Horndy sst junk?

[hawki]

YES, it does. If , IF, a bullets breaks up or in some cases marginal stability the bullet or pieces will go way off course. A bullet can do all manner of weird things as it encounters bone and changes in tissue density. And small pieces even more so. I am not speaking to SST, but; making a general statement. Placement is ZERO if the bullet fails. You actually maybe way way better off with any kind of random body hit with a 69 cal ball than a perfect heart shot with a bullet that fails in the worse way. I get the 14 hrs point, but; just dont discount how poorly a bad bullets can behave.

Bullet accuracy and trajectory are a distant 2nd to bullet performance. Unfortunately performance is very hard to test and is known to vary a great deal. So; hunters focus on what they can measure

In order for a bullet to come apart as you suggested it would have to be driven at velocities far above what a muzzleloader is capable of. I would rather have good placement with an bad bullet than bad placement with a good bullet.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Once i realized what kind of loads i like to shoot it was easier to find the bullets that would perform best for me in those conditions. I shot lots of bullets that were accurate but at slower speeds and lighter loads some just dont fit my needs. In some of my hunting guns i shoot lead. In a couple other speedier guns i like the Barnes or Fury''s.

 

[Okie Hog]

Any bullet can fail with bad shot placement. If you'd hit the lungs you'd have the deer.

Shot placement is everything. At 55 grain .223 bullet in the lungs trumps a 180 grain .30 caliber bullet in the guts.

For many years i tracked wounded deer and elk for other hunters. Despite claims the animal had been "double lunged", "shot in the heart lung area", etc.: Most had been gut shot. After one difficult tracking job i called a friend who brought his tracking dog. After locating the animal, the hunter stated he would use a better bullet next season. The old man answered: "Better bullet, huh. Stop shooting them in the guts.".

Yep, for years it's had been fashionable to badmouth the 250 grain SST bullet. About half the detractors claim the bullet won't expand and "pencils through" the animal; the other half claim the bullet disintegrates. After killing dozens of deer and at least 100 wild hogs with that bullet; i can say neither claim is true.

This hog weighed over 350 pounds and was over 19" through the shoulders. The powder load was 120 grains of 3F Goex Pinnacle. Hog ran about 200 yards after being shot. The 250 grain SST bullet went through one huge rib, destroyed the lungs and was found under the skin.

 

[fourbore]

Here is a real world example of bullet performance beats placement. Old school, no scope, afternoon still hunting. I was hunting with an Ithaca pump 12ga with lightfield slugs. A deer ran past me and I swung the gun and snapped an almost lucky shot. Right in the gut! No joy. As expected. As the deer rans, full gallop, I pumped and got a follow up in the ass. Through the hip, straight line and out the front. Droped on the spot. I hit is again, but; probably no need. Try that with a 223! Try that with a scoped bolt action!

Folks on the www like to talk about how they can finesse a kill with minimum ballistics. There is something to be said for over kill. In the famous words of Elmer Keith: "I cannot be over gunned, because the game cannot be over dead".

 

[dwm]

Here is a real world example of bullet performance beats placement. Old school, no scope, afternoon still hunting. I was hunting with an Ithaca pump 12ga with lightfield slugs. A deer ran past me and I swung the gun and snapped an almost lucky shot. Right in the gut! No joy. As expected. As the deer rans, full gallop, I pumped and got a follow up in the ass. Through the hip, straight line and out the front. Droped on the spot. I hit is again, but; probably no need. Try that with a 223! Try that with a scoped bolt action!

Folks on the www like to talk about how they can finesse a kill with minimum ballistics. There is something to be said for over kill. In the famous words of Elmer Keith: "I cannot be over gunned, because the game cannot be over dead".

come on , 12 ga slug ,what kind, 1oz lead or 50cal bullet. shot placement hands down.I agree with others who say those hits are marginal when they are not recovered.correct you can’t over kill , but in the pump station or boiler room is it

 

[dwm]

I see light field,that’s all my buddy used when shotgun hunting , needless to say we lost a few of his deer, so I call you got lucky

 

[MrTom]

Here is a real world example of bullet performance beats placement. Old school, no scope, afternoon still hunting. I was hunting with an Ithaca pump 12ga with lightfield slugs. A deer ran past me and I swung the gun and snapped an almost lucky shot. Right in the gut! No joy. As expected. As the deer rans, full gallop, I pumped and got a follow up in the ass. Through the hip, straight line and out the front. Droped on the spot. I hit is again, but; probably no need. Try that with a 223! Try that with a scoped bolt action!

Folks on the www like to talk about how they can finesse a kill with minimum ballistics. There is something to be said for over kill. In the famous words of Elmer Keith: "I cannot be over gunned, because the game cannot be over dead".

I guess I am just not on plane with this. I don't shoot at a moving deer.... period. I don't shoot thru a world of brush or deep grass. I don't shoot and just hope to get a hit. I can say one thing though with certainty... you'd never hunt with us. I wouldn't let anyone hunt with us that subscribed to this sort of hunting ethic. If I hunted like this I'd keep my mouth shut. This is exactly what anti's like to look for so they can bolster their argument against hunting.

 

[Okie Hog]

Try that with a 223! Try that with a scoped bolt action!

Yep, you're right i would not try that with a .223 or a .375 H&H magnum. My shots are picked very carefully an i often pass on shots that could cause the animal to suffer: That has not always been the case.

Last running deer i shot at was in 1984. From the yard i watched a huge buck through binoculars as he bedded down in a young pine patch about 1/2 mile away.

Next morning i rousted the buck from his bed, fired as he ran and never checked for blood.

We were butchering three hogs that day. Dad and i were heating the water when the neighbor came to help. John said: "There's a big buck lying dead above the old schoolhouse." Told them i'd be back and drove off to retrieve my buck. That buck scored 178 B&C.

 

[fourbore]

Yup, I know. Rabbits or deer, same methods work. It is hard to understand, if you never developed the skill. Deep penetration from any angle works.

 

[Ninering62]

i also have used XTP with good results . I shot double lung with the hornady SST and deer troted off across a 100yd
field like i never hit the deer. laid dead inside woods with very little blood. after that i started using xtp . HP bullets
250gr.

It seems like that's the deal with that bullet...if you crank them up they do the job well. Kind of like Powerbelts in reverse...move them too fast and they disintegrate and don't make it out the other side. Slow them down? They do just fine.
Shhhh...don't tell anyone that **** though. There's so many Kool Aid drinkers on this forum that think PB's are made of tin foil and toilet paper.

I've posted a cpl times about my experience with those .40 SST's. I had read about so many ppl using them, I thought I's try them out in my Accura V2 .45 too. I shot the 200gr .40 cals but had to switch out the sabots to LBCR's to get them to group. I had only lost 1 deer in nearly 5 decades & that was with a Powerbelt which I used for around 15yrs. I shot 1 deer at about 60-70 yds & it took off never to be seen again & the other one I shot at about 30yds, both broadside & standing still. The second was hit behind the shoulder & upper mid body. It took off as if I'd missed. I just watch as it headed for the county line at top speed. 2 deer in a row - gone bc of those bullets. Never again. They were loaded with 84gr W BH 209, so decent velocity. They are paper punchin & fouling bullets from then on. I too have read about them grenading at SML velocities but havent sent any downrange in an SML as of yet & still won't hunt with them regardless. I'll take an old Powerbelt over them any day of the week.

 

[davek42]

It has been stated here before that a high shot placement will not result in a blood trail right away, regardless of whether or not you have good bullet expansion.

 

[davek42]

All about Bullet Placement. Not sure why you would shoot in the high shoulder area with a ML.

 

[ENCORE50A]

I've taken a few whitetail with the 300gr SST at ranges of well over 100yds and as close as 20yds. Those 300gr SST's were traveling out of my BP Xpress at 2,300fps. Never had one run more than 30yds. Shot placement

 

[dwm]

Bad hit is a bad hit regardless of bullet, I honestly believe that these deer that run off never to be found ,are not hit in the vitals, I have been with guys that swear they hit in the money, only to recover the deer 3/4 of a mile away bedding down with a gut hit.it’s sometimes hard to admit when we screw up.easier to swear you hit pay dirt

 

[hawki]

Here is a real world example of bullet performance beats placement. Old school, no scope, afternoon still hunting. I was hunting with an Ithaca pump 12ga with lightfield slugs. A deer ran past me and I swung the gun and snapped an almost lucky shot. Right in the gut! No joy. As expected. As the deer rans, full gallop, I pumped and got a follow up in the ass. Through the hip, straight line and out the front. Droped on the spot. I hit is again, but; probably no need. Try that with a 223! Try that with a scoped bolt action!

Folks on the www like to talk about how they can finesse a kill with minimum ballistics. There is something to be said for over kill. In the famous words of Elmer Keith: "I cannot be over gunned, because the game cannot be over dead".

I’m not so sure what the point of your story is, gut shot with a 12gauge slug is still gut shot. It took 2 more ounces of lead to finish.Just me, but I’ll pass on that running shot and wait for a clean standing shot.

 

[DANNY-L]

Most times your mind will tell you that you hit where you wanted but if you watch the animal upon impact their reaction tells the truth.

 

[MK85]

If it was me the first thing I would do is shoot some of the remaining bullets from that box into wet paper and water jugs to recover some samples.

The moral of the story is that every bullet will have a distance or a load level where they function on animals just like we dream of them functioning.

I think these thoughts are the keys to satisfaction. Myself, I've found the SST's to be the poor man's surgical muzzleloader bullet. Bought 6 boxes of 250 & 300gr last week from Midway for $13+change a box. That was after this year's prior success on whitetails. In the vitals they expend most or all their energy within 100 yds, yet thoroughly snap bone at 200. Velocity was 1600-1800fps and the software (which I now find to be accurate) puts them in a pie plate throughout that range. I'd have to give them a hands-on grade of A+.

 

[U.P. Hunterman]

250 sst's are the only bullet I found that shoots great out of my optima v2. Took me a while to find my sweet load. Dropped everything I've shot at so far.

 

[Far Sighted]

250 gr SST plus 90 gr BH very accurate with my Optima V2 LR.

 

[hawki]

I think these thoughts are the keys to satisfaction. Myself, I've found the SST's to be the poor man's surgical muzzleloader bullet. Bought 6 boxes of 250 & 300gr last week from Midway for $13+change a box. That was after this year's prior success on whitetails. In the vitals they expend most or all their energy within 100 yds, yet thoroughly snap bone at 200. Velocity was 1600-1800fps and the software (which I now find to be accurate) puts them in a pie plate throughout that range. I'd have to give them a hands-on grade of A+.

I've posted a cpl times about my experience with those .40 SST's. I had read about so many ppl using them, I thought I's try them out in my Accura V2 .45 too. I shot the 200gr .40 cals but had to switch out the sabots to LBCR's to get them to group. I had only lost 1 deer in nearly 5 decades & that was with a Powerbelt which I used for around 15yrs. I shot 1 deer at about 60-70 yds & it took off never to be seen again & the other one I shot at about 30yds, both broadside & standing still. The second was hit behind the shoulder & upper mid body. It took off as if I'd missed. I just watch as it headed for the county line at top speed. 2 deer in a row - gone bc of those bullets. Never again. They were loaded with 84gr W BH 209, so decent velocity. They are paper punchin & fouling bullets from then on. I too have read about them grenading at SML velocities but havent sent any downrange in an SML as of yet & still won't hunt with them regardless. I'll take an old Powerbelt over them any day of the week.

Its funny how 2 people with the same load end up with different results. I shoot about the same load and have the opposite conclusion. 200 grain SST’s hit like Thor’s Hammer. Usually DRT, furthest was maybe 80 yards. It makes one wonder why, what the difference? You can’t argue with the results , just wonder why the disparity.