Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting SST Hornady review and recovery.

Similar results to Crimson. 140gr SST out of 260 rem moving about 2700FPS from 30-100 yards. Recovered every deer within about 50 yards but NEVER an exit wound. Shot em in the shoulder, ribs and neck (neck shot was 30 yards). Even the neck shot never exited. The bullets worked, just not happy about the lack of exit (and never searched for the bullet.) Used 165gr SST in 300WM, those were a different story. Too much IMO. Got a big doe with a blood trail I was able to spot 80 yards away. The other two deer I took were quite devastating and lost more meat than I can justify for using them again on whitetail.

Grandson shot a spike at 120 yards with a 123gr from a 7.62x39. No exit. Deer went 20 yards. Bullet got lost in the soup.

Not a speck of blood showing anywhere though in this case not needed.

Was that the .375 caliber bullet? Nosler discontinued these fairly quickly and converted them to the Accubond for better performance.

Wish I could post pics here....I shot a doe last night with a 165 sst out of my 30-06. Ran about 50 yards with a blood trail painted on the brush. The interesting part was when I walked to where she was when I shot and there was a piece of lung on the ground. And more one jump later. I’ve only had 3 not exit over years, all on larger bodied bucks that were hard quartering shots. All 3 were drt tho so I didn’t care.

Craig2506, was that a new box of those 165 SST's or from some years back? Mule Deer on here has said that the newer, tougher SST's work a lot like the Interlock bullets and my 165 grain Interlock buck did the same thing like you describe that SST doing. My old SST bullets gave me a DRT, but no exit so I'm on the cusp of shooting those up and either going new box SST's or Accubond to guarantee about a 2" diameter exit wound.

In my Thompson Center Venture compact 243 win with 20" bbl and 2700FPS the 95 SST bullets have all resulted in 1 shot kills. All hits in lung/heart cavity and no bullets recovered. Range from 50 to 200 yards. About 1 out of 4 hits resulted with the deer dropped where hit. Not all instant death but no trailing involved. Of those hit with the 95 sst none have traveled more than 50 yards. The only negative is poor blood trails and often no blood trail. This is also the most accurate bullet I have tried in my rifle.
On the opposite side of my experience with the Hornady SST bullets is the 270 Winchester. The HEAVIER SST bullets were not as effective as I would prefer. Accuracy was not as good as Sierra prohunter or Remington cup & core. I did find the Hornady 120 SST marketed by Hornady as 6.8 caliber to perform extreamly well and accuracy was excellent in all of my 270s over the years. This combination resulted in more DRT kills than any other combination. I checked my records and that bullet in 270 averaged 70% DRT on Tennessee Whitetails weighing between 100 to 170 lbs.
I was disappointed with The SST in 7mm-08. The heavier SST bullets gave very good accuracy but expansion was questionable. Deer traveled farther and little blood trail. Exit holes were small. I don't think the heavier bullets expanded to deliver maximum energy. Only deer never recovered was with this combination. I should note that I did not try the lightest SSTs in 7mm-08 rifles.

Windfall, think I bought that box 4-5 years ago. Hadn’t used my 30-06 for a while but brought it back out this year.

My Tikka 7 mm mag put 7 deer down this year with 162 SST from 3 yds-170yds... all passed through with minor holes except one 8 pointer shot at 140 yds, which angled left of front shoulder and stopped under the skin back passed the diaphragm... and he ran 15 yds with no blood.... I was shocked that he ran at all.

I'm thinking that the bullet ex-spends all it's energy inside the body... which is good... but by the time it exits .... the bullet is small, and energy is way way down to the point of not blowing big holes out the exit side.

The one deer shot with 6.5 creedmoor with 140 sst @2600 fps, at 40 yds in lower part of front shoulder did run about 30 yds, with a small exit hole... not sure about blood trail... didn't look for it... just went to deer.

I loaded SST's in my two buddies rifles... 300 win mag - 180 sst... 6.5 creed -140 sst... and 7mm mag -162 sst... and they knocked things around pretty good... got no complaints on deer and hogs. I'm kinda stuck on the SST's... they seem to have it going on for an ALL-AROUND BULLET.

The SST worked great on an antelope hunt with stellar accuracy and wide wound channel. The shot was taken at approx 275 yards with a Remington .243 rifle loaded with Black Hills Ammo featuring the 95 grain bullet.

Sherwood

I loaded them in a .308 one time and won't again. Loaded to 2650, the 150-grain absolutely exploded inside a small white-tailed doe at 100 yards, or so. The deer was dead, but no bullet should have come unwound like that. They are supposedly better now, but there are enough good bullets out there, that I don't feel a need to try them again. I think that they are the worst bullet that Hornady ever came up with.

They are accurate, though.

This is the damage to a buck shot with a 154 gr SST. I was using a 280 Rem. Shot distance was roughly 25 yds. Deer stumbled another 20 yds, laid down and gave up the ghost. 1st pic is entrance

Enjoyed reading all the replies about the same kinda blow up results I got with 1st generation 130 gr .277's Nosler Ballistic Tips, only now it's SST's. Still damn hard to beat plain old Interlocks in my book. The 165 gr 30 cal SST bullets shot well in 2 of my 308's but haven't used them on deer yet and prolly won't. Loaded some of the 225 SST's in my 338-06 at over 2600 fps for deer, didn't get a shot on deer that day but smacked a coyote on the move with one it took out 4 ribs and a chunk of the shoulder blade. Down he went and as I was cycling the action up he came, taking off over the ridge into the draw on the other side. Made about 35 steps before he died. Guess maybe i'll use the rest of them on PD's?. Damn coyotes can be tough but jeez. I've shot and liked the accuracy from A MAXes but have not put them on meat. How are the new ELD X's?

That was one tough coyote.

This

[quote=Oldelkhunter]Excessive and wanton destruction that is not needed to kill a whitetail or mule deer. A simple cup and core bullet like a Corelockt, Power Point, Hornady interlock or even a plain Federal Blue box bullet provide all the killing a deer needs. If you are shooting long range then perhaps a more streamlined bullet or SST might be viable.[

Very well said!

I've killed several deer with the SST....it just plain works for me.....but I do understand that it may be a tad soft for some......I quit the ballistic tip for that reason.....today it's Barnes that gets my spare cash.

2010 killed 1 deer 162 gr SST 7mmRM 3100 fps muzzle, kills was at 400 yards Ruger #1, 1.75x6.5 scope

I got some bulk blems for a few pennies on the dollar from Lock Stock and Barrel when the tractor trailer from Hornady backed up to their loading dock. I got 240 pounds of bullets at 80# max per box UPS.

The only really good one were the SST

I have been hunting with Nos Ballistic tip bullets, that give the same accuracy and same hole in the game as SST.

36 big game animals in the freezer and I will now only use Accubonds, ballistic tips, and SSTs.

PA110001 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
There are 170 grain SSTs in 8MM.

The 2 expanded bullets were recovered from a bull elk. 1st shot was about 165 yards and the 2nd shot was at about 190 or 200. Neither bullet went as deep as I like for elk hunting. In fact that is why I fired 2 rounds. The 2nd one didn't come apart and went about 22" deep. The 1st one shed it's core and went about 14 inches deep. The elk was still going after the first one hit and the lack of penetration left him able to go on, until I hit him the 2nd time. I have a split bullet next them so everyone can see the thickness (or thinness) of the jackets.

I have also killed several deer with these bullets and in all the deer but one, I got exits. Great big ones! The one that didn't give me an exit was a very large bodied Mule Deer I shot 2 seasons ago as it was facing me. The bullet hit at the junction of the neck and shoulder and went down the body. I looked but could not find it. Deer dropped dead at the shot. All were with the same load which gives me about 2500 FPS from my short barreled 8X57 Carbine. It has a 19 inch barrel.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]

As a deer bullet I can give it high marks for accuracy but "just ok" for bullet performance.

In fact these bullets have given me the best accuracy I have ever had in my rifle, giving ragged hold groups at 100 yards from my rifle.

If fired at higher velocities I am better these would come apart every time.

I love their accuracy, but I have given up on them for hunting anything but varmints, and for practice. I am going back to the 200 grain Nosler Partition and the 180 grain GMX for elk in this rifle. Another bullet I'd like to try on deer is the 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip/Hunting. I think it's thicker jacket may be just what's needed for big deer and maybe even elk. If I buy some I'll post my results for accuracy and if I live long enough to get some more elk with this rifle I will post the results too.

No, I am not dying (that I know of), but at 63 years old I don't know how many more elk I will kill, and I have about 7 other rifles I want to use and about 20 other bullets I want to test in them, so I know I am not going to be able to test all I'd like to. But I'll keep doing it until I can't. I no longer hunt in 3-5 states every year, so I will probably only kill elk in Wyoming and maybe in Idaho or Montana now and then, but my days of being able to shoot 10-16 head of game every year seem to be dwindling.

This getting-old-stuff ---- kinda sucks.

Anyone try 180gr SSTs in a 308 for deer? Gotta bunch here that I need to use up. Hoping the heavier weight and lower velocity will improve results.