30 06 150 grain sst performance ?

elterrible

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any of you use this bullet for hunting how well does it perform on game mostly going to be hunting mule deer. only reason i ask its the bullet my rifle is most accurate with
 
The 180 gr SST was very accurate in a couple of 30-06 rifles, and one 300 Win Mag that I shot it in. Performance on game was quite another result. :( More like grenades than bullets.

I shot them all up for practice.

That was ten or 12 years ago, and unless the 150 gr has been beefed up, I would not use it on any big game at all.
Ted
 
Try the Interbond, it generally goes to the same POI with similar accuracy to the SST, but is a stouter bullet. I punch paper with SST's and hunt with Interbonds (reconfirming POI). I have two or three friends who shoot the SST on deer with good results.... with the 150 SST, make sure that you don't purchase the #30303... as it was designed with a thinner jacket for the lower velocity of the .300 Savage.
 
If you like very quick expanding bullets that explosively fragment into itty bitty bits, make huge wound cavities, and kill deer like lighting with lung shots, they may be good for you. But if you like to eat venison, or sometimes put a bullet in the shoulder meat or ( shudder) inadvertently hit a ham, you will not be pleased. Accuracy is often over emphasized in hunting bullets. performance IN game trumps accuracy nearly every time. SST bullets are accurate in several of my rifles, but I would not choose them for most hunts.
 
SST's have worked just fine on Moose and bears for me :)...your mileage may vary!

I'd go with the 180's though.
 
I've only shot one deer with an SST and it worked very well. Through heart, through deer, dropped like a stone ( one step) and no shrapnel / damaged meat to speak of. My favorite hunting rifle's favorite round is an old Hornady 150 grain SST ( NOT Superformance) shooting less than a half inch group of three. That said probably NOT your best choice for hunting as they do tend to fragment.
 
I do not hunt with SSTs in any chambering. Far too explosive for my liking.
Close in, they tend to grenade badly, destroying plenty of venison.
Dave.
 
Echoes of explosive SSTs down under too mate, I cant fathem these guys still using BTs and SST type bullets for Deer... sure the little spotty ones maybe but the big browns.. No way.


Its not if, but when they will lose an animal due to #### bullets for the job.


Mule deer? no experience although I would personally go for a 180gr Cup and Core......

or better

WL
 
I've shot a WT buck at 270 yards with 165gn SST out of a 30-06 at about 2950 fps.

Hit him in front of the shoulder. Dropped in his tracks. Toonie sized exit wound.

Will be my standard load in that rifle.

Fat
 
In 308 I have used the SST's in the past.
Have switched to the Interbond 165 gr, good accuracy and performance.
 
The first deer I ever shot was with a 165gn interbond out of a 308. Quartering towards. Entrance just behind the heart on the right side, exit mid-way up the abdomen on the left. So bullet went through lots of lung and actually grazed the heart (you could see the groove it tore).

Since then I stick to cup and core bullets - sierra gameking and hornady SST. No deer have gone more than 30 yards since. Most have dropped where they were hit.

I hunt with modest velocity cartridges - 6.5x55 and 30-06 - no ultraloudenboomer magnums for this guy. Regular cup and core seem to work better at those speeds.
 
Shot my first with sup performance at 39 yards out of my 30-06. Very devastating results. Pretty much a shot ball sized hole though the deers heart and lungs. Mush was all that was left. Looked like someone dumped a pail of blood under where it was standing. When it was hit took 2 leaps and then lights out.
Second one shot in the shoulder at about the same distance and no deer no blood to be seen. Ran away like nothing happened. Never found it and gave up after 5 hours of looking.

Moral of the story is to shoot for the boiler room with sst's. I will be using them again but I use the 165gr at 2830fps.
 
Second one shot in the shoulder at about the same distance and no deer no blood to be seen. Ran away like nothing happened. Never found it and gave up after 5 hours of looking.

All evidence would point to a complete miss... that's an option to blaming the bullet for a complete failure to cause any damage.
 
I use the 165 SST in 3006 and 308 have for years and will continue to use them based on the great results I have had with them. I have taken many deer through the neck and an odd one through the boiler room. I havent hunted Mule deer just whitetails but mules are smaller so 150 should be fine. With any bullet type make the shot count and stay away from the good eatin parts and you should be fine.
 
30 06 150 grain sst performance ?

any of you use this bullet for hunting how well does it perform on game mostly going to be hunting mule deer. only reason i ask its the bullet my rifle is most accurate with



As a performance/custom reloader for several decades, your above statement is quite false. If you were to put in the time to learn these skills you might find that there is a good group for every bullet for every rifle. I would suggest some mentoring time from someone with these shooting and loading skills.

Even from the products available only off the shelf, there is sooooo much more than 150sst that 30.06 is capable of shooting well, but obviously never tried. I'd suggest that you let someone know what model of rifle and barrel length you have.
 
30 06 150 grain sst performance ?

any of you use this bullet for hunting how well does it perform on game mostly going to be hunting mule deer. only reason i ask its the bullet my rifle is most accurate with



As a performance/custom reloader for several decades, your above statement is quite false. If you were to put in the time to learn these skills you might find that there is a good group for every bullet for every rifle. I would suggest some mentoring time from someone with these shooting and loading skills.

Even from the products available only off the shelf, there is sooooo much more than 150sst that 30.06 is capable of shooting well, but obviously never tried. I'd suggest that you let someone know what model of rifle and barrel length you have.


If you have been "performance laoding" for decades, you would know that "letting someone know what model of rifle and barrel length you have" in finding an accurate load is next to useless... even consecutive barrels off the manufacturing line will require different loads... powder/density/bullets. Each rifle requires fine tuning and tweaking of the load to arrive at a particularly fine load out of that particular rifle. There are general baselines that can be used as starting points, but even these may prove to be worthless for a given rifle.
 
I've used them in my 25/06. Not much weight retention but they're accurate and drop animals quick if they go thru the chest. Can't remember one ever coming apart in my testing.
The muzzleloader 50 Cal sst I've seen many failures
It's a great bullet for longer shots or slower cartridges but I wouldn't hesitate to put one into a deers chest.
 
I use the 165 SST in 3006 and 308 have for years and will continue to use them based on the great results I have had with them. I have taken many deer through the neck and an odd one through the boiler room. I havent hunted Mule deer just whitetails but mules are smaller so 150 should be fine. With any bullet type make the shot count and stay away from the good eatin parts and you should be fine.
Strange, around here all the mule deer I see seem to be a bit bigger bodied than white tails, but I also don't see to many whitetail around here. I agree though 150 is plenty and have taken 2 with 150gr power points over 46.5 grains of h4895 very cleanly out of 30-06.
 
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