hornady 95g sst shedding its jacket!

oldmate

Well-Known Member
hi everyone,
I went away for a hunt last weekend looking for some pigs, seen 18 got 2 50kg approx sows and a little feller, in 30-35 degree heat. which brings me to my point, have any of you seen a sst exit as expected but shed the jacket and have it break the skin about 10 inches from the exit hole with the base exposed and poking out? the 1st photo is the exit hole right near shoulder. and the mess in the top left corner is where i had to cut the jacket free.
2nd photo is of my hunting partners, the young feller on the left is my bro in law and his second ever hunting trip. old feller on right is his second hunting trip in 30 years and he bagged this sow also his first pig.
3rd is of the jacket that i cut out.
it was shot with a BSA 243 with 95g SST's 40.5 grains of adi 2209 at about 40-50 mtrs
the entry would is not visible in the black hair but it was on the RHS of the pig about the same spot as the exit wound.
DSC07207.JPGDSC07212.JPGsst jacket.JPG
anyway just thought it was a bit odd
cheers wes.
 

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You are trying to use a varmint cartridge for big game work. Might want to rebarrel to 308 or something over 7mm.

SS
 
At that close of a range and high of a velocity, it's bound to try and shed its jacket (regardless of bullet maker). While 6mm is more than enough to kill pigs of that size, you might consider a monolithic solid of some sort. I have had good luck with 85gr Barnes O bullets in the past for close range, high velocity shots. Perfect mushrooms, and dead whitetail deer to show for it.

Just a thought. (BTW, nice hunting!)
 
I have had a .308 SST do this on a deer. I was videoing for a knife review at the time I noticed the base of the jacket sticking through skin.



Personally, I wouldn't choose .243Win for pigs, whether using 95gr SST or other bullet. I use the 95gr SST in .243 for deer (nothing bigger than fallow) and fox. I find it reliable and wouldn't describe it as a varmint-specific design. It's an interlock construction designed for controlled, not explosive, expansion.

Hornady blurb says:

"Short for "Super Shock Tip" the Hornady® SST® is designed to deliver tremendous shock on impact while expanding quickly and reliably, particularly at higher velocities. Flat shooting and deadly accurate, it's an idea bullet for whitetails, as well as most North American game animals from antelope to moose and similar-sized African plains game."

Of course, this description is not suggesting you should take a .243 with SSTs out after moose.

And as as we all know, manufacturers never exaggerate their products abilities...
 
SST's are Interlocks, they shouldn't shed at all regardless of the target
Shatter up front and splinter away down to the ring when driven too fast with the BT..maybe

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Ammunition :: Rifle :: Choose by Bullet Type :: SST®
4. InterLock® Ring

Ensures the core and jacket remain locked solid during expansion, so the SST® retains the mass and energy needed for dramatic wound channels

and on the whole it works:
you can see the ring where expansion stopped and held the core, this one had an estimated impact velocity of 2900+

IMG_0839_zps314caf86.jpg



neither of those appear to have a lock ring as advertised
 
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Had similar result with hornady interlock sp (.308 150grn) over the last couple of weeks.
a fallow shot at 25m and a row at 100m. I recovered both bullets, or more specifically the rear of the jacket (from the interlock back) and none of the mushroomed part was attached. On the roe there was none of the lead core at all!
 
SST's are Interlocks, they shouldn't shed at all regardless of the target
Shatter up front and splinter away down to the ring when driven too fast with the BT..maybe

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Ammunition :: Rifle :: Choose by Bullet Type :: SST®
4. InterLock® Ring

Ensures the core and jacket remain locked solid during expansion, so the SST® retains the mass and energy needed for dramatic wound channels

and on the whole it works:
you can see the ring where expansion stopped and held the core, this one had an estimated impact velocity of 2900+

IMG_0839_zps314caf86.jpg



neither of those appear to have a lock ring as advertised

Hornady talk a load of tripe about the interlock ring !! The other week I picked up a 162g SST out of the soil when I was checking my bullet drops at 300 yards or slightly over. The bullet looked exactly like your one in the picture. Great I thought, the core didnt slip! A few days later I managed to drop the bullet off the kitchen worktop onto a tiled floor and guess what..... the core separated from the jacket! The interesting thing is though that when I looked at the core, the boat tail section had almost exited the jacket past the interlock ring, there will have been a void behind the lead core that had flowed past the interlock ring which remains intact inside the jacket. I bet if you cut your bullet in half lengthways that this may have happened to yours as well. Having just measured the core and the bullet jacket, the hole in the jacket is 0.385 deep and the remaining shank of the core is 0.122 long meaning that at 300 yards the core had slipped by 1/4 of an inch or more past the interlock ring which I can see is intact.
 
Some time ago a friend of mine loaded some 95gr SSTs in his .243. I don't know the exact powder, velocity, e.t.c. I had actually recommended he try them after reading about them on the ballistics studies website. However, their first use, and first fallow ended up being a complete surface blow up on the shoulder. We lost the deer. Fortunately I caught up with the very same deer a few weeks later and dispatched it.
 
that was kind of my point
mine is a SP interlock
they market the SST as the BT equivalent of the same bullet
but neither bullet shows a ring

I wont use SST's on game of any description personally
too fragile and too many stories like this!
 
that was kind of my point
mine is a SP interlock
they market the SST as the BT equivalent of the same bullet
but neither bullet shows a ring

I wont use SST's on game of any description personally
too fragile and too many stories like this!

my understanding is that the SST has an interlock ring just the same. I use them at distance and have had some good definitive kills with them
 
What happens is this: the bullet expands; the lead core has greater momentum compared to the jacket, it slips out of its jacket and leaves the jacket behind. You're using a high velocity bullet at short range. The impact velocity is 'too high'. And you are using a bullet designed to expand rapidly. So in short, you are using the 'wrong' bullet for the kind of shots you are taking. Provided the buyllets are killing the pigs swiftly and the meat damage is acceptable, I'd continue. If you don't want to see the lead cores slipping from the jackets, use a stronger bullet or an H bullet (Nosler Partition being one example) or lower the muzzle velocity and/or move up to a larger calibre of bullet. A suitable cartridge might be the 9.3x62 which is a large bore and relatively sensible velocity for close work and the quarry.

-JMS
 
What happens is this: the bullet expands; the lead core has greater momentum compared to the jacket, it slips out of its jacket and leaves the jacket behind. You're using a high velocity bullet at short range. The impact velocity is 'too high'. And you are using a bullet designed to expand rapidly. So in short, you are using the 'wrong' bullet for the kind of shots you are taking. Provided the buyllets are killing the pigs swiftly and the meat damage is acceptable, I'd continue. If you don't want to see the lead cores slipping from the jackets, use a stronger bullet or an H bullet (Nosler Partition being one example) or lower the muzzle velocity and/or move up to a larger calibre of bullet. A suitable cartridge might be the 9.3x62 which is a large bore and relatively sensible velocity for close work and the quarry.

-JMS

+1 on that, I use the SST but mainly for distances over 100 yards
 
that was kind of my point
mine is a SP interlock
they market the SST as the BT equivalent of the same bullet
but neither bullet shows a ring

I wont use SST's on game of any description personally
too fragile and too many stories like this!

It has an interlock ring (and cannelure groove) and it isn't a boat-tail in 6mm 95gr.

As per my previous comments on this subject: I've been impressed with how the bullet performs at high impact velocities, despite impacting bone (caveat- only fallow.)

But then I was perfectly happy with 100gr Gameking, Prohunter, Speer BTSP, Hornady Interlock... Until I wasn't.

If if you shoot enough quarry, especially at the upper limits for a given calibre, sooner or later you will have an unsatisfactory result from an otherwise well-placed shot. So far, I haven't had that problem with SST. One day, I expect it will happen. In the meantime, it seems to kill well (certainly better than the Speer BTSP.)

Not trying to convert anyone, mind :D
 
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Thanks for the info guys. I'm not complaining about the performance of the SST or the caliber. 243 is a very popular cartridge for pigs here in Australia, I also own a 6.5 and I just sold my 308. I won't be changing projectiles just because of a lost jacket. Pig shot- pig dropped dead on spot , the other pig of very similar size was dropped with my BLR in 243 with same load on the run at 50-60 meters, pig shot pig dropped dead= a happy hunter
meat damage is of no concern pest eradication the only priority.
 
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