Originally Posted by
ADVWannabee
....................................So should I be worried or will the SST do the job on a big deer? It is too late to change this year as I am in the middle of the season here and I am dialed in with that bullet. But I would definetly change for next season if the consensus is that another bullet would do a significantly better job.
Myself, i have only killed 7 deer with the SST. I have been hunting and killing for near 50 year. I have been doing autopsy for near 45 year. What i mean by this is after seeing the innards of dead deer a few times, i started examining these innards. These examination have led me to opinion about bullet performance.
Every deer i have hit with an SST followed me home to my freezer. However, i concluded after 5 kills there had to be a better bullet. What i recall thinking after opening these dead deer, is this bullet is not the best. That season, after them 5 kill using the SST, i killed 2 more using the partition bullet. The difference in tissue damage was quite obvious.
Deer seasons since have seen me using XTP, Deep Curl, and Partition bullet. My bullet of choice has become the Deep Curl. If the time ever came to where i had to limit my bullet to one, my choice will be the Deep Curl.
These forum have been very instructive to me. The amount of learning i have experienced is quite astounding. On these forum i have read more than once that the 200g SST was a cut above. the larger SST sizes. This year i purchased my first 45 caliber rifle. This naturally led me to use the 200g SST. This bullet has killed 2 deer handily this season. This season has also seen deer killed with a partition bullet. My bullet of choice is the Deep Curl.
Right now my rifle is loaded with Deep Curl. The Deep Curl has worked and worked and worked for me. However, it very well could be, that if i hunt the prairie during the rifle season, i will use the 45 caliber rifle, and the 200g SST. There is no doubt in my mind, but what the 200g SST will kill deer, or pronghorn, if i do my job.
The rest of this rifle season will see me using either the Deep Curl or the 200g SST. When muzzle loader season begins, i will switch to a rifle with iron sights, and that rifle is sighted in using Partition bullet.
In my opinion, the Deep Curl is a better bullet than the SST, or the XTP. The XTP, and the SST, have killed many many deer. If my rifle were sighted in for either, and i were in the middle of a season, i would be quite confident that either the XTP, or the SST, will put deer into the freezer.
Besides being deadly on deer, the Deep Curl are economical. I shoot them year around. I cannot bring my self to shoot the 'expensive' bullets at paper. What could be better than shooting the exact same bullet at deer, and at paper?