dylan_b

so i finally tried the sst this year, as i could nto fit the old black sabot down my muzzleloaders bore. like others, groups were great being around 1 1/2 at 100 yards and they were super easy to load. i also noticed that they were less sensitive to a clean/dirty/unfired bore which is a major plus imo. so season start monday, ive got a buck/doe and a doe only tag and i see a nice older doe that would fill my freezer nicely. take the shot at about 50 yards. the doe goes 10 yards and flop its dead. go to skin it out and i notice that the bullet didnt travel on a straight path. no biggy i still took out a lung and perforated the heart with a bullet fragment. feeling on the other side, i notice a bump, its the bullet. it passed through both sides and stopped in the hide on the opposite side. i cut the bullet out and this is what i find (look to pic). ok i know these bullets are designed to really break apart and in some cases they stay in the animal but the core of the bullet shouldnt break off like this. the end results are ok but the recovered bullet really doesnt give me much confidence in it especially with the rather unsatisfactory holes it made in the rib cages.

johnnyo

Was this shot just through the ribs or did it hit major bone?

dylan_b

just the ribs. the core itself wasnt very far from the jacket actually, just about a inch or so behind stuck in the ribs. i was using 2 imr whitehot pellets so theres no chance i was driving it to fast.

cayugad

I have shot that bullet on the range and it was very accurate. I have never shot it with White Hots. Why that bullet did not pass through, I have no idea. With 100 grains of powder and that range I sure would have thought it would have. Others have told the same experience you had. Small wound holes.

I guess if it were me I would look at some other bullets.

sabotloader

dylan_b

I absolutely hate bullets that come apart like that. Drives me nuts...

It certainly is not a fancy bullet and it is not pointy, but IMO I would highly suggest you look at the Speer Deep Curl bullets... they are bonded and do not come apart.

The 300 grain has a BC of .232 if that is a factor for you. I use to shoot the .452/250 for whitetail. It is an excellent bullet to 175 yards.

MountainDevil54

oh wow thats very surprising. Someone just made a field report on an sst as well only they were complaining about no expansion and zero blood trail.

Congrats on the deer!

tsaxybabe

I just shot a deer with this same bullet. It went completely through the deer, but did not expand at all. The deer only went 40-50yds, but it worries me that if I hadn't made a perfect double lung shot it might not have dropped him. I think I'm going to switch to something else. I did like how accurate these were though.

sabotloader

dylan_b

Not the same bullet, but this is my example of a FTX - when I was testing them. Not all bullets shot showed this but I really want to use a bullet that I do not have to wonder about...




Here is a XTP example in the same test...



Here is a example of the Gold Dots/Deep Curls shot into the same medium

SecondChance

Thats very interesting. I have many deer with the 250 SST, both old and new low drag and have yet to ever recover a round. I shot a 250+lbs 10 pt 2 years ago at 38 yds into the right shoulder/brisket area (Facing me) and exit the left side rib cage. Exit hole from hell!!!!!! Could put my hand into it. Needless to say,never took a step.
Reared up on his hind legs like a bronco and rolled over on the spot. My wife was next to me in the blind and just about crapped. Said she wished they all dropped like that. Have shot a doe at 7 yds and the SST never expanded, 50 cal in, 50 cal out. Neck shot. I shoot 100 grns loose 777 2f, and Winch. ML primers.

MountainDevil54

IMO if you only have 1 or 2 deer licenses in your pocket, why not just spend the extra $$ and buy a quality bullet? Our hunt is 9 days and normally i only have a deer tag or elk tag in my pocket. A $1 a bullet is super cheap for hunting considering how little i fire during hunting season. Sure a buck a shot is expensive for paper shooting but when it comes hunting time, its cheap.