Hornady SST .270 130gr

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Supermanofsteel

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Hello, this year I began looking into reloading my own rounds. I'm a complete noob when it comes to reloading but I've been researching religiously all summer and have even invested in taking a reloading class (completed this summer).

I recently went to the gun store and asked for Hornady Interlock 130gr BTSP and the sales person gave me Hornady 130gr SST. I looked at the package and asked if these were the right bullets cause the picture has the polymer tip, I exmplained given my limited knowledge I am not comfortable using a polimer tip because it is my understanding they expand too fast and basically disintegrate when shooting deer especially at close range. The sale person said don't mind the picture, it's the interlock.

SO I get home and open the box and realize they are in fact the SST. So I start researching the 130gr SST to determine if it is a suitable Deer round or not. Everything I find on this bullet is mixed. In other forums and on other websites if a person asks about this bullet they get a reply of what the other guy is using, partitioned 150gr, all copper TSX etc... while nice to know it doesn't really answer my questions regarding the SST.

Will the SST perform well on a deer shot at a variety of ranges, 10 yrds to 300 yrd? Will it be too frangible and destroy too much meat? Will it perform well on opportunities other than side shots? Would a 140gr hold together better when hunting deer? How do these compare to a corelok?

I've hunted deer with winchester coreloks and have examined the wound channel of two deer killed, both taken head on, one down the middle of the chest and another through the shoulder and into the vitals. Both seemed to work very well and for the most part meat was all usable.

Any info any of you can provide on 130gr SST's would be appreciated.
 
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I have been running the 140 sst in my 6.5 and 162 sst in my 7mm mag
they have been a great round they are penitrating right through .
All 4 animals this year were bang flop dead
no worries on the sst it will kill whatever you shoot
 
Thanks for the input. I guess my worries with the SST is hitting a rib and having the bullet disintegrate not killing the animal but just wounding it.

nanuk I've spoken to the store, they have no problem changing the bullets as they are still sealed in the plastic bag inside. I asked them what they have on hand and the only other round they have in .270 is the 140gr SST. The other two stores in our area also do not have anything in stock and I am taking a practical workshop on reloading and would like to have supplies that I can keep after the class is over.

From what I have found on this round I've been thinking of changing to the 140SST and giving that round a go. I'm hoping the extra weight may be just enough to ensure the bullet has enough left over to kill the animal in the event I hit a shoulder or rib bone.
 
I reload 130g SST. 59grains of RL22, 3075fps. Only shoot them now at paper and yotes, as I had a bad experience with the SST on deer. I use the 130g Interbond now for deer and up. I shot a yote at 30yards with an Interbond and left a hole in it the size of my fist, could just see the heart laying there!!
 
Sst are made for deer lol. Just don't shoot for shoulders. I shoot em in my ought 6 and at 39 yards (last one I shot) there was a huge hole(like put 2 fists right through the deer) right where you would want. No blood left to bleed out either. The deer made it about 5 yards. If you want to shoot for bone use a interbond, or gmx
 
hometownhero said:
Sst are made for deer lol. Just don't shoot for shoulders. I shoot em in my ought 6 and at 39 yards (last one I shot) there was a huge hole(like put 2 fists right through the deer) right where you would want. No blood left to bleed out either. The deer made it about 5 yards. If you want to shoot for bone use a interbond, or gmx
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+1
This is why I use Interbonds for deer, more punch when things don't go quite as planned.
 
Lead hammer said:
+1
This is why I use Interbonds for deer, more punch when things don't go quite as planned.
Click to expand...

My plan was to use them as well but after like 50 rounds of trying to find a load that works no such luck(can't get the gmx to shoot either). I did get alright results with interlocks but they arnt that sturdy so went with some partitions.
 
That sucks, I get 5/8" groups at 100 from mine.
Grouping was poor til I tried RL 22. Then I played with the seating depth and it made a huge difference in group size.
 
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Unless my memory fails me, I think the SST is a plastic tipped interlock. I've read a few complaints on their performance on deer and simply opted to use the much more expensive interbond bullets.(270 win)

140gr SST in my 6.5X55 perform almost identically to 139gr scenar bullets using an otherwise identical load - that is to say, they are also very consistent in accuracy, but while the former is supposed to be suitable for deer, I remain hesitant to so employ them having heard of other experiences.

There is a .277 bullet expansion test somewhere but I don't remember where nor could I find via the search function that might be of interest to you: The author test fired many different bullet designs/manufacturers into wet paper and presented the results of penetration, weight retention, expansion etc. Hopefully someone will be along shortly who remembers where this thread is.
 
I have never used the 130g SST myself but I have seen it used on deer. With full tilt hand loads out of a 270 win those bullets were quite explosive at close range but killed deer very well. There is no way a deer is going to survive a half decent hit with those bullets. I would not hesitate to use them.
 
hometownhero said:
My plan was to use them as well but after like 50 rounds of trying to find a load that works no such luck(can't get the gmx to shoot either). I did get alright results with interlocks but they arnt that sturdy so went with some partitions.
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Me too. I found the partition hard to beat. The accuracy is good enough for hunting and works on any game. I've shot 4 whitetails, one dall sheep , one mountain caribou this year with the partition. All where one shot kills with distances of 140 yds (twice), 60 yards, 80 yds, 180 yds and 255 yds. One buck was shot from above and had a log in the way and bullet was too far back and angled backward even further and you could easily call it a gut shot. The buck went about 100 yds. A copper bullet would likely have meant a lost buck.
 
SST is a perfectly reasonable general purpose bullet, it's just not a partition or tsx , so don't go off doing front shoulder shots.

Shoot your game in the boiler and you'll be fine.
 
I've used SST's on moose and have no complaints. Mind you, I'm not one of those guys that does an in-depth forensic analysis after the shot. If I make a clean kill I've got no complaints.
 
SST's perform like the old Nosler Solid Base bullets.I once had an entrance like a football on deer's ribcage.
 
Thanks guys, lots of good info. New Camper I have seen the video showing the ballistic test into wet paper. The bullet penetrated roughly 10 inches, weighed 65gr's and had a good wound track. The same video showed other bullets, corelok etc and they all performed to similar results.

So today I loaded my first batch. Just 15 rounds using the SST's. Imr4064 45.1grs, 2800fps. Winchester Brass and CCI Primers. I'm trying to stay away from max load as I know 99.9% of my shots will be under 300 yrds with most shots happening at 50 to 150 yrds.

Again, thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.
 
I used them this deer season, shot my 3 deer with them, and put a couple of backup rounds into others deer.Distances from 75m to 225m, SSTs work well as far as putting deer down.Work great on lung shots,no issue if it's just tissue.Bones are another matter.I hit a couple of shtoulder blades on quartering shots on a couple different deer.Lost the whole offside shoulder to bloodshot and fragments.I was using a .270 WSM with those 130 SSTs warmed up to max with IMR 4350.Around 3100 fps if I recall correctly, a bit on the slow side in comparison with competitors offerings in the same weight with the same propellant.Great on coyotes.
 
Supermanofsteel said:
Thanks guys, lots of good info. New Camper I have seen the video showing the ballistic test into wet paper. The bullet penetrated roughly 10 inches, weighed 65gr's and had a good wound track. The same video showed other bullets, corelok etc and they all performed to similar results.

So today I loaded my first batch. Just 15 rounds using the SST's. Imr4064 45.1grs, 2800fps. Winchester Brass and CCI Primers. I'm trying to stay away from max load as I know 99.9% of my shots will be under 300 yrds with most shots happening at 50 to 150 yrds.

Again, thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.
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I think you will be ok at those close distances as far as hitting soft tissue, good idea on keeping the velocity down a bit. If you can get those SST's to shoot good for you (won't be a problem at 150) I would purchase the Interbonds and shoot them at game, use the SST's to work up a load (and target shoot) since they are cheaper, then when you have the kinks worked out use the Interbonds as they have the same poi.
 
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