I'm not an SST fan, gave up on them years ago. I found them to be very accurate, but terminal performance wasn't consistent.
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Those are my findings as well, particularly with the 6.5mm 123 grain SST and the early versions of the 129 SST. In a 24" 6.5x30-30 AI, the 123 grain SST proved to be exceedingly accurate. I decided to try it when the 120 grain Noslers were hard to find. On several hogs, including a couple of bruisers, I got excellent terminal performance with a load that clocked right at 2600 fps. Then came an opportunity for a double when a 50 pound shoat stepped in front of a sow (she was on a bit of a downhill grade, and they aligned perfectly). I took the shot from about 165 yards. The shoat dropped, and the sow disappeared into the brush. I was confident she was down just inside of the brushline. But there was no blood and no other indication of a hit. I went back to check the shoat, and I quickly saw that there was NO exit. No substantial piece of bullet was recovered from this ribcage shot, and the innards looked like I dropped a frangible bullet from a 22-250 into there.
But I never judge a bullet from one incident and kept using it. Things were going well again until I experienced two more with poor performance. That -- coupled with the shoddy performance of the early versions of the 129 grain SST -- turned me away from them for good.
As for anyone who may be curious, the 6.5mm 120 grain Ballistic Tip will out-penetrate the Hornady 123 grain SST, as will most hunting BTs when run against a comparable cup-and-core projectile.
