HORNADY 300GR SST USERS

Anybody hunting with Hornady 300gr sst ? If so what are the results ie: range . game taken, bullet performance, any long range kills etc. your opinions and thoughts , details. guy

My findings at home or on the internet photos/posts......
It's a hard bullet known for penciled punch-thru holes, unless shot with below magnum powder charges. Better chance of opening using 80-100 gr. volume blackpowder / Pyrodex. Works better with 80-95 grains volume of Blackhorn 209.

In my opinion, I prefer the 300gr Hornady XTP in 44-cal, possibly the best all-around bullet in it's inexpensive price class. . That 300-bullet is very deadly and more forgiving, in terms of bullet speeds and impact. You can purchase them in bulk, along with Harvester regular or crush-rib sabots (green)..... whichever fits your bore best.

Loading the bullet should meet a little resistance going down the bore. If grunting / heavy forcing occurs, switch to the crushed ribs. Seat the bullet firmly, especially using Blackhorn.

Don't attempt removing the tips of the SST to create an XTP bullet. That SST 300 is likely a bonded bullet and it still fails to open properly with tip removed, in way-too-many cases.

I think its the same bullet as the tc shock wave . my experience with the shockwave has been what you describe . pencil hole no great tissue damage although they are both usually quite accurate . i am curious if others came to same conclusion. guy

I have not taken game with them so I can't comment on wound channels. I have seen a lot of field reports and photographs. Some of the wound channels I would hardly call pencil holes. Some were massive channels which had to cause traumatic shock on the animal in question. But in fairness I have seen some of the pencil size holes, but they showed little of the internal damage caused.

As for accuracy I can comment. Out of most of my inline rifles the 200 (.40 caliber), 250 grain and 300 grain "Shockwaves (are T/C)" and SSTs are Hornady's same bullet are very accurate. I shoot most of them with 90 grains of powder. I have pushed them hard ... 150 grains in my T/C Black Diamond XR and again, still very accurate but more accurate with 110 grains of powder. So accuracy wise I give them high marks. For field ability, I just don't have the personal experience to comment.

thanks, Cayuga , I agree whole heartedly they do shoot very well. as far as effectiveness on deer size game I have not been impressed but perhaps others feel differently . guy

Very accurate bullet but I/we also experienced the penciling effect. 3 deer shot with the 250 grain version when we started ML hunting. All 3 penciled right through. Went to powerbelts the next year. Then found Barnes and haven't looked back. I have taken one with the 300 xtp and it did great! Also good luck with the 300 grain speer gold dot/ deep curl.

Thanks for your input. No question Barnes makes a great bullet. guy

None of the SSTs ive ever recovered from media appeared to be bonded in the slightest. Pretty much all of them separated from the jacket. ONLY the Shockwaves were available in bonded according to my conversations with Hornady..

SSTs did however come with 2 different tip materials. One was very hard and seems to be where most of the poor expansion results started. The forerunner to the SST was the PTX. It too seemed to have a bad track record for expansion and a hard tip material. The cross section ive seen looked more like a XTP MAG jacket than a regular XTP jacket.

BTW if you like the 300gr SST you better stock up if you want them cheap. Hornady no longer sells them in bulk without sabots.

Ive shot 2 deer with the 200- 250 gr. Shockwave and both had .50 cent size entrance and exit holes, lungs were pretty much mush...a 215-220# buck and a large old doe..Shot a big doe quiet a few yrs ago with the 200 gr. SST and it entered quartering to on point of shoulder and exited in front of back hip, exit hole was big as a silver dollar and massive internal damage.. the buck this last season were shot with 110 gr. BH -200 Shockwave from .45 Omega buck at 45 yds and doe with 250 gr. Shockwave 110 gr. BH from Knight Mountaineer at about 80 yds..Doe from along time ago was with 200 gr. SST and 90 gr. pyrodex.

We have never had any troubles with the SSTs in either accuracy or anchoring deer.

Long time ago I had 3 of them Pencil through and so did my Nephew. Both were with 250 grain and If memory serves they were hard tip. Over the last few years what I have noticed when reading the same bad experiences, both 250 and 300gn, were that they were almost always shot with 2 Pellet (Pyrodex or 777) loads. I have come to believe that the 2 Pellet loads do not generate enough velocity to get reliable expansion. I have not shot them on game since but If I did, I would use 100 grains of loose and no less. I think they would work fine then.

Just my 2cents.

I have one deer under my belt with them. It was with a smokeless muzzleloader shooting 62 gr. Re7 from a 24" barrel. Deer was shot at about 25 yards. Exit wound was roughly double that of the entrance and we literally poured the chest cavity out. I was impressed and would hunt with them again.

Personally I believe the 300 grain is designed for heavy game not deer, I have used the 250 and 200 grain Shock Wave on over 20 deer and never had a problem, my friend insisted on using the kind of loads I started my children on and he has had problems. I no longer use them for hunting as I find the Bloodline much more effective at dropping them on the spot being almost 80 years old I prefer to drop them where my ATV can drive right up to them.

My Dad and brother use the 300 gr. SST. They have shot them with 90 gr. of pyrodex. The mule deer shot have all been yearlings to 2/3 year old bucks. All pass throughs with quick recoveries.

The most recent elk kill was a large mature bull shot at about 30 broadside. The bullet was recovered in the hide on the off side. From these pics it's clear to me this is not a bonded bullet.

Here is the bullet. It weighed 249 gr.

What kind of groups are they getting at 200 to 300yds ? guy

gmstack said:

What kind of groups are they getting at 200 to 300yds ? guy

Click to expand...

From my rifle?

Sure.

Let me put it another way. Would you have the confidence to take a 200 to 300yd shot with one of these bullets ?

I am talking about deer hunting.