hornady SST bullets on game?

mosinmaster said:
Anybody use 140 gr SSTs in 6.5x55 in a modern action? I got a whole bunch of them when I bought a set of dies. What could I effectively kill with them? I was thinking deer/bears and use my 8x57 Mauser with 200 gr pills for anything bigger.
Click to expand...

The thread seems to be either way: I have a few hundred of these that work great in my T3 6.5X55. More interesting is that they impact almost the same point as 139gr scenars when loaded in front of the same powder charge. I have always thought that scenars are target bullets, but when load developing, and discovered the consistencies, hope that the SST's are not just target bullets.

I'm curious as you are.
 
Last edited:
SST's get the thumbs down from me as well.
There are many much better choices, particularly in high velocity chamberings.

I use them for practice, and sighting in, but shoot Partitions or bonded bullets at game.

Regards, Eagleye.
 
meatgrinder said:
is it safe to say that a remington core lokt and an SST are pretty much the same minus the little red tip?
Click to expand...

I don't yet know about the SST, but I used almost exclusively Remington core lokt factory ammo in my 270 win for deer with excellent results. I have only recovered one 150gr round nose core lokt from a deer: I found it lodged in the spine a few inches back of the front legs in the shape of a deformed mushroom. I weighed it on the balance and it lost maybe 20gr after having what obviously was an intimate encounter with the thickest shoulder bones and backbone. All other deer shot with those rounds in the same rifle have ended up in the ground or tree trunk after passing through the shoulder bones of a large buck. I just wish I could buy those bullets so I could reload for better groups, but under two hundred yards, they've been minute of buck and done what they needed to do with little fuss.
 
I used 338WM SST 225 grain in a Ruger Hawkeye on a Bison, one shot in the lungs at about 120 yards, less than impressed with groups in my Browning 300WM,
 
I personally believe that Rem Core Loks are a tougher bullet than the SST but once again I only use/load them for my T/C Contender carbine in 308Bellm = .308" 150gr @ 2600fps shot my largest antlered mule deer buck at 210 yards with this combo bullet entered right side front of chest exited left side of chest breaking right front leg bone after bullet exited chest.

I trust a Core Lok to stay together more than a SST but once again I do not push them faster than 2600fps.
 
I haven't anything but paper with them. I bought 100 of them and loaded up 100 rounds for the range. Over a compressed load, they doesn't seat positively. The seating die leaves a long mar which is quite wide. That means the bullets are VERY soft.

In contrast, the Nosler Ballistic Tips does NOT have this problem.

SSTs are very soft bullets. I wouldn't trust them on game.
 
Over the last 8 years I've used the .30cal 180gr. SST in my 30-06 and various 308 rifles. Of the many deer, moose and a few other critters shot from 27 to 431 yards, this is the only SST I have ever recovered. I shot a smallish (115lbs dressed) Whitetail buck that was running away from me, slight quatering angle @ +/- 110 yards. This bullet went thru the hip, broke the bone, thru the guts, broke 2 ribs and lodged itself under the skin in front of the far shoulder. Every other SST has been a complete pass thrus and no animals where ever lost. I've always believed that selecting heavier bullets was a smarter choice...after reading some of the comments here it appears that my beliefs may have been right!
34qwmjc.jpg
 
meatgrinder said:
is it safe to say that a remington core lokt and an SST are pretty much the same minus the little red tip?
Click to expand...

Core lokts have earned their stay on store shelves for longer than any of us have been alive. Just viewed a lengthy artical a few months back from a highly respected hunting magazine on the subject of hunting ammunition. Low and behold Corelokt was mentioned. The author recalled taking a grizzly, 30-06 180g passed through both shoulders and made dirt fly when it struck the ground behind the bear. Was surprised that it earned that piece in the artical. I beleive the SST and Ballistic Tip were considered of equal construction/class
 
VLT79 said:
Over the last 8 years I've used the .30cal 180gr. SST in my 30-06 and various 308 rifles. Of the many deer, moose and a few other critters shot from 27 to 431 yards, this is the only SST I have ever recovered. I shot a smallish (115lbs dressed) Whitetail buck that was running away from me, slight quatering angle @ +/- 110 yards. This bullet went thru the hip, broke the bone, thru the guts, broke 2 ribs and lodged itself under the skin in front of the far shoulder. Every other SST has been a complete pass thrus and no animals where ever lost. I've always believed that selecting heavier bullets was a smarter choice...after reading some of the comments here it appears that my beliefs may have been right!
34qwmjc.jpg
Click to expand...

I believe you have the key. Large grain bullet at about 2600 to 2800 fps keeps the expansion under control. I had come to the conclusion that using a 130gr in my 270 win at 3200 fps would be a bad idea and now use them for paper. The high BC make it a great flat shooting round.

G
 
More details about my experience...
180 grain SST from a 308 winchester. Upper mid range book load, not chronied. 150 pound white tail buck broadside @ 20 yards. Bullet entered behind front shoulder, no bone struck. Cut heart in half internally and jellied lungs etc. Front quarter looked like it was hit by a tractor trailer, wasted almost entire front quarter. Bullet fragmented into 2 large pieces and many smaller ones. One large fragment actually exited through the upper neck, the other large fragment exited other side.
So, heavy for caliber, not loaded hot, still did not hold together. One experience only, gave them up after that.
 
A long-time friend of mine shot is moose with 225 grain SST in .338 win mag last year and told me he had never seem a moose go down to so fast from a typical broadside boiler shot. He's a long-time .338 win mag user, and now switched to them exclusively.

I use SST's in a bunch of calibers myself, and I have no concerns about them as a hunting bullet.

They just aren't a Failsafe or a TSX, so if you are a double-front-shoulder shooter then they aren't for you. If you shoot things in the boiler, then you're fine.
 
I find it quite amusing when I read a complete inch by inch forensic analysis of a bullets path and performance through an animal. It must take hours of inspection to do this accurately and I take my hat off to those that have the patience and dedication to do so. I've even seen reports where guys have recovered the bullet after it exited the animal and have pictures of that bullet to prove their argument on bullet performance.
I'm sure there are those among us that have the expertise to under take, and accurately report on this type of a forensic analysis but all to often I would also suspect the report is mostly a personal bias at best or at worst, will you know.
IMHO, I'd have to say that all bullets sold as hunting bullets from any of the major manufactures and fired accurately into the vitals from a gun of sufficient caliber and energy will produce a desired humane kill.
Happy hunting!
 
if you recover an animal the bullet must have done its job. doesn't really matter what the heart
lung looks like as long as the animal drops. i wouldn't use sst's in a fast cartrigde. i load 200 and 225 grn sst in a 338 06 and am trying the 165 sst in my ruger compact 308. aprox 2600 to 2650 fps. i usually use a bonded or such in high speed magnums.
 
AG said:
More details about my experience...
180 grain SST from a 308 winchester. Upper mid range book load, not chronied. 150 pound white tail buck broadside @ 20 yards. Bullet entered behind front shoulder, no bone struck. Cut heart in half internally and jellied lungs etc. Front quarter looked like it was hit by a tractor trailer, wasted almost entire front quarter. Bullet fragmented into 2 large pieces and many smaller ones. One large fragment actually exited through the upper neck, the other large fragment exited other side.
So, heavy for caliber, not loaded hot, still did not hold together. One experience only, gave them up after that.
Click to expand...

Hahaha...holy crap!!! Don't want to start a pi$$ing contest here but even a 180gr. Partition will shed all of its front core and the rear core will be severily deformed when shot at that distance...heck that even asking lots for a 150gr RN fired from a 30-30. Inside of 50 yards shoot them in the head or the neck...the later if you are an antler collector! LOL!
 
when i first purchased my savage smokeless muzzleloader I used their book load of sr4759 powder and a 250gr sst. I shot a whitetail doe at 107 yards and the bullet came apart. dropped the deer yes but I didnt like the way it exploded. Now I agree rib shots the animal will die but I wanted something that would hold together a bit better for the variables that can sometimes arise in the field. Now I shoot 300gr barnes originals. I understand the apples to oranges ...centerfire to muzzleloader but the savage can push a bullet close to 2800fps with different powders. Centerfire rifles Im a acccubond guy now after years of 165gr ballistic tips out of 30 calibers..
Is it a fact that nosler has recently thickened the jacket on their ballistic tip hunting bulllets?
cheers
wicket
 
I've shot SSTs at bears out of 30-06, 150grn. Explosive, messy, effective..... His front leg was hanging by the hide after a shoulder hit. I would rather use them for practice and GMXs for hunting. I'm afraid a moose shoulder might stop penetration.
 
i would buy the interbonds. What i do is plink and develop loads with the sst and hunting with the inter bonds. I save 20 bucks per hundred bullets for plinking but that 20 bucks is well spent when hunting. What if you have a bull draw and you see the biggest bull ever? The interbonds will have saved you some stress. I would shoot the interbonds at a grizzly thats how trusting i am of them. They sell at a premium compared to sst but they work close to a partition.
 
I've used them for years and love them. They are very accurate from my lazzeronis to my predator calibers and have always performed well for me
 
Here is a picture of the only Core Lokt bullet I ever recovered in a whitetail deer.

DSC00661_zpsd1a51983.jpg


I weighed it a few minutes ago, and it was 114grains. Given that it started life as a 150gr round nose in 270 Win, weight retention after bouncing off hip bones and lodging in the spine was about 76%. Aside from the peeling of the jacket on the far side from the repeated rendezvous with solid bone, it expanded correctly to about 45 caliber. This was many years ago, so in my neglect to record a description of the deer and circumstances, I can only jog my memory and hope to accurately say that it was a broadside shot(may have been 45 degree); 95% of shots were, and I am sure he was less than 200lbs on the hoof.

Every deer I've seen taken with Core Lokt, and hit correctly have not went far, some bolted to the ground. I distinctly remember two occasions: Both shots 75' or less, the bullet travelled through both shoulders making a cup size hole in the ground (I was in a tree) and the second (I was on the ground) although the buck bolted, and crashed in the woods 100' away, I saw the chunk of fur fly out off the chest as the bullet exited the other side. Wound canals have always been satisfactory.

I'd like to reload my own cartridges with these bullets (not satisfied with factory accuracy), but I don't know who makes the Core Lokt bullet or an identical counterpart from a different company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom