Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 95 gr Hornady SST for deer question.

I have found a good load with IMR4350 and 95gr SST's in my 243. I have heard these bullets are pretty explosive. Is anyone using them at or around 2900 at the muzzle? Thats what I am getting and I am wondering if that is too fast for close range deer. I have used the 90 and 95 gr NBT at way higher velocities and they work great but I know the Hornady is not as tough. What are ya'lls experiences with them?

My experience with SST and NBT is they are much the same. Both great bullets for broadside lung shots.

In 2016 I shot two antelope with a 6mmBR at 200 yards:
6mmBR 1.2" 95 gr Nos Bal Tip moly 29 gr IMR4166 2800 fps chrono 27" barrel

Both were bang flop.

I've been loading some from an old stash for a few years now. My nephew shot a 165 pound buck with one this past Saturday morning. The buck was quartering away somewhat and this being his first deer he misjudged the shot placement a bit. The angle between in and out holes was good, but the whole wound track could have been a bit more forward on the deer. He caught some liver going in and some lungs going out. The other "guts" didn't seem ruptured although I wasn't digging in there to find out.There was a half dollar size busted up rib area at the exit.

The load was 41 grains of H4350 if I remember right, and the rifle was a 20" barreled Rem M7 XCR so I doubt the bullet was going 2900 to start. The deer was shot about 100 yards out.

The BT seems to hold together much better than the SST in my 6mm Remington. Both are very accurate. But my vote goes to the BT

My cousin's family shoot the 95 grain SSTs because they hunt a small property and they want the deer down right there or they won't get them. The SSTs are very accurate, but they damage a lot of meat if a shoulder is hit.

I've shot 9 deer with the.243 95 grain SST. In my experience it knocks the snot out of 'em.

One buck that I shot, 200 plus lbs., was looking head on at me- I hit him right where the neck and and chest meets at ~135 yards. I swear he dropped DRT before I even felt the recoil.

Not much for an entrance wound, but when I opened him up it looked like someone had ran an egg beater through his entire body cavity.

The SSTs I have used are more frangible than ballistic tips. This judging by blood shot meet and wound paths. I have not had any not exit on broadside shots so far so don't know what retained weight and diameter are. If you pick your shots I think they are good. They seem a little on the soft side for big hogs especially if they are coated in mud but this may just be my imagination as so far they have worked fine on hogs. Still my preference is for the ballistic tip out of these two bullets.

I would not expect regular exits on the 95gr SST if catching a shoulder on a deer or hog. Doesn't mean they won't kill well, but where I hunt it is generally beneficial to have two leaking holes on a chest shot.

I have a friend in New Zealand that shoots those large deer down there. He is from S. Ca, and says that there is no need for a larger caliber, and they do shoot close range to some distance with the 243 Winchester.

95g SST is a tougher bullet than you think.

If you are so inclined, the 95g Partition is a very, very fine bullet, but not quite the blood trail of a 100g Hornady btsp.

I bought a couple boxes of the .243 Superformance ammo with the 95gr SST. They're running around 3150 out of my 22" barrel. Have taken 3 deer with it so far - all under 100 yards. They kill quickly but they don't seem much different than BT's or Interbonds in terms of bloodshot meat.

I think maybe they hardened the core since they first came out or possibly some have thicker jackets to begin with. Early 130 gr. 270s were really frangible but this may have changed. Midway had the 95 gr. SSTs as blems recently.