Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hornady Super Performence SST performance

This summer at the range I tested the Hornady Super Performence ammo in my 300 Win Mag with the180 gr SST. Chronograph clocked them at 3160 fps and they grouped well. Shot a large bodied muley this season at a little over 100 yards and the bullet came apart. It left a fist sized entrants wound with bullet jacketing in the shoulder. Opposite shoulder looked like it was hit with a shot gun. No broken bones just lead and copper jacketing in the meat.

Anyone else using this ammo in a 300 Win and if so how did it perform?

Sounds about right. Were you expecting different from a plastic tipped cup & core at 3K?

Didn't know what to expect, I am just glad it was on a deer not a tougher animal. I normally shoot Nosler Partitions so I was pretty disappointed in the performance. I expected Hornady would match a tougher bullet at that speed. Maybe the GMX is a better choice.

I didn't mean to be snarky in my first response, so I hope you took no offense. I'm not quite sure what Hornady is thinking, loading those things so hot. I find the SSTs work great when started under 3k, and impacts are below 2800. Otherwise, they have tended to mirror your experience with them. GMX are a far better bullet for your application, I think. My brother likes SST on deer for lung shots out of his 7WSM, cooking at 3200+MV. They do leave quite a hole. I have an elk load with the 180's out of my '06, started at 2800. It is effective, but it isn't a heavy-bone, close-range affair.

Yeah I agree with you that you're likely better off with the GMX. Still don't get what the hell Hornady is thinking as far a speeding up the SSTs.

Actually, it's not Hornady's fault. It's the fault of hunters who think more velocity is always better. All Hornady (and all the other companies that produce +zip ammo) do is make ammo to appeal to this conviction. Which is why we have .30-06 ammo that kicks like .300 magnum ammo, and 12-gauge ammo that kicks like .50 BMG.

I took no offense and your response mirrors what I have seen. My friends use that ammo in their 06s with great results but I believe the MV is only 2800. It's great ammo for an 06 shooter!

I will stop being lazy and stick to hand loads.

I run the 139's at 3200fps from my 7RM and have killed many deer from 35-500yds with no issues. Great bullet as far as I'm concerned.

The interbonds or gmx would be a better choice. expecially at those impact velocities. Great bullet in a .308 30-06

I'll have to respectfully disagree with you on that statement (first time ever, by the way) . If the market demands more velocity, then by all means give the market what it wants. But do it with a bullet that isn't so frangible at the impact ranges of 90% of shots on game.

I worked up a load for a family friend for his 270 using all the old factory brass he had saved for a few decades and 130 gr SSTs, the only bullet that we could find in quantity on that particular day in the local stores. By chance, I happened upon a load that produced 3150 and stellar accuracy. He is a deer/elk hunter, and doesn't spend much time thinking about the gack that fills my waking hours. That was a few years ago. He loves them. No problems of any kind. Every time he has mentioned the ammo, it is to gush praise.

He doesn't purposely aim for shoulders. I keep thinking that this is a factor.

I hear many complaints about SSTs that I've personally never had. I wonder though if Hornady isn't shooting themselves in the foot by stoking up these C&C bullets to beyond their threshold.

It is worthwhile looking into the results from annealing SST bullets at:
http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase.html

I had very similar results last year using them out of a 7/08 and shot a buck at 246 yds in the shoulder. Bullet blew up and the was no blood trail, he made it about 70 yds.

I believe their primary purpose is accuracy, high bc, and positive bullet upset/expansion. Hornady achieved that. Most folks at the fire can anticipate what would have happened under the above scenario, but the hunting public might not--not everyone is a bullet looney.

In my limited experience with the sst impact velicity needs to be around 2800 or less. The advantage is that you can achieve expansion down to 1800 or so, which is a big plus for long range tissue destruction when you need it. Ive used the sst in my 243 AI in a pinch and it worked well. I just place myself a little futher away than where I figured my target to be. Which is easy to do on our okla wheat fields. If you hafta smoke em close shoot for the ribs when you can. If not shoot em where you can, it will kill them anyway.

I wonder if you could heat a bullet up enough to solder the core to the jacket?

Marksman, I believe you can, if the core is the right composition. In this case though, it would be easier to just buy Interbonds rather than SST's. Hornady has all of the bases covered with their bullet line, and the tipped C&C are on the frangible side.

I'm still not sure why people shoot for shoulders, particularly at shorter ranges.

Seems like you'd need to put a fluxing agent in there in advance.

If the copper is clean enough at the start, flux isn't necessary. Especially in a no oxygen environment like you'd have inside a bullet jacket. However, with interbonds on the market, it isn't worth the effort. I wasn't aware that interbonds were tipped, and it was just a mental exercise.

Sounds like my experience with SSTs in a 300WM years ago. Massive entrance wounds without exits on little whitetails. I even gave them up in 30-06 as well due to the lack of exits. The only combo that I personally care for with them is the 165 at a lowly 2700 in the 308. Still explosive, but it's slow enough to penetrate ok.

Seem to read plenty of stories like this.

Needless to say, I probably won't be trying the SST's for a while...

I've got 2 boxes of 139gr 6.5s for my 6.5x55. I figure they'll be alright for antelope. I've never shot any though to see how well they shoot. They're's some loaded but I haven't taken them to the range yet.