Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Anyone use Hornady SST on elk?

In those cases you can only hope to do enough damage to slow the game down. Can�t imagine a solid would be better.

The first elk my buddy neck shot went straight down. The second, with the same load, went 125 yards after being neck shot and, although 4-5 of us were looking, we didn�t find it until the next morning. The bullet was a 7mm 160g Grand Slam. A 40g .224� V-MAX might have worked better in that situation.



If they don�t I don�t know what will.

I bought 100 factory second 140g Ballistic Tips for use in my 6.5-06AI. Haven�t work up the loads yet but they will end up being fire-form and practice loads for 130g Scirocco IIs, as are 140g A-MAX currently. Wasn�t aware 140g AccuBonds were available in 6.5mm but it�s good to know and I�ll give them a try.

I have had good luck with the SST's in the 308 (all I have used them in). The blew through a black bear (200-225lbs) pretty well. They were pretty mild though, with a 150 SST at 2850 or so. I have since switched up to the 165 AB's as I have a little more confidence in them wrecking bones and continuing on.

Coyote Hunter, looking forward to how you make out with the 140 BT's or the AB's in you 6.5. They shoot really well out of my 264 Win Mag, and I trust them for deer or the AB's for elk if I used the 264 for elk.

AB



BT



I haven't ran the 140 BT or AB into jugs yet, but I did with the 130 AB out of the 264, around 3350. It hit the jugs about 20 yards from the muzzle, seemed to do pretty well.

Can't imagine the 140's will do any worse.

beretzs -

That's what I like to see - a bullet that will expand reliably at fairly low velocity but can hold together at high velocity (read "close range") impacts.

I have had good luck with SSTs on deer. However, last year I gained new respect for Hornady Superperformance loads with SST bullets out of a 308. I shot a bull at 370 yards (lasered) and the first shot went through both lungs. The bull quartered away and stood there wavering. The second shot, which was probably not necessary, dropped him. Upon inspection, the first shot entered between ribs and had a quarter size exit hole. I like more expansion and was not very impressed, but it was a 370 yard shot. However, the second shot quartering away entered in front of the hind quarter, through the vitals, shattered the large shoulder bone, and then lodged just below the hide on the front shoulder. The core did separate and exit but after a lot of damage. It was very impressive from the lowly 308.

In the latest Field and Stream a trio of elk hunting gurus are interviewed. One of them says for quite some time he's been using the 180gr sst out of an. 300 wsm from 30 to 360 yards on elk with no problems just dead elk. I feel comfortable enough to use them on a late season deer and elk hunt out of my 338 win mag 225 grs rolling at 2800 fps.

I have used hand loaded 150g SST in my 300 WSM on Mule Deer and Antelope with great success. Jumped a mule deer at 40 yards and spine shot it. When I skined it, the hole was unreal. The entry hole was the size of my head. It didn't make the lower back straps look very good but the deer went down. I loaded 180g SST for my elk hunting trip in CO next month. Can't wait to see how they perform.

I watched Jason Hornady use a 180gr SST from a .300 Win Mag kill this bull. Not a bunch of penetration but the elk never was able to do much after the hit. Need a second shot when we got to him.

Just keep in mind it is not designed for deep penetration and use it with that in mind. The reduced speed of the .300 Savage will help.

Yeah, that's about it.

A companion on a Wyoming elk hunt a couple of years ago used a .300 WSM with 180 SST's. He shot a bull similar to Jason's at about 400 yards. The bullet was found perfectly expanded under the hide on the far side--and the elk, naturally, died quickly. A little distance helps!

Funny how shot placement trumps the "gack".

The SST is not my first choice but Jason hit the bull right and that was all she wrote. Of course there was no way he was going to use a rifle running VLDs but hard to argue with success.

Want to know if anyone has shot the 338 225 Hornady into a Elk or Moose and how it worked out? The factory load for the 338 RCM is loaded with that bullet, not a lot of options in the 338 RCM. Have hand loads with known bullets but the factory are fast and accurate.

I used the 225's on year from my .338 RUM. Accuracy was pretty good and penetration more then adequate but at RUM velocities I found myself wanting a bit more strength and swapped to TSX's. at 338 RCM velocities it should be about perfect.