Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hornady SST's on whitetail???

P.S. I also used to shoot hogs with a 7mm Rem.Mag. using both 154 SST and 160 Nosler Partition. Both worked fine with very predictable fatal results. Just got tired of the unnecessary blast and recoil of the magnum. SST was the more accurate of the two bullets in this Model 700 BDL which was purchased in the early 70s. Traded it for a left hand 700 in .270Win for my son-in-law.

Thank you, sir.

I know when to quit...

CKW

I decided to try Hornadys '06 150 SuperPerformance for its flatter trajectory beyond 300yards which is where most of my caribou shots are at over open tundra. Book MV is 3070 I think with 26? Inch bbl. mine is a 27 heavy, with MOA accuracy across the Atv seat. Gotta try it on a proper bench some day but for field conditions good enough..

They make an identical, interchangeable supposedly, bonded bullet (GSX?) which should be less "explosive" on game.

My '98 rifle is zeroed at 300 with the SST. The 100 and 200 poi closely match nosler#5 BC chart for the 415 BC. They show 6.8 high at 100, I got just over 7, probably shooter induced. I have yet to field shoot at 400 and 500, shown in the chart as minus 8.2 and 17.6 respectively, but I expect these to mat h well also.

Was gonna do it this weekend but a bad cold hit. Weather sucks too. 36 degrees light rain. In the Arctic! E Coasters stole our weather!

LAS, thanks for the information. Be interesting to hear how the SuperPerformace works out for on your hunt.

My load is a handload that still needs further testing but saw that my chronographed velocity is the same that Hornady gives for their SuperPerformance load. I run the Hornady ballistic application at 50 yard increments out to 500 yards. Now I need to shoot the load for accuracy and test at different ranges to see how it aligns with the dots in my scope.

I've shot a pile of deer (60+) with a 150 gr SST at about 3000 fps and the the results were spectacular. They were instant death when I did my part. Shots from 10 to 380 yards, deer from 90 lbs to 250. Exit holes at least 70% of the time and more than 90% bang-flops. The deer that ran at all were mostly the ones I shot under 50 yards in the lungs and they all had great,sometimes gruesome blood trails.

I also have two cousins, that have shot 154 gr SST in 7mmRM for the last 10 years and have killed well over 250 deer each. I don't think they would consider anything else.

Only used them in 130 270Win. Behind the shoulder is good. Hit bone= big mess. Never had a deer walk away from one.

In my opinion they need to beef them up a little. They remind me of the "original Ballistic tips" before they beefed them up.

If I had to use them, it would be at speed below 2800 fps. I'd only use them if there is nothing else available.

Would a 180 SST be "beefier" than a 150 SST, say in .30 cal?
If so, would it be less explosive in a deer?

Yes? No?
Anyone?

Based on the disparity of opinion on this forum and my own experience, I think that has already happened. I have been using 150 grain SSTs in my 30-06 (my "long range" gun) for about 3 years now and their performance has been outstanding. Never had one fail to exit and would not want them any "tougher". So, I think at some point the recipe for them probably changed as the BT's did.

Well, That's kinda why I chose the sst, they came with a cannilure, and hornady's nifty inter-lock ring too... maybe not so violent I thought.

Was not long after using both I realized Both were just dynamite deer bullets. AND close to the same price Hornady came 100 per box and had them in 162 grain 7mm cal compared to the heaviest Nosler 7mm Btip is 150 and only 50 per box.

I like a bullet that opens fast, destroys a lot of tissue and kills quickly. This is perfect for deer in thick cover or at long range. I have used the 150 gr. SST loaded to near 3000 fps out of my 30-06 with nothing but good results and every bullet has exited so far. I may load some in my 300 Win mag for some way out there shooting in Colorado.

At '06 velocities that was my experience w/ the 165 gr version; if I hunted a small property where I needed to drop em DRT this could be a good choice though, particularly if stuck behind the shoulder on a quartering away shot. I switched to the 168 NBT and haven't looked back.

My good friend does use em in a mild 308 load and has had great experience with em, tho he prefers that heart/lung shot vs. shoulder.

I have had good luck with 123 6.5's started at 3100 and 95 .243's started at 3400 on mule deer and antelope.

Only 4 critters with the 6.5 and 6-8 with the 95's but they work well for me. They seem to open quickly and are a bit hard on tissue but they kill quickly.

I love the 150 SST's out of a .308 started @ 2800 fps, but I'm not sure I'd want to drive them a lot faster. At that velocity, they seem to open fast and always give a good size exit. I'd choose a tougher bullet for elk, but they're excellent on deer and varmints.

~ 30 yards. Exited.


~ 125 yards. Exited.


~ 75 yards. Exited.


~ 100 yards. Exited.

I've used the 165 gr and 180 gr SST's in both a 30-06 and a 300 WM and won't use them again. Accuracy was great but for shots inside of 200 yards, if I hit any bone, even a rib, I got 4" exit wounds and about another 3-4" of lost meat due to blood-shot.
In the 7mm-08, I tried the 154 gr with not much improvement on the shorter ranges.
The NBT's I've used in above rifles have left nice, neat 2" exit holes and all but one deer was DRT. The one non-DRT went about 60 yards before piling up and left a good blood trail. Meat loss due to blood shot was less as well.
Accuracy on the NBT's have been as good as the SST's. I think if I was going to be hunting where the shots on deer were further than 200 yards, or the animal was heavier than the deer here I wouldn't mind using them again. But for the 95% of the shots I have, I'm happy with the NBT's.

Good bullets but I always go for the heavies to keep impact speeds reasonable. 180g in 30-06, 150g in 270 Win etc.

A little soft. I quite like soft bullets though. Nice and accurate. Cheap too.


They are not as tough as the Interlock version.

I've posted this before, but WTH.........7mmRemMag, 139gr SST Hornady Superformance ammo, 100 yard shot (app 4 years ago).

[img:left][/img]

150 Nosler Partition, 7mmRemMag 120 yards.....

[img:left][/img]

Looks pretty dead to me. Not much left to eat though.