurs to lungs,heart,liver, and numerous veins and arteries. Usually no exit and animal may make a short run. The impotant think to know is that the animal is dead as long as it wasn't gut shot.
If shoot through's are your goal a bullet like the accubond or one of the copper hollowpoints
would fill the bill better for you. Sounds like fun testing them out,
 
Hit a deer this weekend at 40yds with 123gr. SST out of 260. Went through the first shoulder, tore apart the two lungs, and lodged in and broke the other shoulder. Buck went 40yds without the use of it's front legs and left a river of blood behind it and expired. I did not try to recover the bullet, but it did leave = about a 2-3" hole in the ribs where it entered after it hit the shoulder. Can't complain about its performance.
 
Ghostman said:
IMO SSTs are a good Varmint bullet and a poor big game bullet. They have thin jackets, upon impact especially at high FPS speed typically separate the lead core from the jacket and don't penetrate. They're much like a Nosler BT but more explosive.
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I've been using a 308 loaded with 150gr SST bullets and have shot 8 big bucks over 8 years at ranges of 125 yards out to 375 yards and have never had a deer go more than 5 yards with a shot right behind the front shoulder. My experience with the SST bullet on big bucks has been nothing but incredible results.
 
HawkCreek said:
On a whim I once bought a box of Hornady light magnum ammo for my .30-06 loaded with the SST. I only ever shot one coyote with that bullet but after that I'd never use it on game. It just opens way to fast and I've heard lots of reports like the OP where a bullet won't exit at 100 yards. No way, that is plain and simple crap bullet performance. Fine for varmints I suppose but not big game.
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I've reloaded 150gr SST bullets for my 308 for 8 years now and I've killed 8 really big whitetail bucks. Never had a Buck go even 5 yards with a behind the shoulder shot. I have nothing but outstanding reviews on this bullet and deer.
 
You picked an OLD thread to comment on.
We call SST’s western bullets. Why? If you can see for forever and watch them fall then they’re great. If you’re in thick cover, then they aren’t a good choice. Yes they kill deer, I just prefer to find them before the buzzards do. No exit means very little blood and getting help and walking grid patterns or circles just changed our minds on these bullets. I want a passthrough where blood is flowing so good a toddler could follow it.
 
Spurchaser said:
You picked an OLD thread to comment on.
We call SST’s western bullets. Why? If you can see for forever and watch them fall then they’re great. If you’re in thick cover, then they aren’t a good choice. Yes they kill deer, I just prefer to find them before the buzzards do. No exit means very little blood and getting help and walking grid patterns or circles just changed our minds on these bullets. I want a passthrough where blood is flowing so good a toddler could follow it.
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Hmm, what cartridge? I too advocate for exit wounds, which is why I shoot Barnes in most my rifles. However, I've never recovered a 129 grain SST fired from my 6.5x55. They punch right through, leaving a great wound channel and nice exit wound for two-sided bleeding. That's on mid-sized gamed like pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer, and hogs.
 
I've lost count how many WT and Axis Deer along with Coyotes I've killed with the 165 gr SST in my 308. I've also taken many varmint and Axis with the old A-Max bullets too. Over 400 plus hogs with the 120 gr SST's in the 6.8 SPC II.
 
jimmyp said:
OK, first off lets start with, I have VERY limited experience on game with the bullet other than the 12ga offering which I have used extensively, Indianas new rifle season has allowed me to see the bullet in action exactly twice on deer.

This weekend my father and I each shot a deer, his a roughly 200lb buck, and mine about a 215lb doe.

Buck- 150-175yds bullet entered quartered away hit a rib, and just destroyed everything in the chest cavity, no exit wound no bullet to be found.

Doe- 250-275 bullet entered shoulder broke both shoulders and exited off side leaving a quarter sized exit wound little to no blood trail.

Both guns 18" bbl 308 running the same exact load of 150gr SST over benchmark

Neither deer went more than 20yds.

I had pretty high hopes for the SST but the results of the 2 deer ( I know hardly a pool of experience) seem to be pretty opposite, and inconsistent.

My reason for this long winded post is that I am about to assemble a 6.8spc upper for my AR with pigs, and coyotes in mind and the 110gr SST was one of the bullets I have been looking at.

So what have balls experience been with the SST in general, deer, coyotes, pigs, [beeep] anything.

Thanks
Jim

Now, in my mind these are ver
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Though I remembered that plastic tip. Where do you think it goes on impact? I believe, probably depending on where the hot is, right back into the bullet. Probably what destroyed the inside of the doe you shot. I use the 308 on a lot of deer over the years and never had one bullet do that with the 165gr 30 cal bullet. At one time was going to try the 150gr bullet nut was afraid of that happening with it and they didn't shoot all that well to begin with. Lighter weight bullets at higher velocity tend to blow things up, especially with that plastic tip being pushed into the core. I shot 165gr Hornadys into newspaper years ago, the old spire points. As I recall they maintained 85% of their weight but the core did shoot loose in the jacket. Up the velocity and I suspect there could be a problem with bullet's blowing up inside an animal. Shooting my 25-06 at deer I found a lot of really bad damage in the chest cavity. Went up to 117gr Spire Point And damage ceased! Biggest difference I could see was the excessive velocity of the lighter bullet. But I'll say this for the Hornady spitzer's with lead tips accuracy was always right there when I used them. Been using Hornady's for a lot of years now and they are the bullet I use in my 30-06 for elk. I do use the plastic tips in varmint rifles. Then the bullet blows up, small concern for me. In a 243 the 75gr V-Max blows pretty much all apart on even small sage rats, I don't fill the freezer with them.
 
DesertRam said:
Hmm, what cartridge? I too advocate for exit wounds, which is why I shoot Barnes in most my rifles. However, I've never recovered a 129 grain SST fired from my 6.5x55. They punch right through, leaving a great wound channel and nice exit wound for two-sided bleeding. That's on mid-sized gamed like pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer, and hogs.
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I have a 6.5x55, 260 Rem and 6.5-06 and have been using Speer hot cores in them. Mostly just 140gr hot cores, wish Speer would make a 130gr hot core for the 260. Best bullet I ever found for my old 7nn Rem mag was a 160gr Speer Hot Core. Shooting into newspaper at 100yds with them and 154gr Hornady's, both retained 85% of their weight but the Hornady's core was very loose in the jacket and the Speer core was tight as could be. The difference for me back then was the Speer was a bit more accurate in that old rifle. I though at one time Hornady made a bonded bullet and if they did and they weren't twice the price of reg spire points I'd have tried them. Hornady makes very good bullet's but the jackets do seem a bit fragile in the lighter for cal weights. I'll continue to use the 180gr Hornady in my 30-06 for elk and the 45gr V-Max in my 243 varmint rifle but pretty much trying the Speer Hot cores in my 26 cal rifles. Oh will stick to that 117gr spire point in the 25-06 also. I haave had this feeling for a long time that the Speer Hot Core's are super hunting bullet's. No plastic tip required.
 
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