Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Hornady SSTs

Anyone used these in a .50? Your thoughts on them are appreciated.

That is the only bullet I use. That and 120 grains of Black Horn 209 and a magnum primer in my KP1

All I use in my Omega. They group very well for me at 100 yards.

How flat do they shoot?

Not as flat as Dead Centers....

I dont' shoot a 50, only a 45 and 54.... but in 45, the ssts are not as flat as the dead centers. Though IMHO, they are not all that far off that if you are shooting 200 and less, it won't really matter.

Hornady SST is also the TC Shockwave, no?

I've slayed a few largish whitetails with the SST......
Each one worked.

That is what I heard too. I shoot the 250 grain SST. I shot a three shot 2 inch at 100 yds. about 3/4 of an inch right and 1 inch high. Then I tried 200 yds. with 1 shot. I have a BDC scope. When I got down range I was 3" low and right on. I was happy.

My wife shoots them (.50 cal) out of her Knight Revolution (I'm a stick & string guy). Powered by 150 gr of triple seven (pellets) she'll shoot almost MOA at a 100 yds.

They performed very well on her mountain goat and a nice whitetail buck this year. Bullets retained about 82% of their original weight and mushroomed nicely.

RC

I shot the TC shock waves and The traditions smackdowns 300 grains each, both are the same bullet it appears and both out of my wifes 23 inch barreled rossi pushed with 2 white hot pellets produces 3 shot cloverleafs at 100.

I've killed several of my best whitetails with the 250grn SST. They have worked great on some and were very explosive on others. They seem to behave quite well at lower MVs, but when pushing them with smokeless or heavy BH209 charges they can come apart. I moved to TMZs and Bonded SWs for the faster stuff, but the 250 SST is still my favorite MLer pill at 777 and Pyro MVs.

Concerning trajectory, at 2350fps they drop around 4-6" at 200 when sighted 2" high at 100. I zeroed one of my rigs at 100yds with 2 777 pellets and the 250SST and had 10-12" of drop at 200. I would expect around 8" of drop at 200 with a 2000-2100fps load if zeroed 2" high at 100. The flatest sabot I've found is the Barnes 250grn TMZ, at 2115fps and 2" high at 100 its only 2" low at 200.

loder

I have shot them in my Savage shooting smokeless powder. I only use the sst's when hunting Does. They seem to be somewhat unpredictable, If you hit a rib or a shoulder they seem to explode and not exit. Therefore I only take head shots with them and the results are Mind boggling. [img:center][/img]

Loader,

You may want to try the Hornady .452 FTX 250 gr. bullet, it has a thicker jacket as the bullet was designed for the 450 bushmaster. You can buy them in a 100 bullet box VS a 15 round T/C box.

Doc

Doc

250gr .50 cal SST recovered from a mountain goat.

RC

Doc,

Question for you. Have you confirmed with Hornady that there's a difference is the SST vs FTX? Not doubting, just double checking and curious.

BTW, the FTX is a 50 count box. I looked into the cost difference between them and the SST and once you add in the cost of sabots with the FTX it came out to only a few cents difference per round. That was also including shipping for each.

I got a 100 count .452 225 grain ftx bullet 26.99, Yes it was made for the 45 colt but Hornady says it will work fine. My will be using them this coming weekend in NY and out the rossi 23 inch barrel, 2 T7 pellets and a harvester crush rib at 100 yards it is right around MOA, can't complain.

Hornady said that there is a slight difference in the 2 bullets.

I just double checked on the FTX's and the 225 gr is packaged 100 per box and the 250 gr is packaged 50 per box. Same list price for each.

Interesting.

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"Hornady said that there is a slight difference in the 2 bullets."

Which two? The FTX and SST in 250 gr?

yes the FTX and the SST (250's), I have never had a problem with the FTX bullet staying together, Never shot the 225 into a deer but I will either thursday or friday and I will let you know.

The "SST" bullet and the FTX bullet have 2 different jacket thickness. I have used the thicker 250 grain FTX bullet in my hand loaded 20 gauge rifle slugs at 1640 FPS which I consider very slow with excellent bullet upset. All 3 deer were DRT.

My opinion is the new polymer soft tip aids the bullet opening up quicker Vs. the older style hard tip bullet.

I do intend to switch to the bulk 50 box SST ML bullet in any new reloads.

Doc

Thanks Doc.

It is interesting that Hornady sells the FTX 225 gr in a 100 count box vs 50. It seems like it would make a very good low cost target or even possibly a hunting bullet. It's just that with the 225 grain I've never read about any on game results - so far. I know that you've had good results with the 200 grainer's so I imagine the 225 should work well also. I guess it all depends on the jacket construction Hornady uses in that version.

FWIW, I wonder just what if any the tip plays in expansion. I've found SST tips laying on the ground in front of a cardboard target. I know they help with aerodynamics and now that I think about it I wonder if the tips coming off has anything to do with the inconsistencies in on game performance with SST's that some folks have experienced. ? ? ?

I've only shot two deer with a muzzleloader and both were with 250 gr SST's. The first was a smallish 3x3 mulie at 40 yards broadside and perfect pass-thru with a half dollar size exit. The second was shot in the head at 65 yards with a clean pass-thru so there was no bullet performance involved. Wouldn't have matter what I shot it with.

I have good results with the 325 grain out of my 450 but have not been to anythign lighter, but I am sure hey peform good. I shot a deer with it 2 years ago at just over 350 yards, yeah a long ways for a lever gun and it looked like a softball had come out of it.

I used to shoot a home made cast 310 grain 44 cal lead bullet out of an encore and it was deadly. I would bet that with out the tip it would have different on game performance.