Hornady SST's tip pretty banged up after 1 week of carrying them around

[BigUglyMan]

I know what a HotCor is. The process basically achieves the same results as a typical bonded bullet. Either way, it makes sense that they are "tougher" than the front portion of a partition (as already discussed).

I'm not certain you do know what a HotCor is. The toughness of any cup and core bullet (including the forward portion of a Nosler Partition), all things being equal, is governed by the alloy of the lead, the composition of the jacket and the thickness of the jacket. If you're suggesting that the gilding metal/copper/lead and jacket dimensions are the same in all cup and core bullets, you're even more sorely mistaken than you appear already.

 

[ironsighter]

No, it's about testing a hypothesis to show a repeatable result. You have a hypothesis and a result and no practical application to link the two. By your logic, because I wear underwear when I hunt, the underwear results in successful kills. I wear underwear every time and the animals I shoot die.

Disprove my hypothesis.

Someone already tested the hypothesis and reported the results. I simply took the advice and I have not found any evidence to contradict the existing hypothesis and results. I have not need or desire for further "testing", since these projectiles continue to kill every animal I shoot.

 

[Cleftwynd]

This thread has derailed a little, I now use .277 140 grain Accubonds in my 270 Win.

As to the original post, I have had mangled tips before, and it made no difference on game that I noticed within 400-450 yards.

 

[ironsighter]

If you're suggesting that the gilding metal/copper/lead and jacket dimensions are the same in all cup and core bullets, you're even more sorely mistaken than you appear already.

I'm not suggesting anything of the sort, and I don't recall saying so. From what I recall of the Hot-Cor, molten lead is poured into the cup. (Apparently) the process results in much better core-to-jacket integrity than a standard cup-and-core bullet. I never said this was identical to a bonded bullet. I said it basically achieves the same results. The Hot-Cor is a "stouter" bullet than a traditional cup-and-core bullet such as the Speer BT or Sierra GK. The same can be said for "bonded" bullets, generally. The front end of a partition behaves much more like a Speer BT or Sierra GK than it does the "stouter" bullets discussed. Perhaps this is what Mr. Foster was getting at, if he did in fact say the Hot-Cor was stouter than a partition.

There's no right or wrong choice of bullet unless distance, velocity or animal size (or any/all of these) are extreme. I researched a lot to find an affordable all-rounder that shoots well in my rifle, and the 150gr SSTs fit the bill perfectly and continue to kill animals when I pull the trigger.

The relative merits of all the other bullets can be discussed ad infinitum, and I suspect they will.

 

[ironsighter]

This thread has derailed a little, I now use .277 170 grain Accubonds in my 270 Win.

What twist rate? No trouble with stability?

EDIT: I was curious, so looked at the online catalog. Can't seem to find it.

As to the original post, I have had mangled tips before, and it made no difference on game that I noticed within 400-450 yards.

If I was the OP, I'd be trying to figure out WHY he's getting mangled tips. But it is nice for him to know that it won't really matter.

 

[Cleftwynd]

OOPS!!! I meant 140 grain! Haha I'll fix that

 

[exophysical]

Reference?

Taken from the same article that you cherry picked your recommendation on the 150 grain sst. The Fusions are a decent bullet but their penetration is not on par with either the Partition or the TSX. Its also interesting to note that Nathan Foster has very few good things to say about the Interlock, even though the sst is supposed to be an Interlock with the addition of a plastic tip. I've got a pretty good collection of bullets that I personally have dug out of animals, I trust that, not your internet man crush.


The 130 grain Fusion bullet at 3060fps is a fast killing bullet on lighter medium game inside 250 yards. Penetration is on par with the Partition although slightly better where heavy bone is encountered. Apart from this, the Fusion offers nothing that cannot be done with the Barnes 130 grain TSX.

 

[Why not?]

Taken from the same article that you cherry picked your recommendation on the 150 grain sst. The Fusions are a decent bullet but their penetration is not on par with either the Partition or the TSX. Its also interesting to note that Nathan Foster has very few good things to say about the Interlock, even though the sst is supposed to be an Interlock with the addition of a plastic tip. I've got a pretty good collection of bullets that I personally have dug out of animals, I trust that, not your internet man crush.

Yep! A few of the ones that were caught.



The rest just kept on going.

Ted

 

[Eagleye]

Ted, It looks like you and I are both bullet "Diggers" As you stated, many have passed through and were lost.

However, finding a bullet in a dead animal certainly helps one make decisions in the future as to what is the best choice.

As I stated before, I AM somewhat opinionated. Sooner or later, trying to save a buck or two by using cheap projectiles will bring one to grief.

Here's my collection. Note the "row of shame" on the bottom left....also note the two ttsx bullets that failed to expand properly on the lower right.



Regards, Dave.

 

[ironsighter]

Taken from the same article that you cherry picked your recommendation on the 150 grain sst. The Fusions are a decent bullet but their penetration is not on par with either the Partition or the TSX. Its also interesting to note that Nathan Foster has very few good things to say about the Interlock, even though the sst is supposed to be an Interlock with the addition of a plastic tip. I've got a pretty good collection of bullets that I personally have dug out of animals, I trust that, not your internet man crush.


The 130 grain Fusion bullet at 3060fps is a fast killing bullet on lighter medium game inside 250 yards. Penetration is on par with the Partition although slightly better where heavy bone is encountered. Apart from this, the Fusion offers nothing that cannot be done with the Barnes 130 grain TSX.

Well I guess Mr. Foster's experience with the 130gr Fusion differs from yours. I don't find it hard to believe that a Fusion would perform better on heavy bone than the relatively soft-nosed Partition. I also didn't see where he said that the Fusion is on par with the TSX. If anything, he says the contrary.

Personally, my only experience with Partitions has been the .243/6mm 100gr. On heavy bone, they have not performed all that well. Quite recently, for example, a family member shot a quite large mule deer buck with them. The first shot struck the upper leg bone, near the shoulder, and broke it. The bullet did not carry on into the chest cavity. I can only conclude that the soft front immediately disintegrated on the bone, thus shedding all the energy and half the weight of the bullet. I can conclude this because 2 other bullets were recovered from the animal and both had very little of the front portion remaining. Neither of them had encountered bone in their paths. I did not recover the first bullet. I suspect it fell from the arm-pit onto the ground during a long, rough drag.

Not an apples to apples comparison, but I recently shot a mule deer buck in nearly the same place with a .277" 150gr SST. It blasted through the front leg bone, through ribs of the lower chest, and came to rest just under the hide of the opposite front leg. About 40% of the projectile remained (I didn't weigh it). The deer died within 20 seconds. Obviously, the .270 has a considerable energy advantage over the .243. I am not saying the SST is better than the Partition. I did expect the Partition to perform better than it did, though, and I realize that I would have been better off with a stouter bullet for that particular shot - such as a TSX or one of the premium bonded bullets.

Silly comments about man crushes aside, I have already said I am not married to one projectile or another. I do read Nathan's pages, but that is not the only source of info that I consider and I am paying attention to people's advice around here, too. I did take Nathan's advice on the SST and so far they are really working out for me. They are affordable, the load I developed shoots extremely well from my rifle, and they have been killing game very reliably so far. That's really all I am saying. If that somehow bothers people here, then I don't think that's my problem.

 

[exophysical]

Well I guess Mr. Foster's experience with the 130gr Fusion differs from yours. I don't find it hard to believe that a Fusion would perform better on heavy bone than the relatively soft-nosed Partition. I also didn't see where he said that the Fusion is on par with the TSX. If anything, he says the contrary.

Personally, my only experience with Partitions has been the .243/6mm 100gr. On heavy bone, they have not performed all that well. Quite recently, for example, a family member shot a quite large mule deer buck with them. The first shot struck the upper leg bone, near the shoulder, and broke it. The bullet did not carry on into the chest cavity. I can only conclude that the soft front immediately disintegrated on the bone, thus shedding all the energy and half the weight of the bullet. I can conclude this because 2 other bullets were recovered from the animal and both had very little of the front portion remaining. Neither of them had encountered bone in their paths. I did not recover the first bullet. I suspect it fell from the arm-pit onto the ground during a long, rough drag.

Not an apples to apples comparison, but I recently shot a mule deer buck in nearly the same place with a .277" 150gr SST. It blasted through the front leg bone, through ribs of the lower chest, and came to rest just under the hide of the opposite front leg. About 40% of the projectile remained (I didn't weigh it). The deer died within 20 seconds. Obviously, the .270 has a considerable energy advantage over the .243. I am not saying the SST is better than the Partition. I did expect the Partition to perform better than it did, though, and I realize that I would have been better off with a stouter bullet for that particular shot - such as a TSX or one of the premium bonded bullets.

Silly comments about man crushes aside, I have already said I am not married to one projectile or another. I do read Nathan's pages, but that is not the only source of info that I consider and I am paying attention to people's advice around here, too. I did take Nathan's advice on the SST and so far they are really working out for me. They are affordable, the load I developed shoots extremely well from my rifle, and they have been killing game very reliably so far. That's really all I am saying. If that somehow bothers people here, then I don't think that's my problem.

And I've killed about a dozen deer and two moose with Fusion bullets, I've only ever recovered one from a deer and I have the bullets from both moose. Some of them were steep quartering shots where they got over four feet of penetration, on one quartering shot I broke 3 ribs going in behind the shoulder and two coming out the far side in front. The 130 grain, .270 Fusion is a far better "all around load" than the 150 grain SST if moose and elk are going to be hunted regularly, but neither the 130 or 150 grain Fusion can match the penetration of a Partition, TSX, or even the 150 grain Coreloct in a .270.