The Most DISSAPOINTING Bullet there ever was...

[B-LOT Banga]

The one bullet I don't touch or own in my over 15k bullet collection is the Hornady SST. Had a few bad experiences with the 117 grain out of my 25-06 and sent them down the road. I didn't even save them for the coyotes for whatever reason. I have other Hornady bullets, eld-m, eld-x, interlock, interbond, etc but no SST's.

In my limited experience and humble opinion the hornady SST is an amazing killer if used in the ranges and velocity it was designed for. I've killed a number of animals culling and besides the speer 6.5mm 140 seconds from midway it's the second best killer for culling 10 yds out to 500 yds. Light skinny framed goats approx 70-100 lbs out to 1,000+ lbs wild cattle. I never had one not work and I've even killed my biggest bull elk with a 30-06 and 165 gr SST. I took a second shot on an already dead animal to secure him while we made a slippery climb to him 300 ft down a gulch. This is my go to bullet for anything in Hawaii but each bullet has its limits and purposes. I don't use them in ULTRA VELOCITY 3200 FPS+ but they hold up excellent in normal conditions. Test book mushrooms up against the far side hide!! Aloha

Edit.. I use them today exclusively in my 243 win 95 gr SST, 257 +P 117 gr, 6.8 SPC 120 gr, 7mm-08 140 SST, 308 125 gr SST, 30-06 165 gr SST and 300 RCM 180 SST. They all shoot 1/2" or less and of course better bullets exist. I've lost animals but it was from human error. Up to 500 yds HORNADY SST KILL.

 

[Elk Fire]

Speer Grand Slam. Back in the day I heard how great they were on game. I'll never know since when I was doing load development I could swear I was shooting buckshot.

My experience was exactly same

 

[Mike Matteson]

I see people are wondering about Sierra Match Kings. They a target bullet not a hunting bullet. I use Nosler Accubonds or there old ballistic tip bullets for a great many years. Still my go to bullet. (don't have fast enough twist).Generally put the animals down with one shot, and they don't go very far. Only few yards. Very little blood shot also. I am driving the 165gr @ 3300fps (308 Cal) and the 200gr @ 3220fps (338 Cal). Both rifles are Mag.

 

[Magnum44270]

Remington core lok have hated them for over 25yrs. My friends always shot them and I always had to track for them.
Aso am not a fan of Eldx, have seen many sub par performance from them From friends animals.gernading and jacket seperation.
I have killed one antelope with berger hybrid, once again not impressed.

I do not believe the " well it killed it, didnt it" theory. . I want a bullet to hold together and do as its designed. Enter, mushroom, and exit or get trapped under the offside hide.

 

[Joe-boy]

Lapua Naturalis bullets. I've never tried anything that shoots as poor as they do. However, I have to admit the situation might have improved if I loaded them to shorter COAL. While testing them I didn't know the copper bullets like a longer jump.

 

[Magnum44270]

Any copper mono in my 6.5x55. I tried both GMX and LRX and neither would pull MOA or better. I switched to 135gr Berger and I was under MOA no problem.

My swede loves 142 ablr, 140ab and 140 partition in that order

 

[338 dude]

For me, it is the Hornady SST I've recovered nothing but an empty jacket twice but I did get the deer! And for the Barnes haters, the fastest most accurate load in my 338 Lapua is with a Barnes 225 TTSXBT!

 

[FEENIX]

What is the bullet have you completely written off? The bullet you wouldn't recommend to your worst enemy? You've tried it and given it all the chances. It won't shoot minute of barn for you, opens up at distance, terminal ballistics suck, no expansion, no penetration, no blood, etc. It flat out just gave you too much heartache. Let's hear it...

For me, it is the bullet manufacturer. However, I will still recommend it to my worst enemy.

 

[BPollard]

Early Barnes X. Couldn't get them to shoot out of 3 rifles.

Barnes bullets are finicky they need a clean barrel you have to de copper the barrel and not shoot any of that yielding metal. strictly make that an barnes gun.

 

[BillLarson]

I was on "Sniper's Hide" for a while ….."they don't impress me none"!

Oh, with the aid of my computer keyboard….."I can leap tall buildings with a single bound"! memtb

The reports I,m talking about is ranchers exterminating elk in the winter that were eating cattle hay.... many different SMK users.....

 

[std7mag]

I have several, from different manufacturers that i don't use.
From either my shooting, or observed shooting.

The regular Nosler Accubond.
Tried these in several rifles of different calibers & weights.
Have always heard "either your rifle REALLY likes them, or it REALLY doesn't".
I really wanted to like them!
But no matter what i tried, my rifles didn't.
Smallest group i managed with them was 2".

Remington Corelokt.
Watched 2 different friends, on 2 different occasions put 5 rounds in the chest and deer didn't go down. Well, 1 fell down, but kept getting back up.
1 was using 300 Savage, the other 30-06.
Both times took me shooting the deer in the head to finally put them down.

Barnes .
Have witnessed on 3 different occasions where friends had good shot placement, with either extremely long tracking, or no recovery. We only recovered 1 of the 3.

I'm starting to lean away from the ABLR. Easy to get to shoot wonderfully accurate, especially at distance.
But......
My buck this year taken with my 7mm Rem Mag & 150gr ABLR.
Distance was about 50 yards.
While it did kill quite quickly, i was really expecting more damage than it did.
More experimentation is required.

 

[Prieto9000]

Interbond- could never get any of them to group for me

They are picky, but if you get them to group they perform great on game. Just took an oryx last month with the 139's out of my 7 rem mag. 1 shot, ran 10 yds and out.

 

[P7M13]

Nosler soft tip, they don't make it anymore. The tip behaved like a marshmallow.
Same with the 1st gen Berger 300gr 338 OTMs.
Some of my own cast have been garbage and remelted.
Recently bought a box of 300gr cast for my 35 Rem Model 8. They're ~2% scrap due to poor mold fill.

Any guess on why they don't exist anymore?…

Did they make ammo for the 6.5 Carano?

 

[Randy Tidwell]

Sierra anything.
Back in the late 70s n early 80s I had a 48" water trough for testing bullets. Never had a Sierra stay together. They may be better today, but the bad taste lingers. Hornady always mushroomed perfectly. Speer produced a nice mushrooms but I could never get them to shoot.

Same thing with early BTs, shot well but came apart.

I let a friend use the trough one day without thinking. Realized he might be shooting his 375. Turned just in time to see him touch off a his 375 at 10 yards. No more trough. Shock flattened it like a pancake. It was impressive though, lol.