Hornady SST

Probably opening an old wound for a few of you hear but....I have seen here and a few other forums some criticism of the SST load. I have always been a fan of Hornady and when the SST came out years ago, I quickly started moving the majority of my calibers over to it. Not to say that I use it for all of my rifles, but for hunting white tails in Alabama, a tough bonded core bullet is not necessary. Yes, my elk rifles and the very large caliber rifles are set aside for other bullets. However, I have had excellent performance on whitetails in 7-08, .308, .270, .30-06, and .243. All with SST bullets. Never a lost animal. Always a good combination of penetration and devastation! Furthermore, a box of ammo is extremely available and very reasonably priced for the non-reloader. So hit me with it! The good, bad, and ugly!

Big Bore

I use a 200 gr SST in my 338 06 AI and it makes BIG holes in critters.

I use a 168 gr AMAX in my 308 and it will drop deer in their tracks out to 400 yards. Great bullets.

I think folks get way too worked up over which bullets for a whitetail. It would be a different story if we were talking 2000 lb animals or dangerous game. I could happily kill whitetail deer the rest of my life with a 22lr just by waiting on and making a good shot. Folks shoot deer badly and then blame whatever ammo they were using.

You are exactly right
I've killed deer with everything from a 22-250 to a 300 RUM with different bullets and have only lost one deer and it was bad shot placement and definitely not the bullet

I liked the old SST bullet, but not the new superformance.

I’ve been using the brown box custom 150gr SST in my kimber 308 and it’ll put the first 2 in the same hole all day long. I’ve never had any issues on game. I have seen signs of fragmentation with faster velocities. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them in anything that I would use a Nosler BT in.

One of my loads i cook up for 0-125yrd(150mx) hunting is 125gr sst out of a 10.5" 300blk pushed at 2114(avg fps). I have no problems with this projectile but have heard of others having issues. The other is a 125gr smk but that one is for a different task/purpose.

The only thing wrong with an SST is the internet. And all the people that don't understand ballistics who think they have to shoot a light for caliber bonded bullet with a terrible BC. Because they think it goes fast.

Only issue I've ever had with the SST is the massisve devastation and blood shot meat on the deer I've shot with them. They are accurate and deadly though.

Sst's are killers. Hornady ammo is quality stuff.

Same here, had nothing to do with the SST bullet, but when they "supposedly" just changed the box, is when they stopped grouping out of my gun lol

Never liked them or ballistic tips. Basically SST's and Nosler ballistic tips were designed for a specific purpose.That being "LONG" shots at game animals. First the plastic tips give them a better ballistic coefficient which means they cut through the air more efficiently and therefore lose velocity at a slower rate. Is this important at the distances most people in Alabama shoot deer. No. But it is a factor for the people taking 400 yard or more shots at deer. Second these bullets are designed to expand easily and violently. Is this important or necessary for a 50 to 100 yard shot at a deer here in Alabama? No. But they are a bullet that will still give you decent expantion at very long distances where most bullets have dropped below a velocity at which they will expand effectively.

The problem is that most people using them in Alabama are shooting deer at pretty short range where these features not only aren't needed but can actually be detrimental. At those close ranges where impact velocity is still very high it has been my experiece that these type bullets violently overexpand and fragment. I have seen them fragment badly just hitting rib bones. I have seen shots tight behind the shoulder with them still send fragments into the guts of the deer. I have seen them routinely fail to exit deer on perfectly broadside shots in the ribs with everything from a 243 up to a 300 WSM and damn near every common caliber in between the two. A bullet that cannot be trusted to fully penetrate a 140 pound Alabama deer on a perfect broadside shot in the ribs is a bullet I wouldn't trust to drive through a shoulder bone or penetrate deep enough on a severely angled shot.

Most of the lost deer horror stories I have personal knowledge of over the last 20 years involved either a ballistic tip or a SST. Keep your shots broadside and in the ribs and you may never have a serious problem. Routinely call on them to drive through heavy bones, particularly on bigger deer and eventually they will break your heart. Everybody loves them.........until they don't. And the breakup is usually an ugly one. LOL!

A soft lead point has never disappointed me. It's always been my preference and always will be.

Standard lead tipped cup and core bullets never disappointed me either. But gosh those sst's and ballistic tips sure look pretty with those colorful nipples. It's like the old saying, "some lures are designed to catch fish and some are designed to catch fishermen". LOL!

Ain’t no doubt there’s a chance, I’ll never disagree with that. I shot a big doe one time with 7-08 superformance 139gr sst at about 10 yards almost straight on from 25ft up. bullet entered half way up the neck and their were what looked like 4-5 entrance wounds every was jelly and found a piece of the core under the hide of her stomach. That one fragged. On the flip side shot one 308 150gr sst facing away head down eating it went in very back of stomach end exited the throat patch of the neck. I shoot 140 BT in my 7-08 at around 2700fps and have had no issues getting exits on broadside shoulder hits. I guess what I’m saying is that in my experience sending either at velocities 2900 or slower I’ve never had issues. Like anything else every tool has its place, a BT or sst is probably best suited for modest velocities.

I like Hornady but never had a gun that liked sst in factory offerings.

I think y'all are talking about the old Light Magnums with SST bullets, they'd make a mess out of a deer and were very accurate. I have a couple boxes in 7-08.

7mm08 is was i used also, but it wasn't a lite magnum, when they redesigned that box to superformance in went down hill for me lol. On a side note, their powder always fouled up my barrel quicker anyhow.

Superformance powder gives high velocities, but accuracy is usually chitty.

I’m talking about the old brown customs

Had a bad experience with superformance SST and his first buck(a spike) and the bullet not exiting, I want two holes on the deer for a blood trail.

The bullet he was shooting was an SST and he made an absolutely perfect shot but no blood. Stumbled up on the deer. Found the jacket and core separated just under skin on opposite side. Deer only made it 60 yards

Its a great squirrel bullet. Might take down a small yote.

Yep me too willdo

Great in slower rounds, wouldn’t take it to the bank on a 7mag, although I had pretty good results. They tend to “ballistic tip” at close range at those speeds. Nosler partition for the win.

Love me some ballistic tips

You’ll continue to love the ballistic tips and bang flop until you feed one to a grown man and he totes it never to be found

Lol okay man.

That man right there sure didn’t mine a 117 sst out of a 25-06

Every young man earns his stupid award somewhere along the way. 😂
You'll come back home when you lose enough deer.