As I understand it, the SST Hornady is an Interlock bullet only with the red plastic tip to expand it faster. True enough that deer on average are only 11" through the chest wall and I have been using too hard a bullet at too slow a speed to expand quickly. I really liked the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw out of my 7mm RM on elk, but it was too tough a bullet out of a .308 and an 8 point ran away and hid from a liver shot. I got that one but he needed another shot. I know being critical about Partitions is like criticizing mothers and apple pie, but after a lot of dead deer at the end of the trail with that 7mag, .308 and 7mm-08, they just don't leave a very good blood trail. Lots of the kind of bucks that we are all after start walking around at last light and I've had too many where is the blood trail moments at last light knowing that the local wolf pack will find him if I don't.
To address trplem's point, I went to a deer seminar once and the guy was touting "The withers shot" as being an instant dropper. That buck, a nice ten point, was in thick brush that was covering more of his lower half than I thought that I could get a bullet through. Hence the "Withers shot" and I won't do that again. Evidently very high lung and below the spine with too hard a TSX bullet to do much damage.
Yes, Accubond, not Accupoint so thank goodness for that edit button. Lots of years ago, but I remember like a 4" diameter entrance wound on a close deer and it still ran sixty yards. Years ago one of our guys picked up a couple of boxes of Dominion Sabre Tip loads for his .30-06 when he was moose hunting in Canada. He shot a small doe with them all be it badly and it blew out fist size pockets without penetration. He got the deer, but it ran a long ways. I figure that I owe the animal a quick humane kill, so I don't try to save money on ammunition.
