Thoughts on SST's(long)

[flopduster]

Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

First off I am not trying to pick a fight about using SMK on game, I believe that the people on this board would not use them if they were losing game. This is just my observations on the hornady sst bullet based on my experiences. I hunt and live in south carolina. We have a large population of deer(especially does), I hunt a large private club (14,000 acres) and we usually fill around a 100 doe tags a year(although DNR says we need to shoot 300)
I shoot a won 70 stainless in 270 and use hornady 130 sst ligh mags with an advertised mv of 3215. Since using this load I have killed 15-20 does and five bucks with this load. The ranges have been from 50 -400 yds, the size on the does is from 75-125lbs and the bucks were 130, 135, 155, 158,and 180 lbs. A lot of the does were head shots so not much can be learnt from them, but most shots over 200 yds have been body shots(I shoot for the shoulder)I can recall 8 or 9 and the were hit in the shoulder or just behind and were just what someone would want, either dropped or ran less than 50 yards with an exit hole from the size of a quarter to a baseball. Now all five bucks were shot in the shoulder from 50- 275yds and were all dropped were they stood(except one that went 15 yds in thick cover). Great right?? well NOT ONE of those bullets exited. I could feel a couple under the skin on the far side and cut one out(our deer are taken to a processer so I didn't clean them or recover the bullets)to find about 50 grains left intact. I know I should not complain about this but I can't help but wonder what is going to happen when I plug ol mossy at long range or next to a swamp and he doesn't go down. No exit= no blood trail. Well before I stop rambling, I will mention that I used to use 130 SGK(very close to a SMK right?)and killed 35 or so deer with them and they would also come apart on shoulder shots and rarely exit, but if they exited behind the shoulder you could fit a softball in the hole!! So why do people want to pick on SMK's when the bullets a lot of them shoot perform very similarly, a 220 smk would probably have exited on the deer I shot.

Sorry, but I was bored at work(its raining).

 

[Jake in NC]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I shot a small buck at the club this year with a 162gr SST.. The shot was on a sharp quarter away adn had to be placed well back for a vital path.. It went in about center mass and evited thru the opposing shoulder.. I didn't get a lot of expansion but it didn't seem to be needed as the deer wa lying where he was shot..
.. Another hit was a headshot on a deformed rack buck at 280 yards.. That one did not exit that I could tell (penetrated right under the ear) but then again I didn't autopsy the carcass.. That made for another easy search but I had to list the spread as "variable"..

JiNC

 

[LDO]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

the mk penetrates much bettr than the gk[at least in my experience]the open nose on the gk dumps all that lead way too quickly.the mk doesnt have the exposed lead nose which allows it to pentrate better w/o shedding as much weight upon impact.sierra claims that that gk design is based on the mk,if that were entirely true then they wouldnt say"we do not recommend the use of match bullets on game"-lol.the only similarity is the boattail design,apart from that they are very different.my 2-dave

 

[Guest]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I shoot the 140g SST .270 win and have had no problems with this bullet. I don't need a pass through shot but most of my shots have been. I find that at longer ranges the bullet doesn't open as much so goes through about the same amount of stuff. My longest shot was 580y and the bullet went in the shoulder and out just behind the other shoulder. Only about a thumb size exit but the bullet pulled some lung out with it and deer went less than 50y and dropped. So far they are the best deer bullet for my style of hunting.

 

[Charles A]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

First longer ranges equals lower velocity wich means they will probably exit. Two I have only had on matchking not exit. This year a doe at 320yds(might have been 318) quartering away shot center of body and travled all the way through chest cavity and into neck.
As to why people argue abouy match bullets, 'cause there ignorant.

 

[samson]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I am new at the long range hunting but I did score on a whitetail at 600 with a 180SST. The bullet did not exit but the deer dropped.

 

[Mysticplayer]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

flopduster, remember that you are using a very fast load with a light bullet. The best way to ensure better penetration is to increase bullet weight and reduce vel.

The 150gr SST at around 2900fps would act very differently on the game you have shot. Try it. I bet you will get exit wounds on boiler room shots. You probably still won't get exit wounds if you do heavy shoulder shots but you wouldn't with most bullets.

If you must have an exit wound, then you should look at Barnes X and Failsafe bullets. By design, they will not open up as much and penetrate like crazy. Effect on deer may not be as dramatic but you will have a better chance of a blood trail.

Personally, I have had wonderful success with the Interlocks/SST bullets but use them in moderate vel cartridges like the '06 and 303 Brit. My Gibbs has a muzzle vel of 2950fps and at 330yds, through penetration on my buck this year was a 2" hole. Very easy to track since it was knocked off its feet.

At ranges under 300yds, the impact vel you are experiencing is high enough to cause full expansion. Heavier and slower and you will get exit wounds.

Jerry

 

[flopduster]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I'm not really complaining, pondering would be a better word. I just think I had a dull point that some game bullets perform the same or worse than match bullets. A person would have a higher chance of a superficial wound shooting their 7rum with a 150 sgk at 75 yards than the guys shooting a 220 smk at 75 yards. Even if that 220 fragments, they would be some quite large pieces to inflict serious damage not to mention the higher energy tranfer. For my style of hunting, I can find reasons to complain, but can not find enough reason to change my bullets. I had a friend that shot fail safes out of his 270 because he adhered to the "exit wound at any cost" club until he lost two nice bucks the same month to them. He shoots a lot of his bucks in the neck if they are inside 100yds(he has killed some very nice bucks for SC including several in the state book) and the fs went through with out hitting the spine and did not do much tissue damage.

 

[Guest]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

If I was only shooting 400 yards and wanted an exit wound I'd try the barnes triple shocks. I had crap accuracy with the XLC's but I hear the TSX's are prettu accurate. If you get moa or better you're fine.

I drop a mulie buck and a lope in there tracks this season with my 7 STW and 140 Barnes XLC's. The lope was hit in front of the shoulder at 48 yards and died instantly. With that shot placement I thought he would have ran a little but never took a step.

The mulie also dropped in his tracks with a 216 yard shot, but he got it right in the kill zone.

I switched to 156 cauterucio's because XLC's were too erratic and I want to reach out farther. Funny thing about the XLC's is they shot well once I warmed up the barrel (sometimes 1/2" to 3/4")but a cold barrel was pathetic.

 

[Warren Barrett]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

Flopduster, I agree with Jerry. The 140 or 150gr. SST would be the better choice. My experience with the SST`s has been the following with muzzle velocity of 3250fps pushing 140 6.5 cal. SST:
1) 325yd shot on large cow elk through shoulder without hitting shoulder bone. Complete pass-through with quarter size exit.
2) 215yd shot on mature white-tail doe quatering to me. Bullet strikes large shoulder bone and exits opposite side about 8 inches in front of rear leg with quarter size exit.
3) 411yd shot on mature white-tail doe broadside shoulder shot breaking large shoulder bone on entry and exiting opposite side with quarter size hole.
So as you see, I like shoulder shots also. The deer have dropped in their tracks, while the cow elk ran about 75-100yds.
As a side note, these bullets have proved very accurate with my experience.

 

[rost495]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

Flopduster

Your friend did not loose 2 bucks with failsafes due to a bad bullet. He simply had poor bullet placement and a similar tracking job.

I won't dabble into this argument over bullets, other than to say that those that will not penetrate and leave exit wounds on broaside shots at range, well when your trophy of a lifetime comes out walking dead away from you with his head down trailing a doe, you'd better pray before you shoot because you'll need lots of penetration on the non perfect shot. Its why I shoot a bullet that will penentrate. If or when the time comes, I can shoot without hesitation. Big bull Nilgai teach you lots about lightweight bullets and poor bullet design that you don't want to know about.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I like the bullet that transfers all its energy inside the game on a broadside shot. If the trophy is walking dead away I will pass on the shot. I don't want a broadside shot that makes a little hole. I tryed the barnesx and the failsafe one year. I shot a nice buck at 265 yards with the x bullet broadside. Small bullet size hole right through high in the back of the lungs. He ran all the way across a section field (1 mile) before falling over. Blead to death but all inside, no blood trail. Got another deer with the failsafe just over 200 yards. In the chest and hit the shoulder on the way out. Very little internal damage but damaged the off shoulder and she went down. I won't use those bullets on deer again. Just my way of doing things.

 

[rost495]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

I'm starting to wonder if FS or X performance is related to caliber. I"ve never had an animal travel over 100 yards after the hit. All bullets have performed very well, leaving a trail that anyone could follow. I admit I'm mostly a bowhunter since rifle shooting is not much of a challenge until you pass the 300-400 yard range. As a bowhunter I expect them to run and am very adapt at following a trail. But there remains the possibility of caliber performances. I've only shot 180,30 cal and 225 ,338 cal x and fs bullets. They've worked from 100 pound up to 800 pound animals from 50 yards to a max so far of 802 yards.

Any thoughts as to that?

Jeff

 

[Guest]

Re: Thoughts on SST\'s(long)

My shooting experence was with 140g fs and 130g x in a 270 win. On both deer in last post the bullet went in between ribs. Not much to start expansion with a tough bullet. The SST can enter missing ribs and still do a ton of internal damage. Thats what I like!