Hornady now offers both the SST and Interbond bullets. A co-worker and I were talking about them, and upon looking in hornady's reloading manual, discovered the ballistic co-efficiants and S.D's are identical. The only noticable difference is a canulure pressed into the jackets from one to another. Now call me a conspiracy theorist here, I was contamplating the fact that maybe the two bullets are really one in the same. They say the pour molten lead into the jackets, thus making a bonded bullet. If I recall, most manufacturers don't swage bullets, (?) and my thoughts that most bullets were poured into the jackets. We want to know if anyone has shot these two bullets, in equal calibers and weights and saw first hand which of the two actually held up better. His argument was that a major mfr won't do that for rear of someone doing such a test. Mine was they are priced very close, and a major mfr can not, and will not offer two bullets this similar and outright say one is better than the other. One fellow argued that the bonded bullet was built like the accubond, having the hour-glass figure inside. I ruled this out simply because the ballistic co-efficiant will be different, or the bullets will not be the same weight. (Less lead, more copper) If you have performed such a test in real world hunting situations, let us know. Did the bonded bullets really perform that much better? How many of you use either bulet and what are your best and worst experiance with them. I will post this on a couple different threads for best results. Thank you.

SST is a swaged bullet. YOu could call Hornady at their 800 number ..they have excellent CS.

I've heard great reports about the SST's and accuracy. Not having SST's available and looking at the Bal. Co. I figured the two were the same, so I bought the Interbonds. My normally moa or less ruger did not like them at all. I struggled to stay inside two inches. That could be just my gun, but I would like to try the SST's and see if there is a difference.

Anyone else??

I really like the design of the SST's and shot them with many different powders, but my gun did not like them at all. I'm sticking with the nosler partition. But the SST's do look prettyJDinAB

The thing is, they DO look pretty! How can you not like that? I stuffed some 165 SST's in my .300 bout a year or so ago. Here in Lethbridge, our range goes out to 400 yards. At that range, there are turkey silhouettes about 1/4 inchs thick or so. Maybe a bit thicker. These bullets loaded to what I figure are mid 3000 to low 3100 foot per second mark, (I don't have a chrony, and the load data I used then suggested around 3200. I still feel they were only around 3000) literaly blew holes clean through those things! I've seen them hit with standard soft points, and similar bullets to the SST's, and they only splattered on the steel. If they deliver that energy downrange, AND still hold together enough to drill turkeys, I wonder what that Interbond will do. Especially on somthing soft, in comparison to my SST's.

OldElk, I took your advice, and your right, the C.S is second to none. For everyone reading this, call it, the opening message will crack you up. They explained to me the forming process, and the fellow I spoke to, said it does have the same make-up as the Accu-bond, but the manufacturing process is quite different. It is a swaged core, with the SSt, but the Inter-bond has a thicker jacket at the base. The machining process, i guess is similar, but the actual fusing of the lead is legit. I'm still eager to her from anyone who has shot these in comparison in hunting situations.

I've used both the 180 gr sst's and the 165 gr interbonds in my 300 wsm.Two years ago I killed a deer and my buddy used my rifle to kill a deer a week later.Both deer where shot behind the shoulder and dropped without a twitch with the 180 gr sst.Both bullets exited leaving a fist size hole in the opposite shoulder.Last year I shot a doe with the 165 interbond.The doe was standing broadside at about 80 yards so I shot for her neck.At the shot she actually turned and ran toward me.I normally won't take a running shot but I knew she was hit so I shot her again.At the shot she turned and ran out of sight.That shot hit her infront of the shoulder and the bullet lodged ender the skin next to her tail.Surprisingly she ran about 75 yards after being hit through the windpipe and the entire length of her body.The bullet that was lodged under her tail was mushroomed perfect and retained most of it's weight.I would say the bullet performed exactly as advertised although I was surprised at how far she ran.

I use to design and swage bullets for sale. I also designed and made bonded core bullets. Here's how i tested a lot of bullets for toughness with out shooting them. Keep in mind i wanted bullets that expanded well, but would NOT break up or loose there jackets on bone or in other tough conditions. Once a bullet looses it's jacket, for the most part penetration for that bullet is over!

Take a small block of wood, drill a bullet size hole in it not quite as deep as the bullet you want to test, is long. Take the bullet and push it point first into the hole. Now, take a hack saw and saw through the center of the buller length wise.

Now take two pairs of pliars, and twist one half of the bullet from each end. If the core comes out of the jacket, then that brand/style of bullet will loose it's core when it hits bone or other tough conditions!! They can pour hot lead into those jackets all day long, but that doesn't mean it will actually "bond" to the jacket!!!!

Here's something else. Guilding metal jackets are too briddle to make good bonded bullets out of. I had to have a spl. jacket material made from copper to my specs., for the bonding to work right, and not have the jacket break up!!

All of this does NOT mean the bullets aren't good for average conditions, but just don't expect that bullet to be a premium bullet for tough conditions!!!

Drilling Man

I was told by a Hornady Tech. the SST and IB are made with the same bullet die. The only difference is the IB is constructed with more integrity. Good luck.