Thread: Hornady SST

So I shot this group last week, a mate loaded for me in fully resized brass.
270win. Hornady SST 130gr.
54gr AR2209
centre rounds are 14mm and the total group is 25.
I will load some more and take my time on them, see if they are any better.

Whats the general consensus of this projectile? Deer and tahr probaby my main targets.

They are fine.
There's a whole lot of theoretical bullshit talked about projectiles, but when its all boiled down they are just a lump of lead and copper that sometimes do strange things.

People like to talk about the exceptions rather than the norm.

I've used plenty of them on Tahr and deer at ranges from 50 yards to 450 and had no trouble (140 grn out of a 6.5).

I had some for my 7mm08 couldn't get them to group very well. And they found they don't penatrate on heavier animals such as red stags and wild cattle, went to 139g sp Hornady with same loads 100% better.

My Tikka .308 loves 150 grain SSTs. They kill everything dead. dont know about other versions but the do tend to expand rapidly.

i only shoot 130 sst in my .270 they go off like milk in the sun.........

i also load the same round for half a dozen others with the same rifle. good all round bullet.

sorry for clarity - i shoot anything that looks at me funny with the same round, never had penetration probs

I loaded these unlike rogers.270 for a mate but may have stoked them up. He found he was losing too many stags with the pill just pencilling thru. Changed to Barnes TTSX.Also loaded some in 95gr for a blokes 243 for fallow shooting in Wanganui. He by all accounts is not worried about meat damage just dead deer.

Hey I use the factory loads 139 with the SST and upclose they have a tendency to go straight through (under 75 metres) but then it all comes down to shot placement. Still accurate as hell for my rifle so I don't reload.
In saying that the last deer ender up with 2 holes (an entry and an exit) and the projectile sitting in the just under the skin on the closest side so damned if I know what happened- it looks to have pinballed around in there and possible part of it made it through- need CSI on this one!
Still a dead deer and happy hunter

Originally Posted by TeRei

I loaded these unlike rogers.270 for a mate but may have stoked them up. He found he was losing too many stags with the pill just pencilling thru. Changed to Barnes TTSX.Also loaded some in 95gr for a blokes 243 for fallow shooting in Wanganui. He by all accounts is not worried about meat damage just dead deer.

Sorry missed you there? I load mine up - pencilling through? I hear it lack of penetration? You guys confuse me? Mine kill animals and are loaded very hot 3k+

SSTs are a long range projectile so made to expand at lower velocities than normal. The problem comes from guys bush hunting with them particularly when the projectile hits s twig on the way to the target.

Any rapidly expaning projectile will kill like thors hammer when you hit the animal in the right place i.e. the chest but if you hit it with a glancing blow in the wong place it will expand on the surface where a more solid projectile would keep on going. It's inherent in the design. If you go read the reviews for something like a V Max on brownelles then half the reviews say this is oarsome and the deer dropped like a sack of spuds. The other half say these things are useless and the deer didn't drop. It's all about shot placement.

There was a recent magazine article that confirmed my suspicion that they are very sensitive to seating depth whereas a less pointy projectile like a sierra will shoot good at all seating depths.

Personally I like big solid pills. You get two holes in the animal and therefore a decent blood trail and less meat lost due to bullet damage. Robust projectiles are important if your caliber is smaller than average i.e. I use barnes in my 223 for deer.

Originally Posted by MassiveAttack

There was a recent magazine article that confirmed my suspicion that they are very sensitive to seating depth whereas a less pointy projectile like a sierra will shoot good at all seating depths.

Personally I like big solid pills. You get two holes in the animal and therefore a decent blood trail and less meat lost due to bullet damage. Robust projectiles are important if your caliber is smaller than average i.e. I use barnes in my 223 for deer.

I agree with that article too, as I have tried "stumpyer" projectiles and the latter like sierra (which I now use) you can pretty much seat anywhere and it shoots the tightest groups I have ever shot due to the long nose.

I've gone off AMAX's and gone back to a simple tougher soft point and while they are still hard on light deer such as sika and fallow it does a lot less damage then a ballistic tip

Originally Posted by Timmay

I agree with that article too, as I have tried "stumpyer" projectiles and the latter like sierra (which I now use) you can pretty much seat anywhere and it shoots the tightest groups I have ever shot due to the long nose.

I've gone off AMAX's and gone back to a simple tougher soft point and while they are still hard on light deer such as sika and fallow it does a lot less damage then a ballistic tip

Sierra's have been very good to me over many years and rifles. They seam to always shoot consistantly regardless of load and rifle.

Originally Posted by rogers.270

Sorry missed you there? I load mine up - pencilling through? I hear it lack of penetration? You guys confuse me? Mine kill animals and are loaded very hot 3k+

I think we run the risk of jumping on certain bandwagons. I have not used them extensively but I have used them on deer, goats and pigs and bailed boars at close range...they work and are typically very accurate.
I have never seen explosive results but I have seen dead animals. That includes a 270 going fast at 5metres. That boar was flattened.


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Put 139gn SST's thru my .280.

Shoot similar groups to you there, but if I really try can do a ragged 3 shot hole.

5 shot groups are sub moa if I do my part, but never achieved a 5 shot ragged hole. My shooting isn't good enough.

I'm not one to muck about with loads. Have a SST load and a Sierra 140gn SBT Gameking load. Only because I got given two boxes of SBT projectiles.

Everything I have shot at dies unless I miss. 20m to 500m. SST's do make a mess.

Some people say on big animals SST's explode and don't penetrate. Personally I haven't had that problem. Shoot big bodies animals regularly.

Originally Posted by TeRei

I loaded these unlike rogers.270 for a mate but may have stoked them up. He found he was losing too many stags with the pill just pencilling thru. Changed to Barnes TTSX.Also loaded some in 95gr for a blokes 243 for fallow shooting in Wanganui. He by all accounts is not worried about meat damage just dead deer.

Funny your mate knows they pencilled through on the stags he lost.? Sound more like a miss or bad placement. I loaded some 150g ssts but had better results with 130 and 140 nosler ab's with the same charge so decided to spend more time with them. Not to say the ssts couldnt be more accurate from myself and rifle. Theyre great value though and with your results id stick with them and maybe play around with a few more or less grains and your seating depth.

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If anyone can show me wound photos of a sst wound launched at typical for cal velocitys where it obviosly "pencilled threw" at less than 600 yards i will eat my phone and my sweaty sock.

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