Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Nosler Ballistic tip or Hornady SST?

It has come down to these two bullets from my 7mm-08 for this coming deer season. 140 grain BT or 139 grain SST. I know we are splitting hairs here, but its what I do. My deer run large and always under 100 yards so glint edge accuracy is secondary to lethal effect and an exit. Of those two, I've only used the SST and it was an older, softer version that stopped in the deer. For those of you who have seen the results of those two bullets, which one would you choose? They are both within a few dollars a box from one another. Thanks.

In another post you mentioned being happy with the terminal effect of the plain 139 grain Interlock, but you commented on the lead tips getting bashed in the magazine. If as you say your shots are 100 yards and shorter and gilt edged accuracy isn't a big deal, what real difference could a dinged bullet tip make?

I really like the 140 gr NBT out of my 7-08 but with that said I use the 150 gr NBT cause it shoots just a tad better, but either one of the bullets you mention will do for your intended purpose. I would use whatever my rifle liked the best and not worry one minute!

Ballistic Tip would be your choice between those two items.

SST's are crap

Ballistic Tip... but on WT deer it really doesn’t matter.

BT would be my choice but probably in 120 gr.

Hornady Inter-lok's shoot better in my rifle than SST or Nosler Ballistic Tip. The Inter-lok I used to harvest last year's whitetail passed from between the last two ribs on the near side to just under the skin on the off side on a raking shot. The hydrostatic shock was devastating and the perfectly mushroomed bullet retained 66% of its original weight . So Inter-loks will be my choice again this year for obvious reasons.

If an exit is that important to you, the NBT wins. Both are fantastic and wicked killers of deer.

I have to disagree. A good friend of mine has killed 14 deer with 14 shots with the 129gr SST and his trusty 6.5x284. His DRT ratio is 12 out of 14 with the other two just doing death spins.

That is about as good as it gets.

I agree with seattlesetters. I thought SST's were too soft for years because the early ones were.

But two falls ago several other people and I used .308 factory loads with 150-grain SST's to take 30 deer and pigs in Texas. The bucks and boars ran up to 200 pounds (actually weighed, not guesstimated) and ALL the bullets exited, despite the maximum range being around 150 yards on any of the shots. This included the biggest buck, taken with a quartering-on shot, and the biggest boar, take with a shot through both shoulders. And kills were quick.

I would have expected to recover at least a few bullets using 150 Ballistics Tips under the same circumstances--or 150-grain Interlock Spire Points, for that matter. But Hornady has adjusted them, like Nosler did when the first Ballistic Tips proved to be too soft.

A buddy of mine used several of the factory loaded SSTs in his Creedmoor for the first 4-5 years he hunted with it. He was very impressed.

Not sure why he moved from those bullets to loading the ELD-X.

Never once complained about the SSTin his Creedmoor and probably killed a dozen deer in that time span.

He did try some in a 243, said he felt they were a fuzz tough. Bullet sized entry and exits. Deer seemed to travel a bit too much for his liking. He is too used to Gamekings in a 243 that seem to drop most deer right where they were standing at the shot.

I did load some 165 SSTs in a 308 for a co worker to kill hogs with, he had no complaints.

Wouldn't mind trying some in 154 or 162 grain in 7 WSM.

Did the early SST's have the InterLock ring?

BT all day.



P

BT for the win

Ballistic tip, hands down

I had a 140 SST from the Hornaday Magnum factory load in 270 Win. tear up a lot of meat so I sectioned one to see what it looked like. The Interlock was barely a scratch and the jacket was almost the same as the original or varmint ballistic tips, thin and not much taper. No wonder it acted like an early ballistic tip. I have not sectioned a newer one for comparison and lost the original long ago.

I keep intending to give the re-vamped version a try as they have a good BC, but I have been satisfied with the interlocks across the board. I also stocked up on BTs from the shooters pro shop to the point that I won't be hunting long enough to use them all.

I have some 129 6.5 SSTs that I might give a try if I get them loaded soon.

NBT...no contest.

Never had a problem using SST's in my .243 & 25-06, & at Superformance velocities.

Did they improve them across the board or just some of them ? I'm looking at the 6.5 123gr SST for a Grendel and the reviews are all over the map, from "explosive fragmentation on entry" to "reliably exits".