Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game SSTs for Deer?

I would trust Hornady bullets. I 2nd Big Redhead about the broadside ribcage shots being best for the SST.

I have had great accuracy from 95gr SST out of my 243 win. That said, dont shoot anywhere near meat you would like to eat, they do some damage.

I used a 165 gr. SST from my HS Precision 300 wsm this year when I went to Kodiak to hunt Mt. Goats. I shot mine at a distance of 422 yds. I can tell you that I have never seen a bullet blow up like it did. It did completely penetrate the goat, but the hole it produced was devastating. I did like how well they grouped. That is my only experience w/ them.

Good for dropping deer on the spot and for longer ranges, but as others said definitely soft to explosive at short ranges and higher velocity.

In the 270 wsm had some fail to exit on small hogs. Using a 140 gr. in a 280AI the performance was text book perfect, with one exception where the bullet deflected on a shoulder and turned into a gut shot. Can't complain about 15 or so one shot kills even if a couple were messy.

They seem like the Nosler BT in general. They shot exceptionally well in both rifles.

I won't hesitate to use the rest but I generally prefer to use a more controlled expansion type bullet. Like the Accubond or TSX.

I'm gonna use them for Javelina season this year if I get a tag. I have a box of 154's for my 7mag and i'm itching to unload. From what I am hearing tho, I better make the shot over 300 yards or so so I don't explode the poor thing.

What I wonder tho is do they kill? I am not so concerned about pass thru as I am the entry. Will the bullet enter the boiler room if I shoot it or will it explode on the outside and not kill or penetrate enough to kill?

I can't wait to use them.

Kique

They are absolutely lethal. No worries with that combo for Javelina. You should get complete pass through on any broadside shot with the 154s.

Don't worry about the range. Don't make the mistake I did. I had Javelina all around me within spear range, jumped on the 4wheeler and went 300yds away to make it sporting (didn't have my spear with me) and proceeded to miss a big boar. Should have been a chip shot but I think I really didn't want to field dress the critter.

Actually, I think the SST would be PERFECT for the little peccaries.

RH

If a 22 mag will kill a javelina, I think any bullet type and weight will kill one. I am just seeing all these horror stories about blow ups and not passing thru and I am just curious. I am planning on using this bullet for everything that I hunt, and I would hate to shoot something at 400 yards and have the bullet not penetrate. Pass thru means nothing to me, but penetrating to the vitals does.
Just curious.

I remember when I was still guiding. I had one of those little guys bout 40 pounder dressed come up and smell me. He smelled, ran about 20 yards and stared at me and the client. I dropped to a knee and the client nailed him. We were archery hunting. The desert errupted with stinky rodents. There musta been 20 in that group. Fun day.

Anyways we'll see what they do. Dad will be shooting 140 accubonds out of his 270. We have never killed anything with our new guns, so this will be a break in hunt and bullet check. We will more than likely make chorizo out of the meat. That or pit BBQ it.

Kique

As has already been stated more than once, take ONLY BROADSIDE SHOTS AND KEEP THEM IN THE RIBCAGE, and you will have no trouble. Even if they do "blow up" the animal dies. Just don't hit them in the shoulder and expect good things.

-

I'd have to agree. I've had mixed results with the same box of 150 gr SST's from my .308 ..
Last year I whacked a buck broadside at 35 yards and the exit hole was about 1/2" dia.
This year, I had to shoot twice at my buck...taken from the same range...and it looked like it was hit by a HOWITZER!
Maybe a 5" dia hole??

Oh well, both deer didn't go far at all, just that this year my buck stood there after the 1st shot and I wasn't going to let him get away.

I would load them to the gills out of a wsm and not loose any sleep. At least on deer sized game.

I was curious about these as well since they shoot so good in my guns. I wrote to them and asked what size game they recommended I asked if they would be good on deer and elk and they responded yes they work for both

They work in a 12 ga loaded by Hornaday. They do seem a bit soft though. I actually recovered a couple this year. The Winchester Partition Gold slugs have never been recovered and seem to thump harder on impact. But I digress. No idea in rifle bullets, but would think they would be just fine for deer.

I used them with great success in a .308win with 150 gr SST's. Then went to 130gr SST's in a .270win and found out why these aren't the best choice. I won't re-tell the story because some here have NEVER made a bad shot on a game animal in their entire life and just can't understand that it does happen with mere mortals on occasion.

To make a long story short, if you hit bone at .270win velocities with a 130gr bullet they will explode violently and cause great damage to the game and your pride. After that experience I look for a little tougher hunting bullet than a SST. I will agree they are lights out accurate though.


Terry

Have you tried shooting them, Calvin? That might settle it right there. I couldn't get them to shoot out of two different 30-06's. One of which has a Pac- Nor barrel and pretty much shoots everything...

I have been shooting 130 SST's out of my .270 Win for five years. By far the most accurate bullet I have found for my Rem 700, and given the importance of accurate bullet placement, they are what I use.

I do not use them for elk, but they are my choice for deer and pronghorn. I have had no problems with "lethality," regardless of the shot location, or ranges within 350 yards.

Have killed deer broadside, quartering away, quartering forward, and frontal. Very seldom have anything other than a "dead where they stand" hit. If they do run off, expect some pretty heavy blood trails.

On ribcage shots, excpect huge exit wounds. If you hit the shoulder, expect a lot of meat damage.

But, they kill things very effectively. Still would be hesitant to use them on elk, even though they may work on a perfectly broadside elk shot. I save the 150 partitions for elk.

Calvin,

I just bought a box of factory ammo, Hornady's Light Magnum stuff, in .280 Rem., with the 139 gr. Interlock moly coated SST bullet. I took my custom .280 to the range last week, and found that this factory ammo shoots sub-MOA in my rifle.

Next project is to chrono these rounds. If they come close to the advertised 3110 fps, then they will very likely become my go-to rounds for deer-sized game, even possibly cow elk.

I shot three bucks over a several week period at 300-325 under a fruit tree with a 7 Mag loaded with 63.0g of IMR 4350, Rem case, 9 1/2 primer, 154g SST seated to touch the lands. The rifle shoots these bullets less than 1/2" at 100.

A friend wanted me to load some 162 SST's to take to Africa for plain's game for his Weatherby Mark V in 7 STW. I begged him to let me load him the 160g Parition or Barnes Tripple Shock...NOOOOOOOOO WAY! He insisted on the 162g SST. He and his friend had the same rifles, so I loaded for the both of them.

They both collected Two Eland,two Kudu, and a bunch of other animals, all of them bang flops. They worked so well, the PH wrote an article that circulates in Africa for PH's. I would have bet even money that there would have been wounded animals running all over.

He also shoots the 130g SST in his 270 with 55.0g of IMR 4350, blows up deer real good, he says; no runners.

Please help me out. Is not the SST also an Interlock bullet? The two that I sectioned seemed to have the Interlock band near the base, so should they not act just like the Interlock bullets that others recommend in place of the SST? I ask because my 7-08 really likes the 139 gr SST at full throttle, and I was wanting to use it on deer next year, mostly at around 100 yards. The explosive nature that others talk about with the SST is exactly what I found using the Nosler Ballistic Tip in my 30-06, even when loaded down to around 2700 fps. But I need a bullet that I can depend on exiting to give me a good blood trail in needed.

I have recently shot some Hornady Light Magnum ammo in my .280, with a 139 gr. bullet advertised by Hornady as an Interlock SST bullet. In looking at their sectioned bullet pictures on the website, they sure look like the same bullet internally.