I have not shot them asHornadyis apparently having production problems. Until recently Midway was accepting orders as an "on back order item". They have sinceceased accepting any new orders and do not have an expected arrival date.
Yes, they are Hornady 300gr SST bullets, which they allow Thompson to call "shockwaves".
There has been some concern that these bullets will not stabilize well in rifled shotguns with 1-34 to 1-36 twist rates. When I last spoke to Del Ramsey, (owner of MMP sabots), he suggests that the bullets would likely perform reasonably well out to 75-100yds then possibly destabilze as the bullet loses velocity. I have not been able to confirm this myself . I have however spoken with one gentlemen who reported good performance at 100yds with the Savage 210 (1-35 twist). He does not have access to a longer range and therefore can not make any accuracy claims past that distance.
Here is a copy of a post I had writtena number of months ago for another poster who wanted more insite on their balistics...
A few months ago when the Hornady SST's were first being advertised, many slug shooters were falsely led to believe that this bullet/sabot combination was some new ballistics breakthrough.
In order to determine the truth for myself, I decide to compare the factory published ballistics numbers against those of the Remington Core Lokts. ( The Core Lokts have in my opinion, some of the best ballistics of all rifled slugs on the market and are my first choice when shooting my Savage 210.)
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The Hornady SST's are an off shoot of the development of the Hornady H2K. The H2K contained a 250gr xtp bullet. These new Sabots contain 300gr SST's bullets instead. (My experience with the H2K was disappointing, although they were in the top of class in terms of trajectory they were very erradic as far as accuracy, often throwing random flyers).
TRAJECTORY...
The SST's do not shoot any flatter than the current top performing Sabots on the market. The advertising for the trajectory is somewhat misleading. They quote their trajectories from (-.09in) at the barrel. Even with that extra inch they are dead on at 150 and -6.7in at 200 yds. To you and me in the real world that means -7.6in low at 200 yds.
TRAJECTORY COMPARISON...
The flatest consistent competitor to the Hornady SST would be the Remmington Core Lokt Ultra's. They are once again somewhat misleading in their advertisement of trajectory. They qoute their trajectory from -1.5in at the barrel. These sabots are dead on at 150, and -6.2in at 200 yds. To you andI that would be -7.7in low at 200 yds.
This means that the current Core Lokt's already offer nearly identical trajectory to the new SST's.
VELOCITY AND ENERGY COMPARISON....
Although these two competitors have nearly identical trajectories one must keep in mind they shoot very different projectiles. The SST's are 300 gr bullets, while the Core Lokt's are launching a 385 gr bullet. That means only one thing is possible. The SST's are slower, and do not carry the energy that the Core Lokt's do.
The actualnumbers for the SST's at 200yds are velocity 1341 fps, and energy 1198 ft-lbs.
The Core Lokt's numbers at 200yds are velocity 1426 fps, and energy 1741ft-lbs.
Although both still have plenty of knock down power at 200yds for deer sized game, the Core Lokt's with an additional 500ft-lbs of power at 200yds, would be welcome comfort if one were to make a poorly placed shot.
COST
They will be between 11-15$....in line with most current high performance Sabots.
CONCLUSION....
Is the SST an new ballistic breakthrough in Sabot technology? NO.... Does any of this tell us anything about the accuracy of the SST's or the Core Lokt's out of any particular gun?.. Absolutely not.
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