Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady SST 250 gr. Muzzleloader Projectiles

I had an interesting experience this past weekend during the Kentucky early muzzleloader season. I shot a decent 8 pointer with about 10 minutes of legal shooting light on the last day of the season. It was a 50 yard shot completely broadside on a still animal. I shoot 250 gr. Hornady SST's over 100 gr. of Pyrodex pellets. I typically get 1 - 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards, which is plenty accurate for where I hunt.

Now for the goat rodeo part of the story. Due to the low light and slightly humid conditions, the smoke at the shot did not allow me to see which direction the deer ran upon impact. When I went to the site of the shot, I found no blood or hair, and it was getting dark fast. I called a friend to help me look. We grid searched for about an hour with flashlights, but no deer. I went back out the next morning, but I did not locate the deer. Later that afternoon, my friend who is also the landowner called me and said he found my deer. Fortunately, it was cool the night before and that day, and was in the shade, so the meat was fine. The decent size whitetail was hit right on the shoulder, destroyed the lungs, but did not exit. My experience in the past with these muzzleloader projectiles has been positive with pass-throughs.

What experience do you guys have with these muzzleloader projectiles? I typically try to break shoulder bones in order to put the deer down quickly. I usually do not utilize rear-lung, "meat-saver" shots. I am guessing and hoping that my experience this weekend was an anomaly. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I have had really good luck with them, always a pass-through. I exclusively run them on top of Blackhorn 209 though. Any chance you had moisture in the Pyrodex pellets or something that prevented a full charge? I have seen weird things with friends using Pyrodex pellets.

Sometimes strange things happen shooting live animals and not paper. Glad you recovered the deer.

I was really happy to recover it as well.

I understand your point concerning the Pyrodex pellets. I will likely switch to Blackhorn 209 at some point in the future. Muzzleloader powder/pellets, primers, and projectiles are really hard to come by in my area. However, this shot sounded and felt like a normal powder ignition.

I shoot the same bullet with 100 gr BH 209. I've had pass thru's on everything I've shot with them but never aimed at the shoulder. I usually aim for the crease if broadside.

I’ve used the 300gr version for years, always have great results. Pass thru virtually every time with good sized exit holes.

A friend of mine has shot a few and all have passed thru except for shoulder shots. They have been under the hide on the far side. All have been 30-75 yards. Sounds like your experience is fairly typical.

I have been trying to find a reliable muzzleloader projectile. My TC strike refuses to shoot any saboted bullet well. Tried 295 grain power belts, over 110 grs of 209, and they were ok on broadside shots thru the ribs. Last year had a disaster. Planted one right on the shoulder of a doe quartering towards me at 102 yards. Should have flattened her right there. Took almost two hours to follow 200 yards. The slug had shattered on the joint and nothing had got inside the chest cavity. The largest pieces recovered were like number 6 shot.

Going to try Hornady bore drivers. The weigh 300 grains. Shot them into dry magazines with a piece of laminate flooring taped to the front. They penetrated 2.5 to three inches. The Powerbelts and my friends Sst 250 and my powerbelt 295 only made it 2 inches. Only time will tell.

I shoot the the T/C 45 Cal 300gr shock wave saboted bullets. The rifle is Remington M700 inline over 110 grs of Hodgon Triple 7. To date I have not recovered one or had a deer be able to stop one. They shoot well for me. But since TC is out of business they may not be in production any more.

Used the TC Shockwaves in a Rem 700 with120grs 777 and had pass throughs on shoulder hits and lung area. Used Traditions with same results with BH 209 110grs in CVA Accura MR. My understanding is Hornady makes and or made the bullets for TC and Traditions. Look the same. I used the 250gr version. Satisfied with all of them. Dan.

The old man that used to process our deer had a shelf with bullets he’d dug out of deer. There were a bunch of SST/ Shockwaves on that shelf. Clearly they killed deer but most were unexpanded or had their noses bent over. The ones I’ve found in my buddies’ deer looked about the same….. I buy sabots and bullets separately. I shoot a 50cal ml with 300gr .452” XTP’s and 120gr 777. The one bullet I recovered was shot into a buck quartering to me from about 50 yards. Found it in his ham and it was a perfect mushroom.

I had a similar problem with those Hornady bullets. Now I shoot Fury ML bullets and have been extremely pleased with their accuracy and ability to produce quick kills.

It is of my opinion, due to the size of typical ML bullets (40-50cal), it's sometime difficult to determine true bullet performance without analyzing the bullet itself. If it passes through the deer then it's kinda hard to tell if it expanded as designed or if it just powered through and killed by striking bone or poked a hole through something vital and caused it to leak it's contents.

https://www.furycustombullets.com/product-category/black-powder-muzzle-loader-bullets/

Been a real fan of Barnes 250 all copper bullet/sabot combos. Using to over 200yds, we’ve never recovered a bullet and expansion has been more than obvious. Please note we’ve alway used 3 50g pellets to ignite. Velocity chronographs 2250 or so and accuracy is 11/2” at 100yds. Interestingly, in my knights, they don’t shoot as well with 2 pellets….not sure why.

I've killed a pile of animals (deer, antelope, elk) with the 385 Hornady Great Plains bullet over 100 grains of Triple 7. It's an impressive slap when it finds the mark.

Whatever I’m shooting, I try to keep chest shots low, below the curve, so blood begins leaking to the ground as soon as possible. High shots may DRT if the spine is hit or shocked, the classic high-shoulder shot, but if missed the deer can go a long ways before there’s a blood trail. A low hit tight against the shoulder usually gets the heart, the big vessels, and lungs too. Never seen one go more than 100 yards, and the blood trail is easy to find and follow. Killed one with a .270 in 2011, hit right behind the shoulder halfway up. The bullet didn’t exit, and there wasn’t a drop of blood to follow, though his chest was soup inside.

I’ve had the exact same experience with the last 3 buck I took in 2020-2021, good shot placement, no sign AT ALL of a hit, determined searching recovered the first 2, the 3rd was smart enough to run opposite the smoke plume and I saw him drop.
I tried using Barnes sabots sighting in last weekend but I couldn’t get them down the barrel without the strength of 10 men, so it’s back to the SST’s.
Shooting a TC Omega w 2 pellets of 777.