# Hornady SST WTH????



## Archer (Jul 10, 2006)

I've always just used Remington Core-Lokt with my .30-06 and until today everything I shot went down and stayed down, usually with an exit wound nearly the size of my fist. Academy was out of the 150gr Core-lokt last time I ran out so I figured I'd try Hornady since they are supposed to be a premium round with great accuracy and expansion.

This morning out comes the nicest buck I've seen on the lease in 3 years, nice wide heavy beamed 8 point. I wait til he steps out of the brush near the feeder and let him have it, saw him go down, hind legs kicking in the air, then in the dirt as he pushed himself back up against the brush. I figure he's down and not getting up so I wait an hour or so and out comes an older doe with 2 younger ones that I had been watching. Put the crosshairs on her chest and pull the trigger, she spins around and takes off back up the trail. I watch her run for about 50 yards and tumble which in itself surprised me because I hit her hard enough to spin her around. 2 deer down, time to get to work. 

Doe is right alonside the trail, perfect entry right behind the shoulder but the exit seems a little small. Over to the feeder for the buck and all I find is a fist sized puddle of blood and not another drop. I searched for an hour, got some help from camp and after another 3 hours of crawling through brush and cutting for sign we call it quits, never found another drop of blood. 

When I skinned the doe out I confirmed the shot placement, but the exit wound was only about the diameter of a silver dollar coin even though the bullt passed through 2 sets of ribs. I've never seen an exit wound that small, especially after passing through the ribs like that. Needless to say the Hornadys will be junked and I'm going back to my old reliable soft nose core-lokt bullets.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Sounds like your shot placement is to far back if all you are hitting are ribs. Need to hit the wheelhouse on a buck, does not matter what bullet you are shooting. Can have a through and through with any shell in the rib cage.


Hornaday are faster, harder jacketed rounds. If you are shooting less then a 100 yards need to hit something hard with them like a shoulderblade. Croe-lockt are slower soft bullets, work good close range, but anything down range and you run a high risk of no exit wound and bullet expansion to soon. At least this is my experence with the rounds, I use both of them often. Never seen a gun that can shoot them both without having to sightin for each. They are very different rounds.


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## phil k (May 8, 2007)

Never seen a gun that can shoot them both without having to sightin for each. They are very different rounds. shot placement//
had a couple of hunters come out an take a few axis ,and they where shooting 270 cal. an using Winchester ballistic silver tip bullets,which they have never used -they always use core-lok..but a friend suggested them...all the shot's are about 70 - 100 yrds. long.
all but 1 deer ran about 50 - 70 yrds,all the shots were in go placement...running gear area.when tracking -em ,,NO BLOOD AT ALL...i shoot ailver tip in my 25-06 , 22-250 an the drop in there spot..use hornaday 139 sst in my 280 ,an they drop in there track's ,,no tracking needed,,lot's of blood... alot has to do with placement...

just my $.02


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

Horaday is all I use. Took a huge 9 point 180lbs and dropped in his tracks never moved. Blew the heart into pieces, large exit wound. I do use a 300 mag.


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## artys_only (Mar 29, 2005)

*shot placement !*

No bullet placed in a bad spot will kill a deer , I have tried alot of different bullets corelock, accubond , game kings , ballistic tips , what I shoot know in all my guns is barnes triple shock XXX since I have started using them I have never looked back very,very accuret , I shoot them in the in the shoulder and they fall over where they stand I have shot pigs ,Axis < whitetail , Mule deer , and barnes XXX I am very pleased


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## Bucksnort (Jun 29, 2004)

Its the SST. I tried those bullets and they did the same thing. Hornady makes a great product but the SST is not one of them. I recommend the Interbonds. I switched to Vital Shocks and Fusions a couple of years back and am very pleased with the results.


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## Blue Devil 7 (Aug 25, 2005)

I shot the SST in my 270 handloads for a while. I didn't like them. I usually shoot in the ribs so I don't loose any shoulder meat and the deer would frequently run a ways and leave no blood trail. The exit wound just wasn't there. They do a great job destroying the insides, but if the deer is going to run I want a blood trail. I switched Partitions this year and have been much happier.


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## rbt2 (May 3, 2006)

i'm using a 165 gr accubond (white tip) in my BAR that's chambered in .30-06. at 100 yds i'm getting 3/8" group. the round IS a hand load for that rifle. anyway, i've killed 2 deer with that bullet so far, both within 100 yds, and am VERY PLEASED with the bullet. it's a bonded bullet and so far, it stays together. the exit hole is somewhere around the size of a golf ball, and i'm saving a lot of the meat.

just my .02 worth.

rbt2


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## catchysumfishy (Jul 19, 2008)

I have been loading the Bal. silvertips for yrs with excellent results at all ranges "most will argue this, but it's what has worked for me" ! In my 7mm-08 i started using the accubonds and though every deer we have shot with this particular Gun/load has dirt napped immediately "necks and direct heart placements" i do not like the tiny exit wounds! with this being stated , it is Totally shot placement and this is why my rifles are fine tuned with quality optics ,rings and bases and quality light triggers! Sorry for your loss of the deer, it has happened to MOST of us! I do NOT like the way Barnes bullets foul out rifling so fast-but they are very good bullets! It can happen with ANY bullet!


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## devil1824 (Sep 4, 2010)

Change ammo u need to sight in.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Jolly Roger,

Not quite sure where you are coming from. RIBS TOO FAR BACK??? Hornady are faster... corelokt are slower????

Right off Remington and Hornady's website:

270 140 gr corelokt--muzzle velocity 2925 fpw
270 130 gr SST -- muzzle velocity 2984

HMMM!!!

I agree with the rest of your post.

THE JAMMER



Jolly Roger said:


> Sounds like your shot placement is to far back if all you are hitting are ribs. Need to hit the wheelhouse on a buck, does not matter what bullet you are shooting. Can have a through and through with any shell in the rib cage.
> 
> Hornaday are faster, harder jacketed rounds. If you are shooting less then a 100 yards need to hit something hard with them like a shoulderblade. Croe-lockt are slower soft bullets, work good close range, but anything down range and you run a high risk of no exit wound and bullet expansion to soon. At least this is my experence with the rounds, I use both of them often. Never seen a gun that can shoot them both without having to sightin for each. They are very different rounds.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

THE JAMMER said:


> Jolly Roger,
> 
> Not quite sure where you are coming from. RIBS TOO FAR BACK??? Hornady are faster... corelokt are slower????


You can punch a bullet through and through the rib cage, hitting both lungs and never touch a bone. This shot is to far back on the deer, usually right behind the heart. I have tracked a few deer hit like this, always hard as they do not bleed much and run a long ways. The one that stands out in my mind the most was a shot my father made on a large buck about ten years ago. He clipped the heart and both lugs. Never touched a bone and the bullet made an almost clean through and through. Deer ran 500+ yards and took us about eight hours to find him.












THE JAMMER said:


> Right off Remington and Hornady's website:
> 
> 270 140 gr corelokt--muzzle velocity 2925 fpw
> 270 130 gr SST -- muzzle velocity 2984


Do you have a link? I am having a hard time finding it. I could be wrong but was thinking Hornady was a faster round down range. I never look at muzzle, as I have never shot a deer point blank.


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## STRORM (Mar 31, 2009)

I stick with the Hornaday or Winchester , depending on which gun i am using. Have had bad luck with remingtons , not grouping and missfiring a lot...


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Try remington.com click News and Resources and then ballistic calculator. hornady.com then go to the right and select firearm, caliber, product line.

My bad on my first post; disregard those numbers as they were for the new superformance ammo, + I copied them wrong. Nevertheless comparing two different weight bullets, 130 vs 140 doesn't really give any viable data.

I looked it up for 25-06 117 gr sst and 115 gr core lokt- pretty close to same weight

sst muzzle 2990 100 yd 2748 200 yd 2519
corelokt muzzle 3000 100 yd 2751 200 yd 2516

Pretty close. Also with both rounds sighted in dead on at 200 yards, they are both 7.1" low at 300.

THE JAMMER


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## shortround (Mar 24, 2005)

I took a buck this year with the Hornady sst. i could not find one drop of blood. After searching forever we found him about 50 yards away i some high grass. shot placement was perfect, just no blood trail. I went to academy and bought a box of remington core lokt the next day.


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

I had my daughter use the new superperformance SST in .243, her doe was hit right in the shoulder and had complete penetration through both. Basically destroyed both shoulders. I also use them in my 7mm-08 and havent had a problem with either deer or hogs. So far, we are 3 shots and 3 drt.


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## ccbluewater (May 21, 2004)

I was shooting the Hornady SST's in .308 a few years back when I first got the gun, and of the 3 animals I shot with it (1 WT, 2 Aoudad) none of them left a blood trail more than a drop here and a drop there. Finally made the switch to the Fusion ammo, and everything Ive hit with them either goes down in its tracks, or runs about 15 yards. I really like those rounds, and will stick with them, as they have done me good!


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## Woodrow (Jun 17, 2004)

Archer said:


> I've always just used Remington Core-Lokt with my .30-06 and until today everything I shot went down and stayed down, usually with an exit wound nearly the size of my fist. Academy was out of the 150gr Core-lokt last time I ran out so I figured I'd try Hornady since they are supposed to be a premium round with great accuracy and expansion.
> 
> This morning out comes the nicest buck I've seen on the lease in 3 years, nice wide heavy beamed 8 point. I wait til he steps out of the brush near the feeder and let him have it, saw him go down, hind legs kicking in the air, then in the dirt as he pushed himself back up against the brush. I figure he's down and not getting up so I wait an hour or so and out comes an older doe with 2 younger ones that I had been watching. Put the crosshairs on her chest and pull the trigger, she spins around and takes off back up the trail. I watch her run for about 50 yards and tumble which in itself surprised me because I hit her hard enough to spin her around. 2 deer down, time to get to work.
> 
> ...


First of all, I'm sorry you lost the buck.

My guess is you hit him high in the shoulder area, knocking him down and possibly not exiting, and then when he got back up and took off he didn't start bleeding again until his chest cavity filled all the way up with blood (distance before bleeding depending on # of holes and exact placement)...that can take a long time and if you don't know exactly which direction he went, picking up a blood trail 30, 40, 50+ yards away is nearly impossible.

There is very little difference in SST's and Core-Lokts for all practical purposes. They're both designed to open up fairly quick, expand quite a bit, and shed some weight as they penetrate. Both are designed for use on deer sized game.

An exit wound nearly the size of a fist from a bullet that started out at .308" diameter is not purely the result of the bullet...it is bone & fragments that are exiting with the bullet. A silver dollar sized exit tells me the bullet expanded quite a lot before exiting and probably had a good mushroom. Had the bullet not expanded at all, it would have been an exit hole of .5" or less more than likely.

Because you already have it in your mind that the SST's are no good, I agree with you switching back to Core-Lokts, but I don't think the results you have described are justification enough...what is in between your ears is more important in this case.

Once again, sorry for your loss...I've been there and it hurts.


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## Horns1 (Sep 2, 2005)

I have killed 2 hill country bucks with a 270 & Hornady SST's this year no exit wound on either one of them, you could feel the bullet just below the skin on the exit side on both of them. One of them dropped in his tracks & the other ran about 25 yards. Shot a axis doe also last weekend with them & couldn't find any blood or sign. Think I will switching bullets based on these experiences & this thread.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

> Sounds like your shot placement is to far back if all you are hitting are ribs.


There are lungs inside of that rib cage...that's a kill shot with the right bullet. Sounds like the wrong bullet to me.

TH


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Trouthunter said:


> There are lungs inside of that rib cage...that's a kill shot with the right bullet. Sounds like the wrong bullet to me.
> 
> TH


You expect a bullet to expand on contact with lungs ?

if you put a bullet through the lungs , it will kill the deer. But that deer is going to run a long ways before going down. That shot is to far back.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

> You expect a bullet to expand on contact with lungs ?


You can bet your arse I expect expansion of a bullet when it starts into the body of a deer. So yea, a 130 grain bullet from a .270 or whatever through the lungs should a dead deer and I've shot a lot of them that way that didn't go 50 yards.



> That shot is to far back.


Maybe with that bullet, otherwise horse poop that it's too far back.

TH


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Trouthunter said:


> You can bet your arse I expect expansion of a bullet when it starts into the body of a deer. So yea, a 130 grain bullet from a .270 or whatever through the lungs should a dead deer and I've shot a lot of them that way that didn't go 50 yards.


What is your average range?

Going to be tuff to get a bullet that will expand is soft flesh like you want at close range, that will also get pentration in a deer down range. Most modern deer loads will blow through soft flesh like lungs in anything 100 yards or less.


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## deke (Oct 5, 2004)

I started with old Winchester Power Points 130 grn in .270. My largest was a boar that went just over 400lbs at about 120yds. Through both shoulders and lodged in the skin on the far side. he was dead and didn't know it until he tried to run off and did the drunken weave and flip.

Go back to what you know and what you have confidence in. IMO All these new bullets are cool, but sometimes the tried and true works, even 20 years later.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Jolly,

For the life of me I don't where you're coming from on "that shot is too far back." I have re read this whole thing, and I don't see anywhere in there that it says* where* that original buck was hit. So if we don't know where it was hit, how can we deduce that it "was too far back?"

THE "BEFUDDLED" JAMMER



Jolly Roger said:


> You expect a bullet to expand on contact with lungs ?
> 
> if you put a bullet through the lungs , it will kill the deer. But that deer is going to run a long ways before going down. That shot is to far back.


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## Archer (Jul 10, 2006)

First off I appreciate all of the input here and will take it into consideration.

I had not thought about resighting the rifle. I tried several types of ammo when I first bought it and it was reasonably consistent no matter what I fired. I have a .25-06 that is very picky and only seems to like Vital Shocks. It won't pattern anything else worth a hoot, but I will head to the range next week and recheck that with the 30-06 before hunting again unless I can find some more remingtons.

I grew up hunting in lower MI with shotguns and bows and therefore learned to place the shot right behind the shoulder through the RIBCAGE and the lungs thus sparing the shoulder meat while devastating the lungs, and if quartering away the heart. With the soft nosed remingtons that is exactly what has happened in the past and the animal drops like a stone or at least leaves a large blood trail due to the large exit as the bullet goes through a second set of ribs. In the doe that I dropped there was very little damage done to either side of the ribcage despite the bullet passing through bone. This leads me to believe that it is likely the design of the round that is at fault. May be good on larger heavier boned game but I doubt I'll try it again on TX whitetails.

I will also take shoulder placement into consideration next time. Regardless of the round I am certain expansion will be better and the wound more immediately crippling if I take out the front wheels. In all honesty I am kicking myself for not waiting a little longer and letting him get further into the feeder clearing which may have given me a quartering shot. I ws concerned that he would hug the brushline at the foot of the hill and I would not have a shot. Lesson learned but it sure does suck.


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## animal (May 20, 2004)

Had almost the same thing happen with the SST bullet in my 30-06...I was really happy with the bullets till an 8point buck came out at about 320 yards..I let the bullet fly and he went down hard...kicked up dirt and took off. When I got to where he fell all i found was some hair...very little blood. Looked for 2 hours..then got my dogs in and they didnt find anything either. Two weeks later I got a pic of the buck on my trail cam. He had patch of hair missing on his shoulder...apparently i let the bullet drift a little right and hit him on the shoulder...but come on i would expect that bullet to punch right through that bone!...i switched to the interbonds for my 30-06...and shoot the Barnes Triple Shock on my 257


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## gulfcoast200 (Jun 26, 2004)

I went through a box of SST's. They didn't shoot good out of my A-bolt. They worked good on head shots on hogs.


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## fillet (Dec 2, 2010)

Without a dead deer its hard to define what went wrong I hate to say it but the problem was probably not the bullet everyone has pulled a shot or two and if they havent well they havent shot too many deer. I know Ive pulled a couple but there is a time to put on your big boy pants and say I probably @#%$ed up and not blame the bullet I still stick with if you cant breath you cant run not for far.


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## Archer (Jul 10, 2006)

Got the big boy pants on and will admit that it may have been a poorly placed shot. As I stated I should have let him get out a little farther and maybe had a quartering shot. However that doesn't account for the perfectly placed shot on the other deer with little or no expansion on the exit wound after passing through 2 sets of ribs, that is the bullet, nothing more. I still don't really feel you should have to destroy a shoulder and waste that meat to get good expansion on a 175 yard shot.


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## catchysumfishy (Jul 19, 2008)

Archer said:


> First off I appreciate all of the input here and will take it into consideration.
> 
> *I had not thought about resighting the rifle*. I tried several types of ammo when I first bought it and it was reasonably consistent no matter what I fired. I have a .25-06 that is very picky and only seems to like Vital Shocks. It won't pattern anything else worth a hoot, but I will head to the range next week and recheck that with the 30-06 before hunting again unless I can find some more remingtons.
> 
> ...


I could very well be reading your post wrong, but did you actually state that you did Not test fire these Hornady's though your rifle before heading out Hunting?


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## BIGMIKE77 (May 2, 2009)

*Hornady GMX 139 Grain is the way to go.*

I had taken my new Remington Sendero SFII to get the trigger set to 2.5 lbs, and get the scope mounted at MG Arms. Respecting their Knowledge of custom ammo and gunsmithing, i took their advice and headed down to Carters country and purchased 4 different boxes of ammo, what shoots great out of one Similar gun, may not shoot as well out of another i was told. these are what i used: Remington Premier core-lokt ultra bonded 140 grain, Remington Premier Scirocco Tip 150 grain, Federal Premium Triple Shock 140 grain, and the ammo in question the Hornady SST. I and the gunsmith who shot a grouping of 3 each from a vise, agreed on the Triple Shock. First doe i shot, 108lbs mature, had a frickin hole about the size of Compact Disc (CD) and ruined a lot of meat, but she went down and didnt get up, and that was at 109 yards. I killed another doe the next day and went for the neck shot and about blew her head completely off. I was happy but then i saw a commercial for the Hornady GMX 139 grain, Gulided Metal, very safe for the stainless Barrel. 200 fts faster out of the muzzle, but hard ammo to find. I found some at Carters Country and gave it a try alongside my buddy with the same gun. we hit a 3 grouping of 0.610 at 100 yards as opposed to 0.580 with the Triple Shock. Great! I shot 2 deer with this round and had a 1" channel all the way through, and its polymer tipped so great for long range. If you shoot a deer with a high energy round like accutip or any soft tips for that matter, at 50 -100 yards, you will make a mess and a dam big hole, corelock is great for 50-100 yards without the mess, but no so much for long range or accuracy. the GMX at 50-600 yards will still knock em down without the mess. GMX is the first one, the SST is on the borttom.


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## dragginfool (Sep 12, 2009)

I took my sister inlaw hunting a couple weeks ago. She was shooting a .30-06 with the Hornady bullets. She shot a buck at about 100 yards in the shoulder. The deer dropped instantly. After about 5 minutes he pops up and takes off running with a broke shoulder. He gets to about 200 yards and stops to jump a fence and I drop him with my .30-06. J shoot him in the neck. When we are cleaning the deer I notice that the hornady hit the shoulder and exploded. All the fragments went around the vitals. I shoot the Winchester Powermax Bonded in 150 grain. She has switched to them now.


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## pwrstrkr (Oct 5, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the buck, ask my little brother how it feels he lost 3 does the first year he hunted. But anytime that you switch ammo you HAVE to resight the gun in. Years ago when i got the gun and went to sight it in I did the same thing most of you probly do, i went and bought many different rounds( winchester, remington, hornady, and federals) and out of my gun the remingtons were the only ones that i could pattern the gun with. all the rest i couldnt even get them to stay on the paper. I shoot a Remington .243 with 95gr core-locks and have never lost a deer. i have had a couple not pass completely thru but i took my knife and bare grazed the skin and got the bullet. One of the bucks i shot was in Mississippi at 147 yds on the range finder. shot placement was perfect the bullet never exited but the [email protected] near 300 lb buck didnt go 10 yds. People always look at me crazy when i tell them i shoot a .243 and they all shoot 30-06, 7 mag, and .270 but i have yet to lose a deer/hog anything much less have one run over 20 yds. yes Bullet expansion is a major factor but 9 times out of 10 it is all shot placement! I mean hell i shot a hog that bottomed out our 300lb scale with a .17 HMR so come on. shot placement shot placement shot placement


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## Sea-Slug (May 28, 2004)

I always shoot them behind the shoulder(double lung) when I can. They usually run from 15 to 50 or 60 yards. Blood will be foamier and pinker than a heart shot or liver shot, where the blood is deep red. A double lung shot is a fatal shot and the deer will seldom run over 60 yards. I agree if you miss both sets of rib bones the exit hole is pretty small, I have done this several times, but the deer will crash as soon as the lungs fill with fluid, usually pretty quickly. On very cold humid mornings if you make a good lung shot when they first go down they blow breath smoke or fog out of the entry and exit hole like the fog you blow out your nose or mouth on a cold day, I have watched more than one take his last breath blowing fog out his side. The double lung shot is the best shot you can take on a broadside deer. Even bowhunters take lung shots almost exclusively and seldom track more than 100 yards.


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## pevotva (Sep 7, 2005)

Hard for me to believe that some people are posting that a double lung shot is not fatal. Dont shoot deer with gopher guns unless you put it in there neck. Dont use gopher gun ammo (I believe ballistic tips at close range out of fast guns are going to explode, not penetrate). Dont use $45/box ammo for 120lb whitetail. Softpoint ammo (Corelock, interbond, btsp from Federal) works great out of good caliber guns. Most people would do just fine buying softpoints to shoot there 100 yard or less small whitetail deer. My opinion though.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

Jolly Roger said:


> What is your average range?
> 
> Going to be tuff to get a bullet that will expand is soft flesh like you want at close range, that will also get pentration in a deer down range. Most modern deer loads will blow through soft flesh like lungs in anything 100 yards or less.


if you have a bullet that will hold together at high velocities without blowing up, and still expand worth a **** at slower velocities, I'd like to know what that is. If a bullet doesn't expand at close ranges at high velocities, how do you expect it to expand at slower velocities through the same target?

I shoot ballistic tips in my 7 mm mag because they shoot very well in my rifle. They have been holding together much better *at longer ranges*, but at shorter ranges the bullet is blowing up, and I typically don't get an exit hole. In addition, practically every deer I've shot with that bullet is DRT. I would imagine it's somehwat like shooting a 150 grain grenade, as the deer's vitals are usually fairly destroyed on a close shot. I shot a deer in the neck last weekend at about 100 yards, and didn't get an exit on a neck shot with those bullets. two years ago, I put a shoulder shot on a doe at 400 yards and got a complete pass through..... go figure.

P.S. I'm pretty sure this is my last year for ballistic tips, I just haven't found anything that shoots as accurate in that particular rifle.


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## pngndn (Jun 19, 2009)

*bullets*

I get my bullets loaded at Dirty Harry's in Vidor. I shoot 120grain hollow points in my 7-08 and drop everything on sight with complete pass through. I shoot 130 grain nosler ballistic tips in my 270 and and the farthest they have ran is 100 yards.The only problem is that there is very little blood on the ground with the noslers.


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## ZenDaddy (May 22, 2004)

Jolly Roger said:


> Hornaday are faster, harder jacketed rounds. If you are shooting less then a 100 yards need to hit something hard with them like a shoulderblade. Core-lockt are slower soft bullets, work good close range, but anything down range and you run a high risk of no exit wound and bullet expansion to soon. At least this is my experence with the rounds, I use both of them often.


A personal experience this week makes me agree with you. I've used Core-Lokt for my 30.30, 30-06, 45-70 and, 243. My 30-06 is my 'business gun.' I've never had to track a wounded deer in 10 years of using the Core-lokt. The fall within 5 yards. My feeders are all within 75 yards of my stand. Last summer I moved two feeders out to 125 yards. I shot a big, plump doe last Wednesday nite. There was no blood trail. Searched for an hour in the dark until I packed it in. Next morning I found her down a small ravine. She had circled back from the way she initially ran. Not only was there no exit wound - there wasn't but a small, small amount of blood where she laid all nite. Never had anything happen like that at the shorter distance with the Core-lokt. I may make the move to Federal or Hornady.


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## ZenDaddy (May 22, 2004)

STRORM said:


> I stick with the Hornaday or Winchester , depending on which gun i am using. Have had bad luck with remingtons , not grouping and missfiring a lot...


Agree with you on the Remington's misfiring. I bought tons of them as they were cheap, and descent ammo. However, my most recent stash has had 2 misfires. One of them on my son's first buck. (Well, it wasn't his first buck as the cartridge did not fire.) Like I said in the post above, I think it time I switch over to a more expensive premium brand.


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## jdickey (Jan 30, 2009)

If you're wanting BIG HOLES....use Hornady 140gr LIGHT MAGNUMS! You'll never go back to Core-Lokts!


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## robspinn (Feb 15, 2007)

*Deja vu*

Had a very similiar experience with my 7mm-08 using 139gr SSTs. I ususally neck shoot does, but I had never shot a deer using this bullet so I wanted to see how it performed. Lined a doe up for a perfect broadside shot. I pulled the trigger and she hit the ground. A few seconds later she's got her head up looking around and is on her belly with her legs under her. I figure she'll bleed out in a few minutes so I wait. Ten minutes later she stood up and started walking off. I shot her in the neck and she was done.
If I wasn't able to shoot her again she would have been very hard to track because there was only a few drops of blood where she had been laying.
When I dressed that deer I noticed that shot placement was perfect but that the bullet had disintegrated and there really wasn't any bullet left except for very small fragments. At 3000fps it may have been too high velocity for that bullet, but it was a factory Hornady load. 
That was the one and only experience with Hornady SST. I shoot Nosler Accubonds and Partitions now and had excellent results. They never run more than 20 yards and even if they did it would be like following stripes on the highway.


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## gordaflatsstalker (Jul 3, 2008)

I'd be willing to bet that most who have had a bad experience with the SSTs or ballistic tips probably made a bad shot. I shoot 140gr SSTs out of my .300 WBY, they're supposedly moving at around 3375 fps. I've shot at least 20 hogs and 10 deer with them and I've only had one run, and he only made it about 40 yards, with plenty of blood. I've made shoulder shots, behind the shoulder shots, neck and head shots from 40 yards all the way out to around 325 yards and have never had an issue. I shoot them because my gun seems to like them.


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## capt.dru (Oct 24, 2009)

I shoot SST's out of my 25-06 and have never had a deer run on me. I always take i high shoulder shot and they drop like rocks. A few years ago i saw a show one time about shot placements on african game. They said to "shoot for the V" meaning the front shoulder. On the show they said that this was the best place to aim for, to drop animals where they stand. I guess they were right cause all of the animals that i have shot have dropped right where they stood.


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## elpistolero45 (May 9, 2010)

Woodrow said:


> First of all, I'm sorry you lost the buck.
> 
> My guess is you hit him high in the shoulder area, knocking him down and possibly not exiting, and then when he got back up and took off he didn't start bleeding again until his chest cavity filled all the way up with blood (distance before bleeding depending on # of holes and exact placement)...that can take a long time and if you don't know exactly which direction he went, picking up a blood trail 30, 40, 50+ yards away is nearly impossible.
> 
> ...


AGREED!

Lots of times, the deer drop from blood loss out of their circulatory system BUT it's not a sufficient volume to rise to the level of their entry or exit wounds so that there is a blood trail. I was taught if you want the deer for the horns only.... anchor him with a shot through both front shoulders. If you're "Meat Hunting", shoot em in the heart lungs. For years I swore by Winchester Silver Tips. Then I began reloading and used the Matchking Hollow points and the Ballistic tips. In two loads, I had no visible advantage in accuracy or exit wound size over the other.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

I've often wondered about the excuse, "I don't shoot em in the shoulder because I don't want to lose the meat."

Seriously how many of us are really subsisting on our deer meat? Also the shoulder is certainly not the prime part of the deer, and really how much meat are we really losing there?? Let's be honest and serious. How about the meat you might lose if you shoot somewhere else and lose the whole animal.

THE "SHOUT EM IN OR BEHIND THE SHOULDER EVERY TIME" JAMMER



elpistolero45 said:


> AGREED!
> 
> Lots of times, the deer drop from blood loss out of their circulatory system BUT it's not a sufficient volume to rise to the level of their entry or exit wounds so that there is a blood trail. I was taught if you want the deer for the horns only.... anchor him with a shot through both front shoulders. If you're "Meat Hunting", shoot em in the heart lungs. For years I swore by Winchester Silver Tips. Then I began reloading and used the Matchking Hollow points and the Ballistic tips. In two loads, I had no visible advantage in accuracy or exit wound size over the other.


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## redheadhunter2004 (Sep 17, 2004)

Shoot them in the neck if you don't want the deer to run. They drop like a bad habit.


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## Too Tall (May 21, 2004)

THE JAMMER said:


> THE "*SHOUT EM* IN OR BEHIND THE SHOULDER EVERY TIME" JAMMER


I've tried. They always run off. Now I just stay quiet and shoot'em in the neck.


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## phil k (May 8, 2007)

i shoot a 280 Remington with 139 sst ,i always shoot neck & head only,,never had anything run ,not 1 inch......the wife shoots a 25-06 using the same bullet an grain ,same thing,,,,head & neck drop in there tracks...NO MEAT WASTED


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Neck shooters. JEEZ.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. Unless you can answer the following question off the top of your head, right now, you have no business taking neck shots.

"How much will your bullet move laterally on a 150 yard shot with a 90 degree 15 knot cross wind?"

For my 7mm-08 it's 2.5". So my 1 moa gun at the range, which will probably be 2 moa in the field because I don't have the controlled conditions I have at the range, adding the wind component is now potentially 5.5" off at 150 yards. I think I would need an awfully large neck to shoot at with a 5.5" error.

Think about it.

THE JAMMER


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## coogerpop (Sep 3, 2009)

A good preforming bullet is dependent on the velocity it is traveling when it hits the animal.This is true for all of the premium manufacturers..maybe nosler partitions aren't subject due to the partition but ...too slow and you get a little hole....too fast and they will blow up...sometimes on the outside even....it's a balance that after 60 years of hunting and 55 years of reloading I am still seeing good and bad examples...my son shot a buck with a 270,130 gr Sierra bt @3200 FPS last week...pass thru good but a bit high[liver] very light blood trail ...none a impact...dead deer 70 yards away....I shot one with 300 win mag,180 gr.Hornaday,3240 fps,heart shot ...blood on impact for 2 ft on either side...looked ike a double river for 50 yds as he ran...In both rifles I am going to try the accubond bullets...used to love the solid base noslers but can't find them anymore.


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## phil k (May 8, 2007)

not many deer out in a 15 kt wind,too rough on those senderos


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## saltwatersensations (Aug 30, 2004)

I shoot them in .308. I shot 2 pigs, both dropped in their tracks. A doe last year that dropped in her tracks and a buck that ran maybe 15 yards before taking a dirtnap. This year my girlfriend shot a doe which dropped in her tracks and I shot an 8 pt than ran about 25 yards. I like them. Maybe you need to take that thing to the range.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Surely you're kidding??

THE JAMMER



phil k said:


> not many deer out in a 15 kt wind,too rough on those senderos


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## phil k (May 8, 2007)

thought you would like that one .hahahaha


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## Woodrow (Jun 17, 2004)

After reading all the posts on this thread, as well as other threads in the past, something that is glaring to me is the # of people who judge the performance of a caliber and bullet solely based on how far an animal runs after being shot. That is wayyy overrated/overvalued/incomplete. 

Also, I see a lot of people making conclusions based upon what is really very little data.

I believe you will get a higher percentage of animals that fall in their tracks if you do one of the following:
1) take out their brain
2) completely sever their spine
3) shoot a light jacketed bullet behind the shoulder so that it penetrates the on side ribs and basically grenades inside the cavity (need to use high to magnum velocity rounds with non-bonded/non-solid bullet)
4) shoot heavy jacket/bonded/solid bullet to front point of the shoulder on slightly quartering towards shot, upper half of body (can use most any velocity round within reason, but need bonded or solid bullet in most cases)

I personally don't like options 1, 2, or 3. 

On occasion I will shoot the same caliber/bullet combo completely behind the shoulders and if I do I expect the animal to run and I don't expect a blood trail that a blind man could follow, but I'm supremely confident that the animal is dead b/c I have a very good grasp on what the bullet I'm shooting can/will do.

Hunting with a bow and arrow means that you have to wait for the absolute perfect angle before you can (should) let the arrow fly b/c of the limitations of any broadhead. I use a bonded/premium bullet b/c I'm confident that if I hit heavy bone, my bullet is going to keep going with some authority. I've shot several deer that didn't leave much, if any, blood trail and were not easy to track, but once they were found they hadn't gone far. I'd rather have that than use a combination that I wasn't supremely confident would penetrate adequately should I hit heavy bone and/or be presented with a tough angled shot. 

For the last 5+ years I've used a .25-06 with handloaded 110gr Nosler AccuBonds. I've shot 35-40 deer at ranges from 75 to 350 yards. I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this combo.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

X2 Woodrow. WEL SED!!! Totally agree that 1,2 and 3 will kill the animal, but are least desireable. 1 and 2 the target is too small. 3 you may not be able to find it, even though it will probably be dead.

I like your set up 25-06 and 110 accu is a perfect Texas deer setup.

THE JAMMER


Woodrow said:


> After reading all the posts on this thread, as well as other threads in the past, something that is glaring to me is the # of people who judge the performance of a caliber and bullet solely based on how far an animal runs after being shot. That is wayyy overrated/overvalued/incomplete.
> 
> Also, I see a lot of people making conclusions based upon what is really very little data.
> 
> ...


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

> I still don't really feel you should have to destroy a shoulder and waste that meat to get good expansion on a 175 yard shot.


You don't.

TH


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