dougl

A SST is a interlock bullet not a varmint bullet.Keep the velocity around 2600-2800fps and it will kill deer all day long.

Topgun 3006

I don't know where that varmint bullet statement came from because nobody on here has said the SST is such! Yea, they may kill deer, but there are also a lot of people like myself that have had a number of bad experiences with them and have gone to something else. How many deer and other bigger critters have you shot with them to make that "kill deer all day long" statement?

dougl

I've killed about 7 or 8 with 180 gr SST's out of my 300 wsm.None of those deer took a step and all had a fist sized exit wound.I killed two with 165 gr SST's out of my .308.Neither made it out of sight.From what I've experienced,they're similar to ballistic tips and a little on the fragile side if pushed too fast.Keep the velocities reasonable that they'll do fine.A youth load with 125 gr bullets isn't going to be breaking any land speed records so a bullet on the fragile side isn't a bad idea.

Topgun 3006

That is exactly my point! The mulie buck I shot with one at about 100 yards with a 150 grainer in my 30-06 put a bigger than your fist size hole on the ENTRANCE side. The other hit a cow elk on an onside rib at about 125 yards and absolutely blew up. She took off right at dark with a herd and before I found her the middle of the morning the next day I lost over half the meat to spoilage. I have never lost 1# of meat from any other animal in over 60 years of hunting. Needless to say, I shot the rest of them at paper and then moved to their SP and BTSP for game and have had no problems since.

Bbj270

My cousins son killed 5-6 deer and a bear with hornady 139 gr 7/08 none of them took a step. Not reduce recoil ammo but sst bullets worked for them none of the shots were past 120 yards they ranged each before the shot with him shooting to make sure there in his comfable range he practices at.

BarnesX.308

When my son started hunting at 6 years old, I would hand load his 308 with 125 grain bullets and reduced powder charges to practice with. When hunting, I brought full strength loads with 150 grain Barnes XXX bullets.

dougl

SST's are pretty fragile in my experience.If you push them too fast or shoot them at heavy-boned game,you stand the chance of running into problems.I certainly wouldn't use them on elk unless it was on the heavier side for the caliber.I have no doubt that the 125 gr SST's will work fine at reduced velocities used designed for a youth hunter.I would't use 125 gr sst's at screaming 06 velocities but reduced loads out of a .308 will work fine.