Any opinions on Hornady SST for deer hunting?
 

I know, not another bullet thread. Its the old Ford vs. Chevy, Republican vs. Democrat type debate. :biggrin: But I have to ask anyway. I made a comment on another thread where a deer was taken with a 300 gr Deep Curl about me using a 250 gs SST and received the following response:

Now I bagged a nice little buck on Saturday at 61 yards and got a complete pass through. I didn't hit anything but rib cage and I didn't get the devestation that the Deep Curl showed in the other thread, but a pass through is a pass through, right? I know the Deep Curl gets a lot of love here but I selected the SST based on feedback last year on this forum. I think the Deep Curls were just starting to get attention then.

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.

It's my preference, even iffin there ain't nothin wrong with hollow points

I have never had a problem with them and they shoot really good out of my rifles.

I would Use the SST this year and look at the .250 gr deep/curl or the barnes.250 gr TEZ for next year.good shot placement with the SST should net you a deer no problem..

I think the SST is a great bullet. Although I have never taken game with one. I have seen a lot of photographs of game taken with the 250 grain shockwave and it did a great job. If you are confident in the bullet then that is all you need to know.

No matter what bullet you shoot, there will be opinions. And an opinion is just that, an opinion. Personally I like the 200 grain .40 caliber Shockwave and if I were field hunting, that would be my bullet.

I use the SST or the regular yellow tip shock wave or the 250 gr FTX for practice and the Blue tip bonded Shock Wave for hunting. It is a very similar to the 250 gr Deep Curl but due to the plastic tip has better BC. I have use both of these bullets over a number of year they have never failed me. I do believe that some people under load bullets designed for muzzleloading I load for 2000+ at the muzzle. That is the main reason XTP and soft lead bullets did not work well for me.

I have taken several deer in the past and they did the job perfectly. I would use it no problem

Doesn't Hornady make the bullet for TC as well?? So isn't the SST and the TC bullet the same??

I know we all like to talk alot about bullets. And I don't want to start any big argument. But how does a bullet fail when you go and pick up the deer??

It is impossible to know where you hit an unrecovered deer. Simply impossible. So you blame the bullet??

I simply have never seen a bullet placed in the proper spot---FAIL. I just have never seen it??

One may expand a little more or less depending on many conditions. And I have seen the same bullet do different things when it was shot into the same spot-only difference was a different deer. I think there are way to many other factors involved than to simply say a bullet failed?? Just an opinion. Tom.

Personally... and it is only me... I would not use a pointy bullet from a ML. With the velocity we are shooting I prefer a bullet that provides more frontal area. The additional frontal are adds to the hit the animal takes, improves hydrostatic shock, and leaves a lot of energy in the animal before it departs.

On the other hand if I were shooting beyond 200 yards - give me a pointy bullet... by then it has slowed down and the frontal area will not matter as much as it will have time to work as it passes through the body.

For a commercial mass production bullet the Deep Curl offers a bonded construction and controlled expansion - so it will not pan cake.

As mentioned Nosler Partitions, Barnes and Knight Bloodlines will and are designed to do pretty much the same thing only a bit more reliable than the Deep Curl.

There are better bullets out there than the SST but there's also worse bullets. One of the guys in our group swears by them and has killed a pile of deer with them. I can't recal him ever losing a deer to them.

I'd say if you gun shoots them well and you have confidence (personal experience) then stick with them.