My daughter has shot a buck the last two years with my ftw 260. I have loaded sst 129 grain bullets. Shoots great, however zero blood past point of impact on both deer. I found both buck, one traveled 160ish yards, the other 130ish yards. Both deer had lungs that were completely obliterated, with no exit hole. My question.....I also have nosler accubonds loaded 140 grain, do you think I will get pass through with these bullets for a better blood trail and easier recovery? Or will I have same issue with the bullet exploding like a grenade. Both shots were around 150 yards.

I hunt with a 260 and normally shoot 120 gr Nosler BTs. I lung shoot em and can’t remember when I did not have an exit. I’d expect the accubond to penetrate even better, being a bonded bullet. I should also mention that I do NOT get exits on medium to large hogs shot through the lungs, though they always die and don’t go far.

I load the 120’s to about 2800 FPS, just FYI. That may be a sweet spot speed for that bullet, being destructive, but still holding together. That’s just a guess, since I have never recovered a bullet from a deer, so I can’t examine a ‘used’ one.

Are they 'older stock' of sst. Their rep early on was they were Too frangible.
'Supposedly' they were toughened up. ?? I don't know but have read it here.

IMO those sst are your problem. FWIW


Jerry

Have you never read anything about SSTs? Stop using them and use Accubonds, Partitions, TTSX, LRX, or anything along those lines if you want good penetration and exits.

Boy that's a loooong ways traveled... Not good in this part of the country.

Load a batch of 130 grain Accubonds and don't look back.

Or say, 125gr Partitions.

Botta Bing...

130/160 yards on the wet side thick stuff, may never find it.

Yep...

Exactly. Especially in a typical fall rain storm storm.

I'm happily using the 130 accubonds. The SST is not the bullet I would pick if an exit was of importance

Super thick here too [jungle] , even with accubonds/mono's/partitions you'll often get a sprinter that can cover 30-60 yards . 30 feet and it will take some searching .
I love the 129 sst bullets administered to the lower neck - nearly pops their eyes out - seen them bounce [pigs] they go down so fast .
Pigs can still run with their shoulders shot all to hades - deer aren't quite as good at that imo ..

I've had excellent luck with 130 Gr NAB in my 6.5x47 Lapua.

Plain old 129 gr Interlocks are awfully good on a case full of H4831

Naw it’s easy up here... 😂😂

I use 120ish grain TTSX in mine and they don’t go more than 30 yards.

I killed a pile of deer with a 260 and a 120 Speer Hot Core, all exited.

Also killed a couple with the 120 Sierra and one with a 120 NBT from a 6.5x55. Those all exited as well.

Dump the SST if it is not working and roll with something, anything else.

140 gr factory Corelokts have never failed to exit on the half dozen caribou I have used them on. Only weight my rifle likes that I have tried, so that's what I stick with. MOA and exits is good enough for me! Got a pile of once fired hulls that I'd like to prospect some 130s with if I ever get caught up enough to reload again.

Being resistant to constantly trying the latest greatest hunting stuff d'jour....
my old standby's have already been mentioned...

120 grain Ballistic Tips... 125 partition, 140 grain Partition, 129 gr SP Hornady, and 140 grain Corelokts and 140 SP Speers...

not mentioned.. 100 grain Ballistic tip...100 grain Partition ( yeah they make those), and its discontinued... by the 100 gr SP Hornady, dropped them fast also...launched all of these from a 22 inch barrel at 3350 fps, using 4064 for powder...
never had to track any of them.. even a couple at 300+ yds ( ranged) dropped at the shot

I got some 160 RNs around somewhere.

Ive Shot Them With Both.. TTSX And A.B.And Have Yet To Recover A Bullet.. Pic The One Your Rifle Shoots Best. Both Are Tuff Bullets.

My 260 really likes the above.

I’ve had good exits in the 260 with Accubonds and TTSXs. I’d happily hunt either. The Nosler ABLR fared pretty well too, for a “softer” bullet. Only stopped them on extreme angle shots.

Thanks for all the input. I have 100 accubonds loaded so I'm going to sight it in with those and shoot the sst's at Chuck's to use em up

I shoot Nosler 130 AB’s in my model 7 260. And have gotten pass throughs on the 3 deer my son has taken with them

130 swift sciroccos would be my first choice. If you dont mind clipping the long distance shots, a frame.

Consider the Barnes 100gr TTSX or Hammer 110gr. These bulle4ts completely penetrate mature muley bucks even thru both shoulders. Almost zero blood shot meat. If you feel you must use a C&C bullet consider the Hornady 129gr bonded. Will give the same speed & trajectory of the 129 SST.

Try the Barnes 129 LRX

They shoot very well and of course it’s a Barnes

I’ve had the same good experience with 140 Interlocks in the 6.5x55. Heck of a blood trail. Same with Gamekings.

Leo, what did the heart/lungs look like?

My son had a very similar problem with his model 7 and 120 Fusions. I almost lost his very first deer as there was not a drop of blood and the shot was perfect behind the shoulder with an exit. Finally found the deer about a hundred yards away. Two yeas later he shot a big doe broadside at 150. I was watching through binocs and knew it was a good shot. Two hours later and still no deer or blood and he wanted to go home. I told him we were not going home till we found the deer. He was about 10 years old and was getting very tired. My brother was helping us look and stumbled upon the deer over 250 yards away through some thick pines. Perfect behind the shoulder hit with an exit. Have never shot a Fusion since but know lots of guys that like them. I can’t explain it, but I certainly made a change. My son had absolutely no faith in his gun after that so we got him a Tikka 7-08 and he’s become a killing machine.

I would have thought the SST would have been a quick killer.

The 130 accubond in my old carbon barreled 260 is devastating on deer. It just flattens them. I'm always tempted by higher BC stuff but that rifle really likes the 130 accubond so that's what it still gets.

I had a few bucks make it a ways after long shots with a 140g interlock from a 264 at 3200 mv. I thought those sp cup and core bullets would grenade at that speed but the lot I have appeared too tough. The lungs were still mostly intact with quarter sized blood shot circles and an exit. I switched to the 140 sst to get a little more expansion. It put one down by lightning but i didn't get a good look at the damage. I gave it to someone with the skin still on but the lungs were soup and there was an exit.

Sometimes chest hits don't leave a good trail because all the blood pools up in the chest cavity instead of leaking out. I've hit a few in recent years with a 215 hybrid from a 300 wsm and they ran a ways but left really good trails including lobes of lung out of a 3" exit.

Bb

I’ve read this elsewhere as well.

Head scratcher for me. If they were the older SST's they were bombs, maybe they got toughened up too much? If you want DRT kills something like a Berger would be in order, if you want a blood trail then any of the the controlled expansion or mono bullets will do it, The 129 Hornaday is a nice inexpensive bullet and I have never had any issues with it. The Blue Box Federals also perform above their pay grade. Do not be too quick to draw a conclusion from two examples, I have shot a fair amount of game and am still just learning.

My daughter has been using the Sierra 120gr Pro Hunter in her .260 for years with excellent results on deer. She's harvested quite a few deer over the years with that bullet and the results have been so good that we've never tried anything else. With the exception of one all have been pass thru's and the one that didn't exit went through both shoulders and was lodged in the skin on the off side and in a nice mushroom. She's also only has a couple that ran and they didn't go 20yds and fell within sight. Her closest shot has been about 50yds and her longest around 250yds. I purchased 6 boxes before Sierra went up on the price so she's good to go for a while.

The 140gr AB and 127gr LRX have both given me exits on elk and muleys, you should be good to go. Specifically for deer, I'd see if your rifle likes the 130gr AB to get a bit more velocity.

you have been given very sound advice here. stick with the 120 bt,130 ab, 125 partition or 129 interlock and you won't have issues if velo kept at 3k and below. either front axles or behind the shoulder and you will be golden with exits most of the time. i personally shoot 120 bt outta my 260 rem's and haven't caught one yet but i pick my shots and don't shoot ass end shot but wait for broadside or quartering to or away.
good luck and hang with the 260 rem. its a heckofa cal,
Big Ed

Yep. I have shot gobs (40 plus, not sure) deer out to 430 yards and some antelope with that bullet. It is my go-to bullet in my .260. I load it over 43.3 grains of Reloder 17 for about 2950 fps. The H4831 is super, too. I usually get exit wounds and deer don't go very far.

The original SST bullets were junk and I have never used them since. Supposedly, the new ones are OK, but I never saw a reason to try them. Regular old Interlocks are great, as well as Partitions, Accubombs, etc.

95gr SST in the .243, 117gr SST in the 25-06, always has been for us !

Most piled up inside of 30 yards & not 1 gone past 60 yards.

I have used the 140 grain accubond in my 260. Only killed 1 deer with it, but it worked very well. Was on a 129 inch 8 point, fairly big body. Last day of rifle season, presented me with a hard quartering away shot. I took it, bullet entered just in front of the rear quarter and exited just behind the offside shoulder. Shot was at 80 yards. Exited perfectly, and in that case I was really glad for the extra punch of that bullet vs a 120 grain ballistic tip. I have since switched over to hammers in that 260, and will never look back.

I have tried SST, EldX, and Berger in my Creedmoor with no exits. I was shocked at the EldX, since the AMax was such a great bullet. The old 129 grain Hornady interlock worked great from the 6.5x55 for years.

I have shot the 139 Lapua Scenar at several animals now with exits every time.

Best .260 deer bullet I ever used was 120gr AccuTip which was supposedly SST made for Remington. Killed them like flipping a switch and took lots of major bone to stop one.

Also killed a pile with 120gr Hot Cor. Not as impressive in that not as many dropped on the spot but its a harder bullet. Never caught one. I have several hundred stockpiled for the next .260 I buy.

Honestly I've only seen deer bullets not exit when heavy bone was hit.

100gr TTSX. Load 'em hot. If they don't DRT, follow the blood. They'll be there.

I got 3,200fps from my 22" .260 with Big Game. It was a good killer.

I'm sitting at 2970 with IMR4350. Room for more, but don't need to.

I bet that's an easy shooting load. My 250 Savage shooting 100's at 2950 is like a pop gun. Very pleasant.

3350 with 43.5 grains of 4064...and a 22 inch barrel....1/2 grain over Nosler's manual load data..

figured that load out on my own, working it up, before Nosler's manual had their data...

3450 fps out of the 26 inch barreled Rem VLS in 260 Rem...

Nosler accubond 130gr. Accurate and great results on deer.

Noticeably less recoil than the 143s I was shooting prior.

Good to know. I had been using the 140 GK and always got an exit and never had a deer go more than a few yards- EVER. Perfect quarter size holes. I got to reading (yes- here) how my slow twist isn't supposed to shoot them as well as my lying eyes were telling me so I switched to 120 ProHunter. Doing this also meant one less powder around my bench so I felt an element of safety was added to the process. I can say I see a difference between the 140GK and 120PH. I had evidence of the 120 Ph fragmenting on a pig - a pig it dropped in its tracks though. Shot my best buck ever this year- very close range. No exit and no blood. Deer ran maybe 50 yards. Broke ribs on far side but no exit. I should have looked for the bullet but didn't. Identical (albeit limited sample) of 120nbt performance I experienced- except the buck I shot with the NBT died on the spot. So fast I thought I missed it running off.

Was thinking of going back to the 140 GK. Also think...I think too much.