90 gr Sierra in a 250 Savage
- Thread starter Fassteel
- Start date
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Yep, pretty fragile bullet. hit lungs, and its devastating, hit shoulder bone, might not get through to the lungs. I've had more confidence in the terminal performance of a couple other bullets in my .250's but few are as accurate as the Sierra 90HP. Speer Hot cor 87 is good for older 1-14" twist rifles, but any good 100 grain should shoot well and penetrate better in your 10" twist Savage M14. Anyway, hit the lungs and they die quickly. Congratulations.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Yes I'm a fan of light and speedy in the 6mms through 7mms. .257" has a dear place in my heart for reasons I can't fully explain, and I feel it is at its best with the 80-90grs. Really liking the 80gr TTSX as well, has a reasonable BC and launches fast from any .25.
And now for the rest of the story.
I did this load for a young shooter who is my best buds son, out on his first deer hunt in southern alberta. loaded him the rifle and his dad took him out on saturday morning. I had loaded the 90gr bullets for him to practice with and some 117's to hunt with, but the 90gr did an impressive job.. FS
I did this load for a young shooter who is my best buds son, out on his first deer hunt in southern alberta. loaded him the rifle and his dad took him out on saturday morning. I had loaded the 90gr bullets for him to practice with and some 117's to hunt with, but the 90gr did an impressive job.. FS
I assume that you were pleased with the penetration and wonder what the same bullet would be like at faster 25-06 speeds.
I'm winding down on Hornady bullets given their choice to delete a lot of their old standby Interlock line and starting to switch to Sierra. I did load up a bunch of 100gr NPs for my 257R this fall and will give them a try. I'll save my stash of 100gr Hornadys for the grandkids when they start shooting.
I dragged a road kill doe off the hi way and shot her with 117 sst from my 25/06. The deer was beyond questionable. I propped her up with sticks. First shot at if I remember correctly 100 yards thru the ribs. Second thru the shoulders. Then I shot the head. I put a round thru her neck at close range. Results were 1-1/2" exit thru the ribs. The shoulder shot broke both shoulders and was a perfect smooth not so much of a mushroom but folded back over the shank in lead smeared tear drop shape. Massive destruction to bone. The head exploded leaving the nose and an ear hanging. The neck shot did not exit. It hit the spine and like the shoulder hit was laying against the hide on the off side. It was flatter but still had a good shank to it. Expansion was good. The jacket peels back and folds in toward the shank. Weights were in the 55+ gr range. Under 60 gr though. I would not hesitate to use them on deer or a double lung shot on bear. Internal damage was massive.
Although light if hunting Ontario moose calves I'd have no worries taking one of them either
I love my 25/06. I hunt with 117 gr interlock boat tail spire point and use 75 gr Vmax for varmints
Although light if hunting Ontario moose calves I'd have no worries taking one of them either
I love my 25/06. I hunt with 117 gr interlock boat tail spire point and use 75 gr Vmax for varmints
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Interesting testing for sure. I have always read about how fragile the Hornady SST bullets are, and though I realize that one shot at each location is not a thoroughly reliable test, it does give me hope that they are better at holding together than their reputation might have us believe. I have several boxes of Hornady SST's in my stash, and they are accurate in my rifles, so I might have to try them on something other than on paper.
I like to test my loads by shooting water 4L jugs lined up side by side. The sst doesn't penetrate as deep as the btsp interlock but completely mangles the first 2 jugs with a 4" hole going into the 3rd. They hold together well for shape but they do loose a lot of their weight. A superformance 117 gr sst does more viable damage than my 300 wm shooting 180 gr Winchester Grey box positive expanding. Doesn't go as deep but ha a violent first foot. The sst on coyote flesh turns both sides of the animal into bloody jello. A chest shot bruises from the neck to the rear hips. The same weight interlock does of a 1/4 of the damage. Exit holes are about the same. The deer I shot was dead so the bloody tissue didn't form but viable damage was present. I went with the btsp interlock for the better penetration and cheaper price. It allows me to shoot more. However I had to move into the city and lost my 900 yard range so I dont shoot as often
