The SST has been my primary bullet the past two seasons. Altogether, I've now harvested about 15 deer with the 250-grain SST (and 250 shockWave - which is the same bullet). My longest shot has been 208 yards (2004 season). The shot took out a nice 150-class Nebraska 10-pointer, dropping the deer on the spot. I did recover the bullet...and it was very, very nicely expanded. I've yet to have a deer go more than 20 yards after being hit with this bullet.

Toby Bridges,
PigBuster

I agree!

I'm tossing the 300gr SST with 120gr BM'3 from an Omega and on four deer last year it was like they were hit by a Tractor Trailer. Zero runs after the shot. Just they way I like them!

Yes I agree the shockwave and sst are amazing on deer. they give great accuracy and the damage done is plenty to kill a deer. I havent had all my deer drop like some say they have but if they only go 20 yards its the same to me.

I have had good luck with the 300 gr. T/C Shockwave (SST) as well. Last fall, on opening day of muzzle loader season, I stumbled onto a nice 6 X 6 bull elk feeding in a meadow with about 20 cows. After a short stalk, I took a 75 yard shot at the bull from a quartering away angle. The elk made a mad dash for about 50 yards and piled up. Bullet hit the center of the chest, angled forward through the lungs, broke the off shoulder, and was found just under the hide. It was somewhat deformed and had lost its core in the last couple inches of travel - but the performance on an animal of this size was impressive. I'll be using it again, ahead of 130 grains of Pyrodex Pellets, this September.

Roskoe,

If you were hunting in Colorado...I hope it was during the general firearms season.

One of these days the Colorado Division of Wildlife will wake up and realize that a good saboted bullet like the 300-grain SST is far superior for cleanly taking elk (during the muzzleloader season) than the old patched round ball. Regulations there that prohibit the use of saboted bullets during the muzzleloader seasons are out dated...and need to be changed.

Toby Bridges,
PigBuster

It was at our family ranch in New Mexico.

Are you the same Toby Bridges who contributed a bunch of R & D for the Savage "smokeless" muzzleloader? You may have had a hand in a component of my Colorado-legal load. I use a 410 grain Hornady Great Plains bullet with a MMP ballistic bridge sub-base; over 120 grains of ffg Triple 7. Weren't you involved in the development of the ballistic bridge sub-base?

Roskoe...

If it shoots great...I'll take credit. If it shoots lousy...it must have been some other Toby Bridges!

Yep, I kept after my good buddy Del Ramsey at MMP to come up with an improved sub-base (Ballsitic Bridge Sub-Base) that would protect the bottom of saboted bullets from all the heat and excessive pressure of heavy hunting loads.

It's good to see someone using it under a hollow-based conical as well.

How does it shoot?

Toby Bridges,
PigBuster

It shoots very well - especially considering how badly it shoots without it :&gt This bullet performs pretty well at around 1400 fps without the sub-base, but higher charges must be deforming the base, as accuracy gets worse as the charge goes up. After reading some stuff about your experience with smokeless powders, I thought about some bullets I had tried in the past that might be good candidates for some "insulation" between the powder and bullet base. The base of the 410 gr. Hornady Great Plains matches very closely with the dome front the ballistic bridge sub-base. With 120 gr. of FFg Triple 7, I can get 2" groups at 100 yards with open sights - which is about as good as I can shoot without a scope. One caution - this load, at 1702 fps, has some recoil. It would be tough to take off the bench with the "Benchmaster" rest.

PS: Did one of your smokeless load really blow up a Savage gun like is rumored?

I gotta say I LOVE the SSTs for muzzleloaders. My customers have just turned the lights out of PLENTY of deer with them and I can honestly say that across the board, they have shown to be the most accurate bullets in more guns than anyother bullets we've sold for 20 years! Performance wise, again they are awesome. We strongly recommend them to folks shooting them in guns with magnum charges (130grns+) and they are our sole recommendation for customers buying the Savage smokeless guns.

Last season I got a Savage ML10II and put the 300grn SSTs over 45grns of N110 (appx 2300fps) and all I can say is WOW! They melt deer inside of 300yds like any centerfire rifle. The first deer I shot with them lastyear was a doe at 110yds and I purposefully shot her through both shoulders to test the bullet. It cleanly exited the off shoulder and needless to say she dropped so fast the other deer around her just stood there looking around.

I am a died in the wool Barnes X man and I was shooting them through my dozen+ year old Knight, but the SSTs in my new Savage surpassed my expectations. There are about 5 others shooting SST/Savage ML10s in my circle of buds and workers and too the man we are ALL very happy with the bullets performance. Like I said, we have many many customers who are elated with them as well and we sell T/C smokepoles 5 too 1 over everything else.

You WONT be disappointed!
RA

This is the one bullet I really want to work, but am having trouble with it. I get unexplained flyers in 3-5 shot groups. I might get sub2MOA groups, and then one about 4" away. I switched to different sabots. Tried cutting the sabot down, but nothing improved. I get much better results form XTP's. I still have a bunch of the 250gr and 300gr left. Would love it they worked for me.