Hornady sst bullets?

[ecellitti]

Mountainguy,

Yeah, I dont know either if I would use an SST on a big critter like a moose. Its not like we have anything that big in North Carolina any ways. If I were to ever get the chance to hunt up north for moose or elk, I would go with something that was a little tougher. For Mule deer I would think that the SST would be tough enough, but then again looking at some of those things on this site, that might make me throw the question mark in the air. You know really the only problem I have had with the SST was with seating them in the case and getting consistant OALs. The last time I used them, I had to seat the bullet a little longer and work each one down until they were right. It was taking me so long that once I was finished with that box, I ordered the 165 gr Interlock and didnt have that problem anymore. Was thinking it was that plastic tip giving some as I was seating the bullet. Accuracy with them has been very good though. E.J.

[OKIE2]

Your seating die should be touching the tip of your sst or any other bullet.
I would take your die apart and see infact if the tip is touching if it is
drill a small hole a little deeper in it.

[ecellitti]

Maybe I might try that. When I get back home from Korea in the next 5 months I will order the 165gr SST and try it again. It could have been something I was doing wrong. The SST and Interlock have been very accurate out of my rifle, but loading the SST was becoming a pain in the anus for me. Love the results though, plus they look awsome on some nice shiny clean brass. E.J.

[OKIE2]

my last post should have read the point should not touch only the oglive shoud touch.

The sst's and Ballistic tip both shoot very accurate in all my rifles.
But so do the Vmax and Amax.

[burningfreak]

I've been using the SST's for the first time this year (180's out of my 300wsm) and so far I've enjoyed great results on 5 deer.(4 were mine, 1 was dropping a poorly shot deer for another hunter) One was shot square in the shoulders and made quite the mess of both shoulders. One shot in the head dropped as you would expect anything shot in the head to do. 2 were shot just behind the shoulder and gave exellent performance, even though both were maybe angling a bit to much toward me for this to be ideal, the bullet made enough damage to be forgiving of my error. The other was shot square in the rear, as it had already been poorly shot by another hunter and needed to come down any way we could make it. After examining the wound channels and internal damage done to these deer I would agree that these are an excellent bullet for this size of game and I agree they will easily drop any deer reasonably shot. I believe they would fair okay on elk or moose as well, however, I would be inclined to go for the shot behind the shoulder if I was going to use this bullet. They are a great, accurate, cost effective bullet and I would use them if thats what I had on me when I stumbled across an elk or moose, but I do believe that there are probably some better options out there that will really shine when it comes to the penetration needed for these bigger critters. FYI, I just weighed a 180gr bullet that I recovered from a deer I shot earlier today and it is now 79.4gr. Less then ideal weight retention and when I dropped it on the floor, what remained of the core popped out of the jacket.

[aulrich]

My understaning is if you need a tougher bullet than an sst you can swap in the equivalent interbond, since they are the same bullet just with a bonded jacket.

[Jims71duster]

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure it says right on the back of the Hornady box that the sst is rated for deer and not the larger animals. Just puttin that out there. that was on a box of 30-06 150's

[ecellitti]

I would have to look on the Hornady web site for that. I couldnt tell you for sure going off of memory.

[Bond123]

I use Hornady on all my ammo reloading and they are all SST interlocks. I use my 270 win for my hunting and also my 243. The one I use for my 270 win is 130 grains and I have shot and dropped Deer, Elk and Moose, it's all about shot placement and nothing else. If you place the bullet where it should be placed then your will drop your game no matter what size your game is or your rifle.

My buddy has shot Moose with his 243 with winchester 95 grain silvertip bullets, you see what I mean, it's all about shot placement.

My opinion is Hornady's are the best and I have used Nosler as well but Hornady SST's are more accurate then other ones, but at the same time it's all about your rifle as well. Depends what your rifle likes to shoot and get the accuracy you need.

[dapesche]

reviving an old thread.

I have 150gr trophy coppers for elk locally, where they are typically shot within 30yds. I'd prefer no to use a copper bullet on a sheep at 600yds.


Has anyone used the 308 150gr sst out to 600yds on a sheep?


I'd prefer to not buy a new rifle and new ammo just to be able to shoot a sheep at long distance if such a shot was required.

[dave99]

Great revive of an old thread!

Just a guess, but I don’t think many out there have shot sheep, leave alone a sheep at 600yds with a 308 using 150gr SST.

The SST is a relatively frangible bullet that is very adequate for sheep when pushed at reasonable impact velocity (I’ll say between 1800 and 2900fps upon impact).

Sheep are no harder to kill than deer, and so you are fine in that regard.

At 600yds I see two potential issues:
- You might be running low on velocity by 600yd if fired out of a 308
- (don’t mean to sound judgy) but you need to be very certain of your wind dope, elevation, angulation and steadiness before you fling lead at a sheep at 600yds. Many are totally capable of this shot under good conditions, but the only way to know your limit is through practice.

If you are looking to maximize range out of your 308, I’d look closer at the Hornady ELDX.

Originally Posted by dapesche

reviving an old thread.

I have 150gr trophy coppers for elk locally, where they are typically shot within 30yds. I'd prefer no to use a copper bullet on a sheep at 600yds.


Has anyone used the 308 150gr sst out to 600yds on a sheep?


I'd prefer to not buy a new rifle and new ammo just to be able to shoot a sheep at long distance if such a shot was required.

[dapesche]

thanks Dave. That all makes sense. Had ben hitting steel at 500yds with the trophy coppers. Missed out on a nice ram as I deferred to my friend to shoot with his 300prc. Ram was at 580 yds. Originally it was at 460ish.

So my hope would be 400 yds max for a shot, but if conditions warranted it, I'd like to be in a position to take a ram at 600yds if presented with the opportunity.

I'll have a peak at the eldx. thank you!

[-JR-]

Just an older timer hear . But any bullet placed in the right area will work .
Only time you might really want a bullet to hold together is if you want to break both shoulders on a big brown bear .