Based on JB's oft reported statement that recent Hornady SSTs have terminal performance very similar to their Interlocks, I tried some 139 SSTs in my 280. MV is about 2950 fps. The load is quite accurate and terminal performance on 8 0r 9 whitetails has been very good.
About a year ago I purchased a couple of boxes of 7MM 130gr factory seonds from Midway that are visually identical to the SSTs. Although the brand is not identified, I'm pretty dang sure they are SSTs.
So my question is this: Is there any way to determine if these factory seconds are "recently" manufactured, I.e., since Hornady toughened them up. Or would it be more likely that they could be some of the early SSTs that were pretty fragile?
Pretty sure the answer is that the only way to tell is to try them out. But I thought there is nothing to lose by asking the question.
Thanks for any intel...
