Hornady SST

[Arkansas Paul]

Hey guys and gals, I've started reloading and am working up some good
.30-06 rounds for whitetails. I recently got a good deal on some 150 gr Hornady SST bullets. My question is do they expand well on thin skinned game like whitetails. I looked at a Hornady catalouge and it calls them controlled expansion bullets. I really like the performance of Nosler Ballistic Tips and am wondering if the SST is anything similar. I want something that's going to tear up a lot of tissue and drop them quickly. Anyone with experiece with SST please share your findings.

 

[Horsemany]

SST's are known to be every bit as frangible as ballistic tips. I would not call them controlled expansion from what I've seen. They are great deer bullets. As a side note; Reminton's Premier Accutip bullets are actually SST's made by Hornady using a different color tip. If you stay away from shoulder/brisket shots these are devastating on deer.

 

[tango2echo]

I have shot dozens of deer with the SST in .243, .308, and .30-06. The bullets expand quickly and hold together very well. I prefer the 150gr in the .308, and the 165gr in the '06. In my opinion they hold together much better than Balistic Tips. The SST has a bonded core, where the BT does not. They have been nearly as accurate as some match bullets for me in the .308.

t2e

 

[hardluk1]

I shoot bought the 139gr sst in a hornady heavy mag 7mm R M and a 125gr balistic tip in my 308 and both work very well on deer. I will say better get bullet placement right with the BT more so than the sst but i don't have to look for deer. They are always at most less than 20 feet away from where shot. BUT i have a life long friend that put a 140BTfrom a 7 stw in a doe at 186 yards running and hit mid body, just behind the ribs and turned it to jello, nothing could be saved to eat. Never seen a deer blow up inside like that. He has killed many other does and bucks that were fine with good lung/heart shoots.

 

[Arkel23]

I got some Hornady 150 gr SST's for my .300 wby mag, where do you suggest I should shoot a deer with these after looking at the last post? Stay in the vitals? Neck? Ribs?

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Personally, I'm putting the bullet through the shoulders if at all possible. I don't like tracking deer, and I'll sacrifice the off shoulder to avoid doing it. I'm not nearly as experienced as many people on THR, but the few deer I've shot through the shoulders didn't make it out of their own shadow.

 

[tango2echo]

Behind the ribs=gutshot deer. The hams, shoulders, backstraps should have all been fine. Sounds to me like the guy cleaning it had a weak stomach and didn't want to clean the deer after it was gutshot.

Aim for the heart/lungs and just behind the front leg for a quick, clean kill.

t2e

 

[Olympus]

I shoot SSTs in my muzzleloader as does my dad. We both took a couple feral hogs with them in March of this year. I put a neck shot on my hog and it blew an exit wood I could have put my fist in. Dropped the hog in its tracks. My dad put a shot through the top of the spine and it didn't exit. We recovered the slug and it retained all of its mass and mushroomed perfectly. The shot broke the spine and turned the insides into jelly. I'm perfectly happy with the SST and plan on using them from now on.

 

[hardluk1]

Arkel23 I don't shoot for the shoulder either, the neck, sometimes but mostly just behind the shoulder blade. If the deer only gives a good neck then go for it. I try to take the lungs/heart area ,that is my main target. I have not had to look for deer with either rounds. The sst does not typicaly explode like a BT but can be quite disruptive, good round.
tango2echo You have not seen what the BT can do under the worst case. This guy has 40years of deer hunting and is strong of stomach. When i said it blew up, thats what i mean. There was lead frags in the rear hams and front shoulders also the back straps. When the belly was opened to gut it poured out, looked like someone put the insides in a blender and hit the botton enough to make it nice and chuncky. hope that explaned it better for you. (Aim for the heart/lung) Boy now ain't that real words of wisdom. Running deer, woops shot to far back. Guess you never made a bad shot. I for one could probably not even have hit a running deer at 185yards. That was the second round on meat with that gun and bullet for the hunter 11 years ago. Still kill'n with the same combo, just watches bullet placement.

 

[lt522]

They are not controlled expansion , but they hold together better than BT. I have shot several deer with SST's and have no complaints.

 

[tango2echo]

hardluk1, I can say that I have seen what a BT will do. I have been a bear/deer/boo/moose guide for the better part of two decades out of the 33 years that I have been hunting. I have seen all manor or poor shot placements from clients, as well as poor bullet choices. I have cleaned a rough average of about 40 deer or other game animals per year through that time, a number of which were gutshot, and some of those with the BT. I even OWN a custom Jarrett 7mm STW, which I handload with the 140 BT, as well as other bullets. I have even done wet media testing (Wet Phone Books) with the BT loaded to 3400fps. Impact velocity in my rifle at 185 yards would be around 2650fps. The BT will fragment at that velocity, but doesn't "explode" as you suggest. Even with TWO shots into a RUNNING deer at 185 YARDS with a frangable bullet your story is impossible for me to believe.

Sorry to the OP if I hyjacked the thread. The SST is a fine bullet for deer and similar game IMHO.

t2e

 

[hardluk1]

Tango I don't give as some say a rats a** what you do for a liveing or what you have or have to shoot with.A real jarrett!!! Good for you. Hay everone, tango OWNS a jarrett. all i have have is a rebarreled ruger, shucks. I have seen with my old eyes the extreme that can happen with a bad placemnt. Maybe in your eye it ain't an explosion but in mine it is. Leave it at that. I still use both sst and bt bullets just watch my placement more so with the bt. Bobs ammo is georgia arms ,140gr stw. Sure you can look it up .
ARKANSAS PAUL Have a good season and enjoy that rifle and those sst's. Makes a real good deer round.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Thanks guys. I bought and loaded up some. If they group well, which I have no reason to believe they won't, I'll be giving them a whirl this coming season. As for the BT blowing up, I don't find it hard to believe at all. I've shot deer with them at close range and have seen first hand what they will do. I've also seen a deer gut shot with a .223 hollow point and the insides were pretty much like you described on the gut shot running deer. I don't have a weak stomach and it was hard for me to handle. The fact is, sometimes bullets perform a certain way and there's no way to explain it.

 

[Uncle Mike]

The SST does good. I like the explosion myself. I do not eat the 'guts' so if the bullet liquefies them...oh well!
The BT explodes a little better than the SST, if you like explosions.

The SST is a fine bullet, expands well enough.

Hey...you want to see a real mess...shoot a deer with a Hornady A-MAX... splat!

 

[HGUNHNTR]

SST's have performed well for me. I have used them in 7mm, and 30-06 with much success. They stay together just well enough to penetrate muscle or bone, then fragment rapidly.