Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 125 gr SST in 308 Win or 30-30 bolt

Anyone loading this bullet for a 308? I don't have any of the powders Hornady lists in their manual so I'm tempted to go with the 130 loads but if anyone can add something I'd appreciate it.
Would also like to try the bullets in a bolt 30-30...... TY

It depends on what you want to do with it. A light-for-caliber SST is not going to be a good idea at full .308 velocity. It will perform terribly on deer. At 30-30 velocities, it may be real good.

For targets etc., they should be fine and velocities could be high.

I loaded 125 Nosler BTs in a Remington 788 for a short while. The bullet was so long that the bullet ogive started in the case. That was so they would fit the magazine, which was designed only for round or flat nose bullets.

I think the 125 SST is purposely designed to be a little bit fragile. It seems like there's a lot of people using em in the 300 blackout with really good results on game.
So by default that probably doesn't make it a real good bullet for the 308 up there close to 3000 feet per second.

Not familiar with the Hornady bullet at all.

Have loaded 125 gr Nosler ballistic tip for a friends Browning BLR in 308 and for another's 30-30 Contender with 14" barrel. Used Varget in both.

The bullet worked well for both though given the lower velocity of the 30-30 Contender it held together a bit better.

At the end of the day, both killed deer and the 30-30 Contender worked pretty well on ~ 150 lb feral hog and held together better than you'd expect.

Hornady loads this bullet in its low-recoil .308 hunting ammunition at 2675 fps. I have to assume that Hornady tested this load and believes it will perform well at that velocity, which is a bit more than what is attainable in a bolt action .30-30.

Not sure what Nosler Ballistic Tip performance has to do with the OP's question, completely different construction between the two bullets. Oh wait - they both have a plastic tip!



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Regarding terminal performance on critters, I find the NBT more consistent than the SST. I gave up on SST's because of that. Accuracy was great, as good as NBT's.

I would think the SST would be a good choice at moderate speed. It tends to blow up stuff when moving too fast, not as forgiving as the newer NBT's, IME.

DF

not sure bout 125 sst but the 125 nbt with 46 gr imr 4320 and cci200 will kill any whitetail you want with little recoil

I have loaded them in 308 and 30-06 imp .
they seam to be very tough compared to the 150 sst that really opens and makes a mess.the deer i have shot all had exit holes and very small ones at that /very little blood loss. even at 200 yards coming from a 30-06 imp pushing 3400
at the muzzle.
8208 worked great in the 308 and Varget in the 30-06 worked great

That's one bad looking dude...

DF