Hornady 150gr sst

[Dave Schenck]

I am looking for comments on this bullet out to about 550 yards. I am shooting a 270 and looking to drop medium to large game. Any idea about its terminal performance? It comes highly rated but I have not used it before.

 

[silvertip-co]

I use the 139gr SST in my 7RemMag. It works GREAT. Flattest shooting thing I ever seen, and has good expansion. No reason the 150 shouldnt do as well or better. I think a 150 is too heavy for a 270 but thats a personal choice thing. Good luck.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I'm sure it would work great out to about 800 yards on deer size game. If you can get the 150g going 2900fps, with the BC of the SST, it will give good reliable expansion and energy to 800 yards for deer.

I"m not to sure if I would use it on elk, I would probly go with the 150g NP for a little more penetration, should you not get a broadside shot...

 

[grit]

Hi Dave,
I run the 140 in my 270 right under 3100fps. Unfortunately, I can't remember a deer or elk I've shot with it. I have however shot a few coyotes with it recently. These shots have given me cause for doubt. The first shot was a 400 yard chest shot. I was very surprised to find no exit wound. The next shot was around 280 yards. Another chest shot. This time the dog was standing (bullet would have had to penetrate the entire length), again no exit wound. The final and most surprising was a broadside shot at around ninety yards. I shot the coyote in the shoulder. He was slammed to the ground, dead right now. The worrisome part, no exit wound.


I didn't skin these dogs or recover any bullets. I'm not suggesting this is conclusive in any way. I'm saying it has sure given me cause to wonder about this bullets performance on deer and elk. Will it kill 'em? Absolutely. Will the bullets penetrate well and exit for a good blood trail? I'm worried they won't. I suspect the bullets are very soft (too frangible), and intend to do some testing with them.

The bullets shoot well. But, I do have to tweak the bc's to get my drop data to work.

I like Accubonds. The published bc's seem to be spot on, and I have much more faith in thier terminal performance. Hard to burn them up though 'cause they come so dear. May be worth shooting the sst for fun and varmints, then switching to the accubonds for hunting.

 

[Ryan55555]

I have shot 6 elk with my 270 using the 150 gr SST's. So far it has worked flawless, 6 elk - 6 shots. I have not used it out to the 550 yards that you are asking about but from 80 yards to 400 yards I have been very pleased. I have had much better luck with the 150's, I cannot get the 130 gr InterBonds or the 140 grain SST's to group as well as the 150's.

 

[papa45]

I'm with remingtonman. The SST is supposed to be similar to the Nosler BT in construction. It should be great for deer at long distance, but in my opinion too expansive on elk, unless you get a good broadside-boiler-room shot.

I have actually not had good experience with SST's. In my .243, they grouped well, but did not expand at all on a small hog (120 yards) and a whitetail (50 yards) In my .270, I could not get good groups and gave up.

 

[Brain]

I shot a doe whitetail last week with a 7mm 162gr SST out of a 7RUM at 3320fps MV.

Shot was at 230 yards slightly quartering away and right behind near side shoulder. Exited at the point of the elbow on the opposite side. The deer never took a step. Small entrance and exit holes before skinning. Once skinned, entrance and exit on the carcass were big enough to put a fist though. Catastrophic damage to vitals in chest cavity with very little lung tissue left intact.

This is the first animal I have shot with the SST as I usually use Interlocks. I was impressed with the accuracy on paper but wasn't sure about performance in the field until now.

Today I shot a groundhog ranged at 314 yards with the same round. Very windy conditions but impacted exactly where I wanted. Needless to say, there wasn't much left of the groundhog, but definitely a confidence booster for longer range deer.

 

[Dave Schenck]

seating depth

Thanks for all the comments so far - they are helpful yet confusing. I have struggled to get anything like a decent group and i am wondering if the seating depth is the problem. I have seated my 135gr smk to touch the lands and grouping is good - I tried the same with the sst and disaster. I see the Hornady custom loads are all seated to the cannelure - is there some secret I do not know about? If i cannot get a decent group with the 150grsst then I am going to go down to 130gr and work from there. Is it worth molycoating these points?

 

[Down Under Hunter]

On large 600 lbs deer I was less than impressed with 30 cal 168 sst performance through a 300 weatherby mag. They were supremely accurate but lacked penetration on a big thick animal slightly smaller than an elk. They just seemed to explode very quickly, and I never recovered one that still reasembled a bullet ? They also left little indication of a hit even when the shot was excellent. I recovered 3 of 4 deer quickly and a 4th 2 days and 300 yards later.

I would however think they would be excellent on lighter built deer ?

Just IMHO

Cheers

DUH

 

[Brain]

Dave,

I am seating the SST's touching the lands. Of course the result is different in every rifle, but it works well in mine. They are longer than magazine length so I basically have a single shot Rem 700, but that is where they are most accurate in my rifle.

DUH,

I have concerns about shooting game heavier than medium sized < 200lbs. with this bullet as well. At the velocities of the Weatherby and RUM, I think controlled expansion goes out the window at closer ranges. I chose to try this bullet because I think it will perform better at longer ranges when velocity drops off. One field where I hunt is over 700 yards from end to end. At those distances, I'm hoping fragmentation will be less.