The Shock Wave or the SST

[Lee 9]

I always thought they were the same; but I just read a report on them by MAX that says they not only shoot different but the ballistic jell test shows the SST holding together as good as the bonded SW in the 250 gr bullets.
Now I always used the shock wave and I would like to know what the people that have used both think about this. Lee

 

[big6x6]

T/C Shockwave = Hornady SST. T/C Bonded Shockwave- different.

 

[cayuga]

The standard shockwave is an SST with a different colored nose. The sabots are differnt though. So when you load them some might seem tight and others loose. For instance, I can not load a SST in my T/C Black Diamiond XR unless I change out the Sabots. The Shockwaves on teh other hand load and shoot just fine.

 

[big6x6]

The standard shockwave is an SST with a different colored nose. The sabots are differnt though. So when you load them some might seem tight and others loose. For instance, I can not load a SST in my T/C Black Diamiond XR unless I change out the Sabots. The Shockwaves on teh other hand load and shoot just fine.

I had thought that here lately they were BOTH being packaged with the same sabot, MMP HPH-24. I don't use the supplied sabot at any rate and use whichever one I need. The BULLET is the same with a different color tip!

 

[coltchris]

The SST's are a little tighter in my Disc Extreme with the supplied sabots than the SW's with their supplied sabots. Niether are quite as tight as I would like in my gun, hence I'm going to try the Knight High Pressure sabot #900128. Tried one at home and appeared good and tight; just what I want for BH-209! To my knowledge, the bullets are identical.

 

[flint head]

Big 6, what sabot are you using with the SW's in your triumph? I just got back from the range... 110g of BH and a 250g SW with the supplied sabot shot 1 1/8" @ 100 yards out of my Triumph,,, not to bad in the SC heat.

 

[Lee 9]

What I was refering to has nothing to do with the sabots, according to what they said the SW fraged 505 of the time while the SST got 19 to 13 inches of penatration in ballistic jell. Not that I necessarily believe that as I had thought they were the same bullet, I guess when I get my hands on some SST I will slice them in half and measure the jacket and test the hardness of the lead. Lee

 

[Patrick White]

There are Shockwaves with yellow and blue tips. The Yellow tip shockwaves are the same as the SST's which have red tips. The blue tip Shockwaves are bonded and therefore a different bullet than either the yellow tip Shockwaves or the SST's.

 

[Lee 9]

Patrick White
They were all in that test, according to them the SST and the blue tip Shock Wave [bonded] performed identically while the yellow tip SW fragged 50% of the time. This is not what I expected, and I have yet to decide what I really want to believe. I have used the SW's but not the SST. Lee

 

[big6x6]

I have used the SW's but not the SST. Lee

I can tell you I have shot deer with BOTH the yellow tipped T/C Shockwave AND the red tipped Hornady SST 250gr....NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER!

 

[big6x6]

Big 6, what sabot are you using with the SW's in your triumph? I just got back from the range... 110g of BH and a 250g SW with the supplied sabot shot 1 1/8" @ 100 yards out of my Triumph,,, not to bad in the SC heat.

I've used the HPH-12, Harvester short, and Harvester Crush-rib...I seem to get the VERY best accuracy with the Harvester short. It's a BEAR to get down the bore though...

 

[flint head]

Sounds good Chuck, I've got some shorts on the way... :wink:

 

[DJ-IL]

Where do you guys buy the Harvester sabots?

 

[Nic_58]

To add another twist to the fray, I bought some 300 gr. SST's last fall and they came with the new rubbery "Flex Tip" on them instead of the hard, pointed polymer tip that SST's/Shockwaves had always had on them. When sitting the polymer tip next to the flex tip bullet, they weren't exactly the same as far as length of the ogive goes. I never have shot any of the flex tips yet so don't know if accuracy will be any different or not. The difference is ever so slight but there is a difference.

Old style polymer on the right, new style flex tip on the left.

Does anyone know if the latest Shockwaves have the old polymer tip or the new Flex Tip?

 

[Patrick White]

Patrick White
They were all in that test, according to them the SST and the blue tip Shock Wave [bonded] performed identically while the yellow tip SW fragged 50% of the time. This is not what I expected, and I have yet to decide what I really want to believe. I have used the SW's but not the SST. Lee

That doesn't make any sense unless Hornady silently switched the old SST's for the bonded versions. I haven't bought them in ages so I don't know if the price spiked.

 

[big6x6]

Does anyone know if the latest Shockwaves have the old polymer tip or the new Flex Tip?

The last SHOCKWAVES I bought were of the 250gr and 300gr Bonded variety and they still had the old hard polymer tip. Of course the new 250gr SSTs "Low Drag" I just bought had the "flex tip." They were by FAR the least expensive SSTs/Shockwaves out there.

 

[ShawnT]

For those of you that have used the 250 grain SST or Shockwaves on Deer, Did they hold together or come apart on you? I thought I had read that some of them had blown up or Fraged on or just inside the deer. I might be mixing it up with another bullet though.

Thanks,

ShawnT

 

[Bucker]

bullet

Shockwaves/250 grainer, blew the heart up at 50 yards.

 

[Reese]

I shot four deer last season with the rounded tip and did not notice a difference over the pointed tip which I used the year before that. All of the four shots were pass-throughs from 30 to 90 yards. I found no fragments and all four deer went down quickly. This was with the 45 cal 250 gr SST. I use the Harvester smooth black sabots. I get them from Cabela's.

One thing I have noticed with the SST's is that I may have three generations of the same bullet. I have the original pointed and stiff plastic tip. I have the rounded but still stiff plastic tip and I also have a rounded but gummy tip.

This past winter I bought some 40 cal 200 gr Shockwaves with the blue sabot on clearance at Walmart and they had the rounded tip on them.

 

[lane]

I have used the SW's but not the SST. Lee

I can tell you I have shot deer with BOTH the yellow tipped T/C Shockwave AND the red tipped Hornady SST 250gr....NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER!

Yea, What Chuck said x2 8) (For the 200g SW and SST) :wink: