Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How does the SST compare?

Thanks to all who to this point have helped me, and particular you Keith for taking the trouble with your detailed response.

The general consensus - or near to it - would seem that the SST is a good long range bullet with an explosive expansion habit. As you'd expect, the heavier for calibre bullets hold together and penetrate more.

My relatively limited experience with them consists of about 50 wild pigs, half a dozen goats, one deer and quite a few other feral pest animals culled. Only the bigger of the pigs however provided any real sort of test for the bullet. The one deer was probably about 70 odd kilos, shot side on about 80 yards away.

On the pigs they were nearly all shot with the 150g out of the 270, in the last 18 months. I cannot fault the performance thus far. Of the around 50 animals I speak of, at least 35 were instant, one shot kills where the pig didn't take a step. Probably 25 of the 50 were shot on the run, such is the nature of "walking them up" from thick scrub or hitting multiple targets when you get onto a mob in the areas I hunt. Some of the pigs were in the 90 kilo plus range, with the majority sub-60 kg. I generally won't shoot at juvenile animals.

Keith your post was very helpful and encouraging that the heavier SSTs at least should not let me down if I do my bit on a deer hunt, which I only get one or two chances a year at.

I have also found interesting the above dissertations regarding the standard Interlock. As I seem to be able to duplicate my SST loads and points of impact with the IL it appears to be a good thing.

On the subject of the 270 Win specifically, it seems the 140g SST finds little favour in this country. It seems to be 130 or 150 with no interest in anything in between. Is that the case over there? I guess it isn't otherwise they would stop making them now I think about it.

There appears a preference by shooters here for the Ballistic Tip. I suspect a large measure of this is due to very good marketing, though I don't doubt their effectiveness. I do bristle at paying 65 cents a shot however when for about 85 cents I can get a bonded bullet in the form of the Interbond, though I haven't used them.


I really appreciate the info. As you guys know there's just so many bullets out there in 277 and 308 that the average bloke has not the time or money to even range test them all let alone field test them, unless you happen to be lucky enough to be paid to do it, or win the lotto! Maybe when I retire I might become an amateur "gun writer" like some of those that frequent this place.

Not that I am accusing anyone on here of being amateur!

Popularity has zero effect upon effectiveness. If I'm using a 270 Winchester I'm almost certainly using a 140 grain bullet of some sort--the 130 TSX being an exception. There's simply not much that doesn't work in the 270 concerning deer sized game, but the 140s work much better IME......

Big +1.

I have found the 165 gr SST to be more frangible than the NBT of same weight. They're very nice for bang-flops.

The 130SST is the most accurate bullet I've found for my 270 Weatherby. It performs wonderfully on Whitetail. I have never shot a hog with one, but would, without hesitation. Fact is, deer and hogs are thin skinned and not hard to kill. In my opinion, they do not require bonded or monolithic bullets.

FWIW, I shot a nice 8 point from 115yds, just behind the shoulder. The deer ran appx 20 yards and piled up. The bullet was started at a little over 3400fps and completely passed through, leaving a half dollar sized exit. Insides of the deer were liquid. Great bullet and wouldn't hesitate to use it for your intended purpose.

I recently did the wet newspaper test on a number of 270 bullets. The only SST I had to test was the 150g SST. The only NBT I had was the 130. So I couldn't do an apples to apples.

But I did have a 130g Interlock and a 130g Hot Cor. The retained weight was much the same for all three 130 grainers around 60g with an impact speed around 3060 fps.

The NBT expanded the most and penetrated the least. The IL penetrated the most, and expansion was not far behind the NBT. The Hotcor penetrated about halfway between the two but probably expanded the least, but there wasn't much in it. It did lose a few % more grains of retained weight.

Yeah I know, not very conclusive. But it was a fun experiment.

FWIW the 150g SST retained 120g and penetrated just a fraction more than the 130g Interlock. A 160g Partition in the same test retained 130g and out penetrated the SST by about 20%, though didn't quite expand to be quite as big as the SST.

Would you guys consider an SST to be more or less frangible than a core-lokt.....particularly 150 grain 30 caliber?

I like the sst bullets. I use the 162gr 7mm version.

I always hear people saying that the normal IL is a tougher bullet. Well here is a picture of a 7mm 154gr IL, 175gr IL and 162gr sst. Tell me which is which based on the picture below.

If I were to take a punt it would be that the 175 is the middle one with the thicker jacket.......?

I've used the SST with fine results on deer with behind the shoulder shots, but to be honest prefer the old Interlock for less than perfect angles. I've shot some pretty big bucks with the old bullet, 220 lbs. plus field dressed, clear through both front shoulders. In my experience it's a tougher bullet and cheap to boot. You'd have to have an awful long shot to notice much difference in trajectory IMO. This shooting was all done with a 270 with 130 grainers and a case full of H4831.

I found the SST a little more destructive than I care for. Tried the 139s 6.5s out of my swedes a few years ago. One buck shot at 284 yards had an entrance wound you could stick your head in. The bullet struck the ribs, quartered through the the off shoulder and was recovered under the skin. The front 25 to 30% blew off, and left a solid shank. They shot well, and killed well, but made a gory mess of every deer I shot.

This is a very good post.

The bullets in the picture, from left to right are: 175 interlock, 162 sst, 154 interlock.

The sst had a THICKER jacket than the interlock.

The 140 gr. SST is my favorite 6.5-284 bullet and I'm pushing them at 2,950 fps. It's as accurate or slightly more so than 140 VLD's and performs well on Pronghorns, Whitetails and hogs.

The NBT's and SST's are both fairly friable bullets and you'll see stories about one over the other.

In my .300 Win Mag, I'm using 180 gr. NBT's at 3,050 fps. They too are accurate and can be interchanged with the NAB's, as both have the same B.C.'s and print close to the same groups and POI's.

I've head shot a number of hogs with both rounds. The .300 WM 180 gr. NBT's leave an explosive entrance wound, not too unlike a Claymore mine. The 140 gr. SST is in and out with reasonable entrance and exit wounds. I've been told that hog heads are not good measures of bullet performance.

Now, that's a brief profile of two different bullets of different caliber at different speeds. I think a lot of our bullet performance info is based on too few examples, although these results do seem repeatable, based on a fair number of similar results.

DF

I tried to like the SST in a couple of calibers..... but alas, none could supplant the incumbent NBT. If I'm reaching for a Hornady..... I'm reaching for an Amax....

I've only used SST's on one deer, but have used NBT's on quite a few deer, all in .284 caliber rifles. The NBT's I used for deer were in a 7mm-08 on muley does. They may have gone 10-20 yards before falling over dead, and I never needed a blood trail as it was the wide open of MT. Fast forward 7 years, and I used SST's from my .280 Rem last year on a whitetail in AR, that was hung in a barb wire fence. When the SST hit her, she got out of the fence quickly, and never acted like she was hit. I figured I missed her, especially after not finding any blood. Following the trail back to the truck, I found her about 55 yards from where she was shot in the fence at, and only one very small entrance hole behind the shoulder. It did the trick, so I can't complain, as dead is dead. I am living in AK now chasing caribou and moose, so I am moving on Barnes TTSX bullets next season.

I find it very interesting that nobody commented on the fact that the 162 sst jacket is significantly thicker than the 154/175 interlock. Especially when people continue to say that the IL is tougher.

I was a little surprised at that myself, only because I thought they would be identical rather than one thicker than the other. I must admit when I saw the photo I assumed the big IL might have been the thicker one.

I have used a few different weight ILs in a few cals. Same with the SST. I actually think the SST holds together just as well, and penetrates just as far. Game has been mainly pigs over the years.

I have found the IL maybe just a fraction more accurate, while obviously the SST would hold onto it's speed a bit longer.

Probably because jacket thickness is just one aspect that will determine bullet characteristics.

Thats correct--you have to factor in jacket and core hardness and the effect of the tip in initiating expansion. The thicker jacket only has relevance if all other factors are identical.

I know it's dangerous to assume, but seeing Hornady like everyone else would look to keep costs down, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the jacket and core for both the IL and the SST would be made from identical material?

Maybe that's right or wrong. But if it's right then the physical construction is the difference ie different shape and the plastic tip, and in the case of the ones pictured above, a thicker jacket on the SST.