Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders SST performance on Game

Well this is the first year I have used the Hornady SST 250 Gr bullet behind 110 gr of T7 in my 50 cal. Bullet shot great on the range in terms of groups and the velocity/trajectory proved to be better than my old load 240XTP.

After putting 2 into animals this fall I am satisfied but expected a bit more in expansion. The bullets on both animals - Mule Deer passed completely through the ribs and vitals. The exit and entrance holes were virtually the same diameter which leads me to believe expansion was really no different than the Xtp's. In Deer # 1 a 100 yards broadside shot the bullet went through the mid lungs and the deer limbed a few yards before dropping. Deer #2 at 161 yards the bullet took out lower lobes of lung and top of the heart was affected she managed to make it about 70 yards before piling up. Due to shot location the bloodtrail was very visible though.

I am not displeased just expected a bit more in wound channel. I thought I'd share my experiences and wondered what others have found with regards to the SST or Shockwaves.

In my opinion...



Using typical inline muzzleloader bullet speeds of 1500-2000 fps, SSTs need a tougher skin to properly expand unless greeted by larger bone mass. All three of my muzzleloaders use three different lead bullets... ie... Buffalo Special Sabot Bullet HP - (Cabelas) Precision Extended Range Sabot Bullet Poly-Tip - Buffalo Maxi-Ballet HP. The SST shines in the new Savage ML-10 Smokeless muzzleloader where speeds approach 2600 fps, but with deer, a lead nose/all-lead bullet is all that is needed & performs best. Same goes for centerfires. Buying SSTs, Accubonds, Partitions, Bear Claws... etc is a waste of money. The inexpensive lead nose Winchester Power Points, Federal Power/Vital Shoks & Remington Core-Lokt SPs work best with 90% of deer harvests.

I used 200gr SSTs in front of 120gr of 777 this year and my results were similar to yours but inconclusive IMO. I shot a small button buck at close range (15yds or so) and got a clean pass through with little evidence of expansion. Never did find the bullet. Really unsure if any of the other bullets would have performed any differently under the circumstances.

On something a little bigger or at a little longer range things could have been different I guess. I'm going to stay with them until I have a firm reason not to. They do shoot well FWIW... Hopefully December M/L season will give me some more examples for comparison.

If you are not happy with your sst give the Dead center bullets a try. I am trying the 300 gr version this year in my savage 10 ml-II. I am getting great accuracy with them with t7 3f loose at 110 grains. They have the best BC in the business and with shoot very flat way out there. Give them a look.

Brian

It isn't that I expected the SST to perform like a CF version but was thinking or maybe even lead to believe the expansion would be more than the XTP. As far as accuracy goes it is a non issue, the bullet/load combo is a shooter. Just curious in hearing others feedback.

Super, I tried Dead Centres and just couldn't get them to group as good with a variety of combos (load, gr size and sabots) in my ml.

Thanks for the replies.

Hey wpayne,

any idea on the velocity you're getting with the 200 gr. SST's. I plan on shooting some out of my T/C Hawken amd 100 gr. of 777.

Thanks.

Haven't run it through a chrony yet but setups similar to mine have seen between 2200 and 2300 fps with 120gr 777 and 200gr and 195gr bullets (not SSTs admittedly).

I'd be clueless to guess that a similar load would yield from a Hawken so I won't embarass myself. Others here from the sidelock camp might know.