Hornady SST's for deer in 308???

[Kevin R]

Hello,

Has anyone had good luck with the Hornady SST? I'm getting good accuracy with the 165gr from my 308 and want use it for deer and caribou?? I have read that it has the potential to destroy allot of meat, but my main concern is getting a good kill??

Some questions I have.

Will it perform well at any distance? Is it much different then the Nosler Balistic Tip? ( I don't have any experience with that one either) Am I better to use a bonded bullet like the Accubond?

I'm not interested in using a copper bullet.

Any info will help. Thanks.

Kevin.

[tnshooter111]

The sst is a great bullet for deer sized game.

[fj40mojo]

I've seen 3 deer killed with variations of this bullet, all were DRT or near and none suffered catastrophic meat loss. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on elk either.

[Browninglover1]

The SST is an awesome bullet out of a 308. We shot 3 coyotes from 200 to 365 yards with the 150 grain Superformance load and the damage was devastating on the thin skinned coyotes.

Two weeks later my buddy was able to shoot 2 mule deer does one at just over 300 yards and the other was just shy of 550 with the same box of Superformance ammo. The one at 300 yards ran for 10 yards and piled up dead with a bullet right through her lungs and the only meat loss was from the ribs. The doe shot at 550 caught the bullet right through the shoulders and looked like she'd been hit by a 300 mag instead of a 308 she hit the ground so fast. Meat loss on the near shoulder was minimal and he only lost about a big hamburger sized piece of meat from her offside shoulder.

My boss shoots a 7mm Rem Mag with the 154 grain SST Superformance load and took an elk, bull moose, and a decent mule deer buck all with one shot. He hit the elk a little high in the shoulders (200 yard DRT shot) and it put some bullet fragments in the front end of the backstraps but he didn't really lose any meat off the shoulders. He hit his bull moose right through the shoulders at 150 yards and it dropped on the spot. The bullet didn't make it to the offside shoulder but the lungs were gelled. He hit the deer through the back of the lungs at about 275 yards and it ran 20 yards before piling up and he lost just a little of the offside rib meat.

The SST is a great bullet from everything I've seen. While it wouldn't be my first choice for Moose it worked great for my boss and you should never have problems with it on deer out of your 308.

[Dochawg]

I have not had a chance to shoot any game with the SST, but I am reloading in my 308 and I am getting pretty good groups. Does anyone else reload with them. For best results do you have to seat the bullet to the cannular or can it be long?

jb

[Browninglover1]

Dochawg when I reloaded the SST's for my 270 best accuracy was obtained by seating out the bullets closer to the lands so the cannelure was not even with the top of the case mouth but was ahead of it.

[zxd9]

Originally Posted by Browninglover1

Dochawg when I reloaded the SST's for my 270 best accuracy was obtained by seating out the bullets closer to the lands so the cannelure was not even with the top of the case mouth but was ahead of it.

Good to note. I shot my first loads at 100y and was not happy with the results when loaded at 2.75 in .308. I was going to try them loaded out further and your posting hopefully confirms my next step.