Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6.5 140 grain sst

my cousin purchased a 264 wm, and wants me to start loading for him. He bought 6.5 140 grain ssts. i have shot ssts out of my 257, but they are flat based. these are boattails. they tore up pa whitetails in my 257, anyone use them in a 264 wm before? and does anyone know why they are boattails in the 6.5 cal, and flat based in the 25cal? thanks, Paul

I used them on a single caribou hunting trip. Took three animals; not ideal lung shots….tore up lots of meat, breaking bones along the way. The 129 or 140 standard Interlock are probably better general purpose bullets IMO.

I shot 1 small brown bear with a SST and had a wound channei the size of a bucket,, I concur with KLIK on the Interlocks,,my fav!

Thanks men, i tend to agree with you both, its what he dropped off for me to load for him. he is just a shooter, and said those will work, do to him having watched me use them in my 257 roberts.i, like Klik have ripped up alot of meat with the sst. i just have zero experience with the 6.5 version of the sst, and and very curious to see how the sst shoots with the boattail, that is on the 6.5 140 sst. Thanks again, Paul

I shoot a 264 and echo the comments on wasting meat. Need something to hold together better until you get 250-300 yards down range and they slow down some.

I shoot a 264 and echo the comments on wasting meat. Need something to hold together better until you get 250-300 yards down range and they slow down some.

Yep; good buddy of mine ran 'em through... er... INTO... a medium sized hog in Texas from his 6.5-284 (so slower than the WM) and got no exit; core separated.

Of course we know that from inspection of a dead hog that dropped DRT, so they're not ALL bad...

I shoot these bullets in a 264 WM. they leave the barrel at 3140 and they killed 6 animals last yr. all 1 shot kills. 1 black bear at 380 yds, bang flop and the other 5 were black tails at 80 yds clear out to 675 yds. I didn't notice any more meat damage than normal, then again most of the shots I took were neck shots. the bear was a behind the shoulder and a tad high, broke the spine and some ribs. I say use them and shot behind the shoulder.

admin100,

I shoot these SSTs several calibers. In .257 I have 250 Savage, .257 Roberts and .25-06 Remington. My lone .264 is a 6.5 X 55 Swede. I have had great results and IIRC my longest tracking job to date was more like looking around for the body. I have seen several threads on the SST and I can't know which 257 you have but I am wondering if my results may be atypical as I am not using these bullets in magnum calibers at high velocity. However, that said I know Hornady says they perform up to 3300 fps and are designed for "rapid expansion and maximum energy transfer". That would seem to indicate that the manufacturer anticipates some massive tissue damage which would create meat loss to be sure. I guess it come down to DRT vs meat loss and just what the bullet contacts upon entry or exit. As to WHY the 257 is a flat base and the 264 a BT I have no clue as the Horndy catalog says all SSTs are BTs.. the 6mm is also a flat base. Go figure???????? The discussion of exit wounds vs no exit has been going on since bullets were invented I think. I need the biggest target possible so I try to lung shoot edible game. After a few feet, their nose works as the exit hole if a blood trail is required and then it's a short one. It's almost getting to a "what's available" not "what do I want" as far as any reloading components are concerned. The passion for high BC and the tipped bullets are driving the fact that many good bullets are "temporarily unavailable". Sometimes I have to use what I can buy too.

I tested them in wet newspaper and they had bad core separation compared to the other bullets I tested including the 140 Speer. If I recall penetration was down near the 100 grain ballistic tip

Old_Doe_Shooter, i have a lot of luck with the SSTs as well, fortunately all one shot kills from my 257 m77 mkII over the last few yrs, that i have been using them. i like the bullet in the 25cal, i am just curious as to how it works in the 6.5cal with a boattail. i was able to load a few up, and get to the range yesterday. they shoot well,over 54 grains of i4350 for my first go at it with a 264wm.

A question for the group. Like others, I've heard good and bad reports on the SST in various calibers.
My question: If the bullet was slowed down to start at say, under 3,000 fps, could it have some effect on the amount meat damage currently being encountered by many?

I got a good deal on some 150gr .308 SSTs a few years ago. I was thinking about loading them as a fast, flat, low-recoil load in my 300WM and I was advised against it at those speeds. I ended up getting rid of the 300 and loading up the SSTs in my 30-06 and a buddy's 308. Haven't noticed excessive meat loss at those speeds, but most of the shots were 150yds+.

i have thought about slowing them down in my 257, im currently around 3000 fps, but the weather here has not been good enough to drag out the chrony and head to my camp, or local range.

I don't want to take a nice light weight warm fuzzy 25 Bob and try to cram in enough power to hit warp speed. Of course, it always depends on what YOUR rifle likes best as far as accuracy but I general shoot a kittykat load better anywhoo. I WAS in that Speed Kills school for a while but I flunked out. I'm at about 2800-ish in the Roberts now. I went to the 6.5 Swede because I found one For Sale and could not resist. I'm so easy it scares me. I can comfortably shoot 140 SSTs at about that same 2800 fps and pick up 20-40 grains in bullet weight. For me shooting game past 250-300 yards becomes problematic or just plain silly. Since I got that Ruger Swede I am 4 for 4 with one "brutal" tracking job of about 30 feet in the sage brush the others were bang-flops (my favorite). I don't see any need for high price Premium bullets when the SST is available and gets the job done so well. I like the Swedish girl and she likes me back. Win/Win.

O D S, Im liking your thinking. The SST gets it done. why change

Because we are talking about launching them at 3200, not 2800. And I don't think that the 140 SST likes high impact velocities

Here's your interlock ring:


Compared to a 140 Speer at same velocity for a similar cup and core reference

I suspected as much with high velocity as said so back a ways. I can't say I ever had one separate the only one to survive was a .257 and I knocked it off the tailgate not thinking as per usual. The rest left no evidence aside from the exit hole. 3200 is getting right up there to the manufacturers limit on the high end.

it all makes sense about the high velocity. with that all said,its probably not the best option out of the 264wm with the high velocities that it can produce.