75g vs 95g sst .243 heads

Atross

Well-Known Member
Hi

I am currently doing some reaserch on bullet heads to start reloading, so this is a bit of a beginners question. I have used factory 75g ssts on fallow to head and chest shoot them, where as I have found they have dropped deer on the spot the internal damage was insane, I am currently using 90g sako SP which do the job but despite good H/L placement the fallow can run 50 to 100m.

I have read a lot of forum posts on how great the 95g sst head is, good stopping power but minimal meat damage. After my experince with the 75g I am not confident that I won't experience similar issues with the 95g. Does anyone else have experience of the 95g sst? How did you find it, what was the chest cavity like on opening up? How is the meat damage?

Thanks

Ash
 
I have used 95gr SST in the factory loading (Hornady Superformance).

Very effective on chest shot fallow. Damaging, but not really that much more than, say 100gr soft points. However, I've not shot any closer than 150 yards - I suspect it would get nasty if you were closer.

I have also used the 90gr Sako SPs, and had similar experience with runners. I think this is because it's a very hard round that doesn't expand very well.

Frankly, the best performing round I've used in a .243 has been the plain old blue box 100gr Federals. However, they don't group at all in my current rifle, so I've had to look at other things.
 
I use nothing but 95g SST in my 243, from muntjac to red with no problems. I can head shoot muntjac all day at 200 yrds. I use 42 g of N160, a very good round. The reason you get so much meat damage it the 75g are going so much faster, but they are a good fox round. By the way I am talking about 95g SST BULLETS the thing that hits the target, not heads. You do not head butt deer when you shoot them.
 
Last edited:
Thanks both, that is great info. I have an ammo sensative Kimber montanna (22in 1in10). The sakos are the best grouping "heavier" round but really don't like how far they travel on a h/l shot. Hence looking towards the reloading side of things. Head butting a deer sounds like a challenge but then again I am an ex prop forward.
 
I use the 95gr SST bullets, I like them. My accuracy load is actually quite fast and so I use it for fox, too, in this rifle. Haven't had unacceptable meat damage on deer. Some stalkers have, though.

I switched from 100gr SP (Sierra PH, GK, Speer SPBT and Hornady SPBT interlock) for same reason as you- deer had long "dead-run" and often no exit wound so poor trail.

To be fair, I never needed a follow-up shot with any of the 100gr bullets and I'm not convinced the SST will necessarily outshine them in the long term.
 
Thank you, I have this voyage of discovery to come. My summer project is to start to work up loads for the .243. I am a complete reloading novice but hopefully I will come up with a load that gives me what I want. I have tried the Hornady sst super performance factory loads in both 75 and 95 and where as the accuracy was very good I did struggle with cycling the bolt to load the next round. I am hoping that the combination of sako brass and the correct bullet will help me achieve what I want to achieve
 
I have been using .243 on a lot of deer for a long time, from the occasional red, a reasonable No of Fallow, a lot of Roe, and a lot of Munti's. I use Sierra GK 1560, solely, this being the 100g boat tail with a good BC. I don't drive them hard as excess velocity makes any bullet semi explosive I have found, using H4350 at 39.8 g drives them at a modest 2810 av fps, which gives me up to 300 yds if required. About 50 % of the animals drop on the spot, the rest run on up to about 30 yds. I only ever get runners beyond this when I have messed up/ the animal moved etc and the bullet has hit where its not meant to.
Occasionally I get excess meat damage, this is usually through not quite getting the shot where it should be, on the weekend I hit a munti doe in the shoulder, she fell on the spot, but the left shoulder (entry) hole was about 3" of exploded mess, where all the energy at close range had expanded the bullet head on the bone, if I could wind back time, it would have been a head shot at the 40+yds she was hit at, but that was the call in the split second. The other 2 muntis were head & neck shot and damage was minimal at similar ranges.
Close range and shot placement have a lot more to do with meat damage than just the bullet, though clearly a 75G travelling at 3300 will be explosive on impact doing a lot more surface damage, hence why I stick to 100 g.
 
Back
Top