My supply of Hornady 165gr spire points has about dried up, and Hornady has discontinued them for the time being. I'm looking at using their 165gr SSTs in my 300 WSM, was wondering if anyone had any experience with them... accuracy and especially performance with hogs.
I ran into the same problem with 130 gr. in 270. Tried a box of Nosler BTs (yeah I know more expensive but if I want to hunt) Same powder charge,same seating depth, same everything...Rifle shot them exactly the same as SSTs
I load 165gr SSTs in my .308 AR10. I shoot 5 shot groups at 100 yards easily under an inch. I have only taken one deer with it and the bullets performed perfectly. SSTs are known for their accuracy and reliability.
I highly recommend them. The only problem I have is finding them lately. .308 SSTs are hard to get ahold of lately.
I've seen performance on par with ballistic tips. I would stay off heavy bone also running fast at close distances can yield over expansion with little penetration.
You may also want to jump up to 180 gr and even Interbonds for hard hog shots. Bonded bullets stay together better hitting solid bone and the 180gr bullets are designed for a heavier class of animal. This is just speculation as I haven't tested it but this is my understanding of the differences.
For normal hunting the SSTs will definitely do the trick. If I was mainly going after large hogs I would step up though. IBs are more expensive but usually more available too.
The SST still has the Interlock ring, so while it may expand vigorously I don't think it's quite as fragile as the NOSLER BT. I agree with Dawico about hogs. If I used the SST for that it would be heavy and I'd go 180 over 165 gr. I'll soon be buying a 7mm-08 and plan to use the 139 gr. SST for whitetail and hogs. Another route you could take with the 165s would be to keep velocity down in the .30-06 range.
I get sub-MOA accuracy out of my 30-06 with the 165 gr as well as sub-MOA with 139 gr in my 7-08. Having said that, I will be changing to something a little tougher for 2014. 3 Axis does and 2 WT does shot this year with them. Ranges from 65 yards out to just under 200. Average exit wound when shot through the shoulder was in the neighborhood of 3". Lots of blood-shot meat there. When shot through the ribs, behind the shoulder, the exit wounds were around 2". In the ribs, the area covered by the blood-shot was less, but still made it not worth trying to salvage any of it for jerky or sausage.
I switched to Nosler AB and shot 2 other axis does, one just over 100 yards and one out a bit further, 187 (lasered). The close one was shot through the ribs, exit was a tad over 1". The longer shot was through the shoulders and the exit was about the same with the amount of blood-shot meat in the shoulder being minimal, say 2" around the exit. Both of these were shot through my 700 Mtn Rifle.
Hubby had me do 7mm-08 reloads with both Hornady SST bullets and Nosler Partition bullets with my Hornady brass. Stayed up until 3-ish Sunday morning working on reload development plan that he came up with after reading the reloading manuals. For the Hornady SST's, we made 9 different powder loads with 3 rounds of each. For the Nosler Partitions, we made 7 different powder loads with 3 rounds each. Both the SST's and the Noslelrs have 3 'sighter' rounds each.
Bought a couple boxes of Accubonds and Partitions at 180 and 165gr weights. Hopefully work will let up soon so I can test the loads out. Doing the OCW method to see if I can come up with a stable and accurate load
I love SST 150 grain in 7.62x54r. From wounds in coyote, I'd use it on large whitetail, but I'd go to a heavier bullet (heavy SST is not available for 7.62x54r) with controlled expansion. Bear or moose would get a 174 or 175 grain soft point.
SST is really nice from an external ballistics point of view.
I have used the .277 130 grain and the .308 150 grain SST with much success on Whitetail deer. I would not run this bullet at extreme MV. It has proven itself at 2900 and under. Actually in a short barrelled .308 at around 2500 fps it works wonders.
As for the Nosler BT, some time back Nosler re-designed the BT. I know many Western hunters that use the Nosler BT exclusively on Elk. I have used the .284 150BT on Elk, Mule Deer and large Canadian Whitetail. Outside of the large bears I would not hesitate to use a Nosler BT on any North American Game. Here in Texas the SST works well at the right MV>
Haven't been able to find more than 1 box of .30 cal SSTs, so I switched over to Nosler Accubonds and tried out 165 and 180gr bullets. Found a very nice sub-MOA load for the 165s at just under 3000 fps, and a good group for the 180s at around 2900 fps. The math comes out to a slight edge for the 180s, delivering about 62 more ft/lbs of impact than the 165s.
I've had great results with the SST's in my 280 Remington on hogs and deer alike. The 139 gr projectiles have also produced some of my tightest groups in the same gun(sub 1/2" at100). They completely penetrate and produce large exit wounds(2" or so). Great bullets IME !
Most any hunting bullet will work fine in Texas. Where people usually run into problems is when they run the standard cup and core style bullets at high velocity over expansion will typically happen. Sometimes similar effects happen when you use them in smaller diameter bullets and heavy bone is hit. Monolithic bullets seem to work well if you run them pretty light for caliber and run them as fast as you can. I like the bonded core bullets for their ability to compromise on penetration and expansion. So I have used them in several calibers and have been very pleased. I will be giving the Long Range Accubonds a go pretty soon provided they shoot accurate.
dee, I have found that today's bullet's are just much better than even 5 years ago. I have ran the high B.C. A-Max in .284, .243 & .224 and they are killers when used right. Hornady suspended manufacturing of the A-Max for a while and I started using their HPBT in the .243 & .224 and had great success. However, I must agree with you that in the smaller calibers most would be better served with a monolithic like a Barnes or GMX etc.,!
You know I have found headstamps mean very little, its about bullets and placement.
I agree I have noticed in the Nosler ballistic tips they have beefed the jackets up a good bit from years past. I have used the 284 Amax for the past 2 year's with great results and luckily still have about 500 left on hand. I'm hoping the long range Accubonds get easier to aquire soon as they are said to fly very similar to the Amax if not I'll likely give Berger's a try.
I shoot the SST bullets in every hunting rifle I own. The performance and accuracy has been great. I never shot a sub-1" group with my '06 before I used them.
The kills are clean with that bullet. In fact, on one deer, it actually split his heart in half. I won't use any other bullet to hunt with.
Good stuff to know! I was planning on using 139 gr. SSTs for my upcoming 7mm-08 project. I felt sure they'd be fine for our whitetail (Brown Co.) but I wasn't sure about hogs that can get up to 500# in Nolan Co where my brother lives. My backup plan was the Hornady Interlock 139 gr. Boat Tails, but from what you guys are saying the 139 gr. SSTs should be fine in 7mm-08.
Pig's are easy to drop just put one through the ear and it won't take another step. I've done this with several different calibers including a few rim fire variants. The only time this isn't advised is if you might possibly want to do a European mount on the skull.