First kill with Hornady SST in .308 Win.

[Darkhorse]

First, congrats on a good kill....with tenderloin & backstraps in good shape.

I was sorta surprised to see you used factory ammo. I figured you’d have worked up something for that sweet rifle.

I would’ve thought the 150gr SST would’ve been well behaved at .308 velocities. I’m not familiar with the Superperfomance ammo, but I’m guessing it nudges it up to .30’06 territory.

You have me rethinking using it in my ‘06 rifles whenever I finally get around to doing working up loads. I may stick with the 165gr SST heads. I was going to try both in each rifle and see how they shot.

Glad to see you hunting and you got a good kill that will be tasty. Sorry for the lost meat.

Don’t sweat the getting older aspects of life. The fix for that is to stay active and do fun things. I’d say you have a handle on that.

Great hunting ahead.


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Dub, I bought that rifle midway through a deer season. That's something I never do but the deteriorating joint condition I have in my shoulders was just beginning to manifest itself, I was having a hard time holding my other guns offhand. A lot of pain and weakness and the shoulder was just giving away without warning. So I was looking for lighter rifles and someone suggested the Tikka.
After checking them out I ordered one in .308 and in LH configuration. I didn't have time to do any load workup so I bought several boxes of factory ammo including the Superformance Interbonds. I was still affected by magnumitis and the Superformance was right up my alley. Before the rifle had 50 shots through it I had put 5 shots inside one of those 1.0" squares on the sight in targets. I thought that was a pretty sweet load right there.
I really didn't have time to put into working up loads for the .308, I was already loading for the .300 Win. Mag., the 7mm Mag., .44 Rem. Magnum and the 40 S&W. Around that time I was occupied with building my .40 caliber flintlock, then with working up loads for that rifle before turkey season started. It's true that not loading for the .308 did (still does) nagged at me but at the time I wasn't really bothered by it. But I've decided in order to satisfy myself I do need to load my own. So I'll start out with some Hornady Interlocks's in 150 grain, and a box of Nosler 150 grain accubonds and see how that works out.
Another lesson learned after all these years was muzzle velocity with more fragile bullets. It just slipped up on me I guess.

 

[Dub]

Dub, I bought that rifle midway through a deer season. That's something I never do but the deteriorating joint condition I have in my shoulders was just beginning to manifest itself, I was having a hard time holding my other guns offhand. A lot of pain and weakness and the shoulder was just giving away without warning. So I was looking for lighter rifles and someone suggested the Tikka.
After checking them out I ordered one in .308 and in LH configuration. I didn't have time to do any load workup so I bought several boxes of factory ammo including the Superformance Interbonds. I was still affected by magnumitis and the Superformance was right up my alley. Before the rifle had 50 shots through it I had put 5 shots inside one of those 1.0" squares on the sight in targets. I thought that was a pretty sweet load right there.
I really didn't have time to put into working up loads for the .308, I was already loading for the .300 Win. Mag., the 7mm Mag., .44 Rem. Magnum and the 40 S&W. Around that time I was occupied with building my .40 caliber flintlock, then with working up loads for that rifle before turkey season started. It's true that not loading for the .308 did (still does) nagged at me but at the time I wasn't really bothered by it. But I've decided in order to satisfy myself I do need to load my own. So I'll start out with some Hornady Interlocks's in 150 grain, and a box of Nosler 150 grain accubonds and see how that works out.
Another lesson learned after all these years was muzzle velocity with more fragile bullets. It just slipped up on me I guess.

Fully understand now.

You’ve been busy with other gun fun.

I’m sorry about those joints.

I’ve got a shoulder replacement coming up next year. Has me thinking about a lighter rifle also but in a much lighter cartridge than I’ve used before.

I’m considering a .243 now that I’m getting set up to reload. A light Barnes bullet driven swiftly....or a Partition load may be worked up.

 

[lonewolf247]

Yeah, not the type of performance I like out of a bullet either. In the .308 caliber, we tried a few different bullets in my son's rifle too. He had good overall performance on the Fusion bullets. Seem to be a good balance between expansion, and penetration.

Anyhow, great shot, on a nice buck!

 

[rosewood]

I think the SSTs are quite explosive at high velocities. If you load them in something that is much slower, I think the results are much better.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

As far as killing the deer, I don't think you could have shot it with a more effective bullet to put the deer down. That thing did some shore nuff damage. As for recovering meat, probably one of the worst results to have.

I shot a few hogs a few years back with a 35 remington in a CVA Hunter. Used the Hornady 180 SSP (about 2390 at muzzle) on 2 of them and a Lee cast 206 grain (about 2100 at muzzle) on the other 3. One thing I noticed. Zero blood shot meat. Nice clean hole through all the critters and all meat was great, even right around the hole. I think it is the slower velocities that make the difference. I had heard the phrase "you can eat right up to the hole" and this exactly modeled that statement.

That being said, I believe slow and heavy is the best way to kill a critter and get the most meat.

Rosewood

 

[transfixer]

I agree, up to a point, the slower moving rounds seem to just punch holes through and through, and don't mess up much meat, but the animal will seldom ever drop in its tracks, unless its a spine shot, I don't like for a deer to move from where it was when I pulled the trigger, animals that run after the shot taste different because of the adrenaline surge through the system, not to mention can sometimes be difficult to find and retrieve .

I've always grappled with finding a round that will have the explosive shock effect, and yet not ruin a lot of meat, and I've also chosen not to choose a point of aim that most people choose, I don't do heart or lungs shots , unless its with a bow, I shoot high shoulder , slightly behind center of the shoulder, 99% of the time I either hit the spine directly, or a fragment of the bullet does, and almost zero meat damage, and I don't have to go rambling through the briars and thickets trying to find the deer I just shot, because they drop dead in their tracks,

I realize not every deer will give you that shot, and I've passed up plenty that didn't give me the shot I wanted, I'd much rather let one walk than take a shot that won't put them down instantly

 

[rosewood]

From my experience with the SST, slowing it down, it still does a good bit of damage, but not so much as when moving fast. I shot a deer with a 7mm-08 using the 154 SST at about 2500FPS. Took part of lung out other side and deer piled up a few yards away. I bet if it was a 7mag doing 3000 fps, it would have been blood shot meat everywhere and may not have penetrated.

I think there is a happy medium with any given bullet on what impact velocity is the most effective.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

Hornady used to make a 120 SSP bullet for using in the Contenders with 7-30 waters and 7mm tcu for deer hunting. They discontinued those bullets. Someone on another forum said they called Hornady and they said the 120 VMAX is the same bulet. The VMAX is designed to be a varmint round and explosive at 3000FPS+ in a 7mag, but at 2000FPS, it makes great deer bullet.

Rosewood