Hornady SST/FTX bullets
02-28-2012, 09:09 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,834
I personally love the 250 SST's with the red low drag sabot, no stick, with 110gr of T7 in my Knight Disc Extreme. I have taken countless critters with them and have yet to recover one. They all have blown right through!!!!! I have yet to loose a critter with one, from hogs,deer and yotes. I just took a doe this past late season with one 60 or so yards on a hip shot, turned at last second. Took out her right hip, exited, re-entered at the back of ribs, blew out the shoulder and exited her front shoulder area with a silver dollar size hole. Right side was FUBAR'd except her back strap and tenderlions.
Last edited by SecondChance; 02-28-2012 at 09:12 AM.
02-29-2012, 07:09 AM
#12
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,482
I have used only the .40 cal 200 grain SST's and Shockwaves, so I cannot comment on the 250 or 300 grainers. But with the 200 grainers, I have never had any problems with bullets blowing up. In fact penetration has been outstanding- especially with the 200 Shockwaves.
I was under the assumption that the Shockwave and SST are the same bullet with a different colored tip, but in my experience so far (and this is with maybe 7 or so kills, so not enough to come to a definite conclusion) the Shockwave (yellow tip) seems to penetrate a bit more and not open up as fast as the red tip SST. But both bullets penetrate very well. I've only recovered 2 bullets from a deer- one on a quartering to shot- bullet was found in the rear ham after angling through a good portion of the deers body, the other was a head-on shot that also ended up in the rear ham:
This is a yellow tip 200 Shockwave.
As you can see, this is pretty typical from what I've seen - the bullets DO tend to shed some of their mass (losing maybe the front 1/3 to 1/2 of the bullet) but the rear portion of the bullet continues to penetrate and usually exits the deer.
I was under the assumption that the Shockwave and SST are the same bullet with a different colored tip, but in my experience so far (and this is with maybe 7 or so kills, so not enough to come to a definite conclusion) the Shockwave (yellow tip) seems to penetrate a bit more and not open up as fast as the red tip SST. But both bullets penetrate very well. I've only recovered 2 bullets from a deer- one on a quartering to shot- bullet was found in the rear ham after angling through a good portion of the deers body, the other was a head-on shot that also ended up in the rear ham:
This is a yellow tip 200 Shockwave.
As you can see, this is pretty typical from what I've seen - the bullets DO tend to shed some of their mass (losing maybe the front 1/3 to 1/2 of the bullet) but the rear portion of the bullet continues to penetrate and usually exits the deer.
Last edited by oldsmellhound; 02-29-2012 at 07:13 AM.
03-03-2012, 08:35 AM
#13
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 34
I guess I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been more feedback on these bullets.
It seems to me that when I started really getting into Mler shooting a few months ago, and started reading up more to increase my knowledge base, that there were a lot of negative opinions on the FTX/SST's.
I've spent a lot of time the last few months trying different loads and bullets and can say that for me, out of my particular gun anyway, the Barnes 250 TEZ's and Barnes Spitfire 245 MZ'x shoot the best.
but very close and right behind them are the 250 FTX's and then the XTP's.
The one difference I did notice is that the Barnes bullets are a little more "load sensitive" (right level of powder, right sabot, etc.), but the FTX's pretty much just shoot good even with different components.
They are really accurate and very tempting to use as a hunting load.
It seems to me that when I started really getting into Mler shooting a few months ago, and started reading up more to increase my knowledge base, that there were a lot of negative opinions on the FTX/SST's.
I've spent a lot of time the last few months trying different loads and bullets and can say that for me, out of my particular gun anyway, the Barnes 250 TEZ's and Barnes Spitfire 245 MZ'x shoot the best.
but very close and right behind them are the 250 FTX's and then the XTP's.
The one difference I did notice is that the Barnes bullets are a little more "load sensitive" (right level of powder, right sabot, etc.), but the FTX's pretty much just shoot good even with different components.
They are really accurate and very tempting to use as a hunting load.
Last edited by Thunder53; 03-03-2012 at 08:42 AM.
