Hornady sst on deer?

[darat100]

I have read about these bullets and what I have read was good.   I loaded several this year and they are extremely accurate out of my 25-06.  I was shooting 117gr sst bullets.  As I said, they are accurate, but I ended up with a shot of about 20 yards, and my stand was about 20 feet or so, so a steep angle.  I hit a little back, but only a couple of inches, and hit a rib.  The bullet completely shattered.  On the steep angle, it cut her about 18 inches long right down the middle.  REALLY WEIRD.  Has anyone had this happen?  I have never seen a bullet that was supposed to be designed to hunt with splatter like this.  I was not shooting high speed loads.  I am confused.  Any help from the veterans would be great.  I have only been loading for about a year.  I just don't want this to happen again.  I like a deer drop as soon as possible.  This one definately didn't do that.

[NoKness]

I have used the 308 150g SST on deer for 11 deer.  I shoot it from a 22" barreled 308 win over 47.5g of IMR 4064. It wasn't a load that I spent much time devloping yet it shoots less than an inch at a hundred. So for me the SST has been quite accurate in the one load I tried it in.

As for terminal performance. I try to shoot my deer behind the shoulder with the typical "bowhunters" shot, at close range from 20 to 80 yards. All the deer I shot like that were pass throughs. typically I see nickel sized entrance wounds and quarter to half dollar sized exits. Internal damage is impressive. I would just call it liquid lungs. I had one bullet not exit, the shot is described below


   Broadside shot on a decent buck (196 dressed) through both shoulders. I didn't miss but the deer just stopped with his backhalf behind a tree, so I took the shoulder shot. It broke both shoulders, plenty of internal damage but the bullet came apart. the lead core exited and the jacket ended up under the skin on the far shoulder.

My opinion of the SST?
  accurate, Good BC but its lightly constructed as compared to the standard hornday interlocks (which are fine bullets). Its a good bullet for those folks who like bang flops and don't require exits all the time. If you shoot long range where a few hundred FPS have been shed its  probably a super bullet. ( I expect Long range was Hornady's thought behind the SST). Where it wouldn't be so hot: up the butt or angeling shots through lots of muscle and bone.

In performance its pretty similar to my past experience with Nosler Balistic tips

As for myself I have a box of 150 Interbonds that I will work up for the 308, not that the SSTs didn't work but trying something new is fun too.

NoKnees

[spinafish]

I think the problem on that occasion was the distance and not the  bullet..impact at the speeds that bullet was traveling would cause most lighter constructed bullets to just exactly what yours did..

[darat100]

Hmm

Guess I am learning something.  As I think I said, I have only been loading for about a year.  I thought from my reading that the sst was supposed to be a pretty solid bullet with the interloc ring deal.  It is extremely accurate.  Thought I had found a real keeper.  I am sure it will still work for my coyote hunting, but I am back to square one for deer.  Anyone have any suggestions on what works for them?

This is in an NEF handi.

THanks

[tuck2]

I have shot two mule deer with the 140 Gr SST Hornady bullet fired from a .264 Win Mag at 3,180 ft/sec muzzle velocity.  Both were shot in the rib area. One was shot at about 75 Yds the other at about 180 Yds.  I will continue to use the bullet for deer and pronghorn hunting .

[spinafish]

If you need a tougher bullet you might want to go with the Nosler Partition, the Triple-Shok, or the Grand Slam.  I think the SST is one heck of a bullet..but it really needs to go through the heart-lung area.

[kenjs1]

at that range your impact was likely 3000fps and that is going to need a stout bullet to perform reliably.  SST 's are best suited for longer ranges which equates to lower impact velocities.  If I KNEW I would be taking shots inside say 75 yards  I would slow down whatever I was using. Muzzle velocities of around 2800 fps can do a lot for terminal performance at these distances.  An interbond (basically a stronger bonded version of the SST) or a plain standard interlock might be a better choices for these close shots.  They tend to shoot pretty accurately and at 50 yards for example no one needs sub moa accuracy.  Who cares if you are 1/2 off at that distance as long as the bullet penetrates?  Loads at these speeds would still keep you easily in the game out to 200 yards with no need for field mathematics (holdover).

[GANDER]

 I shot my cow elk this year with a 165 gr SST out of my .308 at 150 yards. I put right behind the front shoulder on a slight quartering away shot. I found the bullet lodged in her opposite sholder. It was intact although they do loose out a little bit on weigh retentionwith the SST compared to a partition type bullet. The bullet did what it was supposed to and she didn't take another step, I am happy with them.

[hunter5325]

Yup, the SST is great for the perfect broadside shot, but when the shot angles aren't perfect and you need to penetrate thick muscle and bone to get to the vitals go with a tougher bullet.  I've had great results with Interbonds, Accubonds, and Barnes TSX.  Brett