Hornady SST

[highcotton]

I've been giving some thought to trying 140 grain Hornady SST's in my .270 WIN. Anyone have experience with these bullets? Accuracy? Terminal performance? I've been shooting mostly Nosler, both BT's and AB's. I like the performance of the AB, but have not been able to get the groups I want with them so far. Thought I might give the SST's a run, but wanted some experienced feedback first.

 

[Derek M.]

I've been giving some thought to trying 140 grain Hornady SST's in my .270 WIN. Anyone have experience with these bullets? Accuracy? Terminal performance? I've been shooting mostly Nosler, both BT's and AB's. I like the performance of the AB, but have not been able to get the groups I want with them so far. Thought I might give the SST's a run, but wanted some experienced feedback first.

I would take a nosler btip over an sst any day. a buddy and I hunted pronghorn in TX in 2008. he was shooting factory sst from his 308. took 5 shots to kill his pronghorn with those sst bullets. the first one was a perfect broadside shot and the bullet exploded, ripping off the skin and muscle from the scapula with bare bone exposed and a hole big enough for 2 fists yet no internal damage whatsoever.

I will try to find pictures. My advice, stay away from SST bullets. This is based on that experience for terminal performance, and my own experience with loading them and not achieving good accuracy in 3 different 270 rifles with the 130 and 140.

 

[Derek M.]

Here he is. I'll email him for the pics of the entry holes. It was quite the mess and in my opinion, the bullets are a joke. What you are looking at is the "good" side of the buck. There are NO exit holes on this side at all, and 2 of the shots were within 30 yards because the buck was like the energizer bunny, he just kept on going.

 

[Scot E]

I like them a lot. My son used them to shoot his mule deer this fall. Only a 225 yard shot but it mushroomed to almost an inch at the widest, penetrated a shoulder on the entry side and a rib on the off side. Full penetration and about 75% weight retention. This was a 308 165grain out of an '06.

I can tell you the 6.5's and the 308's have a higher BC than what is listed. I played with the 308 this fall a bit and didn't finalize what the BC was but it was noticeably higher. They shoot very accurately for me in every gun I have tried.

If you like to shoot through the leg bones of big game then you will have to be careful with this bullet. It is not as tough as the PT or AB. This is especially true on elk and big mule deer. But if you shoot for the vitals or take should blade shots I think they will be perfect. I personally like a bullet that does a lot of mushrooming and even some shredding of weight so for my style of shooting these work well.

HTH,

Scot E.

 

[T3-OleMan]

Close.

Try the Superformance GMX, it did a very good job for my 338WM (185gr) by accident during a scope upgrade. 15 uncleaned rounds and I was impressed as the way they closed in after 7 or 8 rounds of alighnment. They are faster!
Good luck.

 

[sendero72]

The 95gr in the 243 works great on whitetail.

 

[Browninglover1]

The 140 SST and RL22 with Fed215M primers shot very well in my Browning A Bolt 270. The only thing I ever killed with this load was jack rabbits so I can't really speak of performance on big game.

 

[grit]

I used them in my 270. Attractively priced. I liked them. Accuracy was very good. Terminal performance effective. I ran 'em much faster than the above mentined 06. They frequently didn't exit.

 

[7stw]

Here he is. I'll email him for the pics of the entry holes. It was quite the mess and in my opinion, the bullets are a joke. What you are looking at is the "good" side of the buck. There are NO exit holes on this side at all, and 2 of the shots were within 30 yards because the buck was like the energizer bunny, he just kept on going.

Derek, you must have freaked! Could it have been because you were TOO close? I have had BT's grenade at something under a hundred before. I have not used STT's but do have a load for one of my 7mags, that loves the INTERBONDS. Now I know these are bonded, and I think that the sst is not, which makes it similar to a BT. Beautiful animal by the way. What was the distance? Man I would love to hunt some of those " prairie goats" some day. Let the 7stw bark! Take care. AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL. 7 STW gun)

 

[Derek M.]

Derek, you must have freaked! Could it have been because you were TOO close? I have had BT's grenade at something under a hundred before. I have not used STT's but do have a load for one of my 7mags, that loves the INTERBONDS. Now I know these are bonded, and I think that the sst is not, which makes it similar to a BT. Beautiful animal by the way. What was the distance? Man I would love to hunt some of those " prairie goats" some day. Let the 7stw bark! Take care. AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL. 7 STW gun)

Well, I didn't want to freak too much because the guy in the picture is a Major in the Air Force and is a ENT doctor. This was his very first kill with a rifle, ever, so I didn't want to take anything away from that.

The pronghorn was 234 yards on shot 1 and the remaining shots were all less than 50. It is understandable how we all offer advice based on our experience. I use to work in a gunstore in Tucson in the late 80s/early 90s during the summer when I was out of college. It was then I saw the Nosler Btips for the first time and I used them for MANY years on a ton of deer and never once had an issue of any sort other than taking a dead deer home to process the meat. So I always highly recommend Btips if someone wants a tipped non-bonded bullet. I've had 100% pure success with them.

As to SSTs this was my first experience with them via my buddy. My second was on a wolf hunt in which another friend had to shoot the wolf more than once. Coincidentally, it was a 270 and 140 SST factory ammo. And here he is with his wolf:

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I have taken numerous animals with the sst's in various calibers with excellent results. Numerous deer, antelope and elk with the 140 grain 270 bullet. I have had no problem with them. Accuracy is great and the bc's are higher than listed.

 

[Derek M.]

This is my pronghorn from the same TX hunt. Of course my buck is much bigger, shot with a 270 and 110 TTSX which is light years in superiority to the Hornady SST!

And here's my pics with wolves. 30.06, 168 TTSX. One shot, one kill:

Oh, and finally, here's a picture of that first pronghorn with the gaping hole from the junk Hornady SST crap bullet. It may be difficult to tell but he shot perfectly for high shoulder. The scapula is INTACT.:

 

[Derek M.]

If the SST was the only bullet available for hunting, I'd be an archery only hunter. I'd shoot the interbond or regular Hornady bullets though. The old cup/core lead bullets with the cannelure are great bullets. SSTs=crap in my opinion.

 

[MachV]

If the SST was the only bullet available for hunting, I'd be an archery only hunter. I'd shoot the interbond or regular Hornady bullets though. The old cup/core lead bullets with the cannelure are great bullets. SSTs=crap in my opinion.

I feel the same way but for the oposet reason. I bowhunted goats hard last fall but just could not get close enough to a buck with the bow and not get busted by his does. First morning of rifle season and I walk up on a nice buck. 40 yards with the 7mag and Hornady Superformance 162 SSTs right behind the should. I epected to blow him right off his feet but the dang SST penciled right threw like a target arrow and the race was on. My third shot blew his back legs out from under him and he still drug himself another 100 yards
I'm a believer in the Amax for long range and the Partition inside of 350 yards but see no reason for the SST not to mention the joke Hornady call Superformance, I can reload faster with the wrong powders