Hornady SST, good or not???

I like SST's, and use them in several calibers.

A good friend of mine and longtime 338 win mag hunter shot his moose with 225 grain SST last fall and he told me he had never seen a boiler shot moose go down so fast. He has tried about every .338 cal bullet out there, and told me he's now going to use them exclusively.

If you're the kind of guy who gets all bent out of shape when a bullet comes apart while it kills your animal, then the SST is probably not for you. However, if you want a modestly priced general purpose bullet that kills quick with proper shot placement, then the SST should be given serious consideration.
 
i shoot sst and will be hunting with 200 grn sst's in my 338 06. i think there fine for slower cartridges and heavier weights. i would have no problem with 180 in a 30 06 or a 160 in a 280. i don't think there good for magnums.
 
I have used the 130gr sst in my .270 win. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to try them out on a deer yet. However they grouped very tight at 100 yards. My problem with them is the casings don't extract properly in my Ruger m77 (using the factory Hornady superformance rounds). Its not the gun as I have never had this issue with any other brand of ammo.
 
Huntsman said:
I've only used SST's in my muzzle loader and have switched to the TC Bonded Shockwave. Although the 250gr SST's killed the many deer i was hunting i found them to be too fragile and have recovered many of the bullets or cup as the core was gone leaving lead fragments throughout the wound channel. I like the areodynamics of these bullets, especially for modern black powder hunting that is their plus side. Here are some pics of the ones I was able to recover;
IMG01203-20120929-2055.jpg

The one lone bullet out front is a 300gr XTP
Click to expand...

Thanks for this post Huntsman. SSTs shoot good in my Omega, but I'm going to try the TC Shockwave after seeing this pic. My XTP's didn't group as well as the SST, but I may try them again.
 
I have used the 165 gr SST in 30/06 and it has been a very accurate bullet for mulies. That being said all of my shots have gone through the heart/lung area with no problems. A 30 cal hole in one side and a loonie sized hole out the other side. I have never recovered a slug so I don't know about weight retained.

I agree with other posts that for 308/30-06 speeds it should be fine.

The interbond is also a very good bullet and probably a better choice if bone is struck.
 
If you dont hit the shoulder they do a good job on the heart and lungs. Shot a deer in the shoulder and no blood nothing. Ended up not finding the deer after looking for 4 hours in the dark and 3 in the day light. The next shot at one was in the boiler room and the hole was the size of my fist. Was cruising at 2850 fps though

Shots were under 50 yards as well though. First one was 30 yards next one that blew a hole in it was at 39 yards. Shot at with 150gr out of a 30-06
 
Last edited:
I have never had issues with accuracy with the majority of bullets available. The SST included.

I stopped using the SST when I shot a running doe at medium range.The shot was a direct double lung broadside shot.The deer dropped immediately and skid across the stubble field. Upon processing the animal I found bullet fragments in the loins which were blood shot and only about 50% was salvageable.

Double the distance they would have probably worked very nicely, but for normal hunting distances they are too fragile for my liking.

Swift SC II's are now my preferred projectile.
 
Ive seen the result of a sub 100yrd shoulder hit - MV 2850 fps . Was pretty messy. They are good enough for boiler room hits but i would stay with a heavy for Cal. prespription on these ones.
 
Deer would be the only big game I have used the SST's on...I know guys who tried to use them on moose, but spent 7 additional shots putting it down...I have found that they do break up quite easily. They do the job though....
 
Killed two deer with them in my 7RM, 139 gr at 3200 ish. One was a neck shot at about 90m severed the spine and made one big hole as the shot was a bit off center, was dead before he hit the ground but any bullet at that spot would have done that. The other one was a shoulder at about 110-120m in one shoulder and recovered the bullet in the hide past the other shoulder. Well recovered the jacket cause thats alle there was left. Deer dropped on the spot but i had to finish it off when i got to him. I dont plan on using them again on game.
 
I use SST for my 7mm mag an i find them to work pretty good.. They have no issue on deer an ive used them on moose aswell... Havent gotten a black bear yet with it but im sure it can hold its own. Ive heard of people saying they break apart an such but havent seen that problem yet with mine. Hope that helps.
 
I shot 2 deer two years ago with 165 sst out of my 30-06 at between 30-70 yds, both bullets exited, they were very destructive and the animals did not go far at all. That being said I dont believe they hit any substantial bone maybe a couple of ribs, but there was a ton of damage and lots of jacket bits to pick out, basically my experience was the same as a lot of others by the sound of it. I think the biggest question I would ask myself before using these is, realistically, what impact velocities are you expecting, if you think they will be around 2800 fps as mentioned in the op I would definitely use a heavy for caliber bullet, like maybe a 180gr if using a .308 cartridge of some sort or 160gr if using 7mm cartridge of some sort, that way if it looses a bunch of weight on the way in it should still have enough weight to keep pushing it deep and maybe exit, but still, expect to see a lot of metal in your meat. The way I see it, if one would want something that performs well at a wide range of velocities there are way better bullet options to look at. However, I think I view the sst as a good economical long range bullet at this point, they have a very respectable bc and people seem to find them accurate, I believe they would be more suited to someone who might be taking a 300 yd shot on a deer for example, the lower velocity would help retain weight for penetration and not send so much metal flying around inside the animal ruining meat.
 
SST's are garbage in ML's. Here are 2 250gr's that came appart.

20130119_135103_zps68ce12e5.jpg


I now use .458 325gr Hornady FTX at 2400fps. Much better bullet.

As for rifle bullets, the 162gr .284 sst has a thicker jacket than both the 154 and 175gr interlocks. I do not know what caliber you are using but I would prefer the 7mm 150gr nosler btip as well as the 30cal 168 and 180gr btip over any sst in that caliber range.
 
I found the SST's to be very accurate, but act like a varmint bullet. A 140 yard broadside shot on a small white tail from my 270 win took out both lungs, but never left a mark on the opposing ribs. The bullet turned the inside of the deer to paste without hitting a single bone. I can only imagine what would happen if it had hit bone, of any size!

So, back to accubonds and partitions for me!
 
I think Interbonds and SSTs are basically the same? Jacket held to core by an interbond ring, only SST has a polymer tip? Anyways I've had good experience with both. As long as you keep the MV under maybe 2800 should be ok. The good thing about the SST is it expands well at lower velocity. Check out the .264 bullet test thread, nice way to compare SST, Inderbond & most other bullets!
 
ianmcdz said:
I think Interbonds and SSTs are basically the same? Jacket held to core by an interbond ring, only SST has a polymer tip? Anyways I've had good experience with both. As long as you keep the MV under maybe 2800 should be ok. The good thing about the SST is it expands well at lower velocity. Check out the .264 bullet test thread, nice way to compare SST, Inderbond & most other bullets!
Click to expand...

Both have a red plastic tip.


07blackwater said:
Interbond is a bonded bullet, the sst is just a cup and core.
Click to expand...

So similar to a nosler accubond?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom