This is the new round that I'm using in my 270. I like accuracy and on paper this thing looks great. However, my wife wanted to try out my rifle so she found a coon under the feeder at about 70yds and let it rip. The results were pathetic. We are talking about a 15-20 pound raccoon, not hogzilla. There was NO exit hole, and barely any blood on the ground. She shot it while he was standing up. Is this round too soft ? How and why would there not be an exit on such a small animal? What's it going to do on deer and hogs?

I've killed 2 deer and a coyote with a 130gr SST. The deer went between 30-50 yds and the coyote dropped in its tracks. All were pass throughs. The deer had quarter sized exit wounds.

I've killed one doe with 139gr SST. complete pass thru and nice two finger exit. This was with a 7-08. Can't fathom it not passing thru a coin.

Your results are not typical. I highly recommend the SST bullets for good expansion and deep penetration.

SST's work great for me.

I've been shooting the Hornady Superformance 140g SST's in my .270 with a MV of 3090fps. I Like the performance at the range. However, I've been disappointed with their "field" trials. 2 deer, 1 hog and 1 coyote. All died. All had severe internal damage. None had exit wounds. All were shot at 100 yards or less. The 'yote was DRT. The 2 deer and hog ran less than 100 yards. All were shot behind the shoulder, except the 'yote. He was coming straight at me and shot in the head, with the bullet traveling the length of his body.

The deer and hog left very little blood trail. The hog didn't emit any blood until he began coughing it up through his nose and mouth. The deer left small spatters of blood here and there. Very difficult to find.

My theory is that the bullet is traveling too fast under 200 yards and ripping apart upon contact. I suspect a slower muzzle velocity or greater distance, and therefore a slower velocity, might correct the issue. I have not tried this ammo on an animal beyond 200 yards yet. Just haven't had the opportunity.

Prior to this ammo I used the Hornady Light Magnum 140g. BTSP. Those were even faster at 3110 fps. I always got complete pass thru, always had gaping exit wounds with devastating internal damage.

For me, the jury is still out. I'd like to try them at greater distance and see if my theory holds true or not. In the meanwhile, my confidence in this ammo is a bit shaken.

LandPirate- I came to the same conclusion you did. It's excellent on paper, but I think it's moving too fast for 100yds. I had the same problem with Win ballistic tips a few years ago, it was great at 150yds and beyond but anything closer was terrible. My shots right now vary from 70-330 yds.

Here is the raccoon. Very little damage considering the speed and round used. The hole was as big as my thumb, but no exit. Very minimal blood on the ground. If he had walked off there would be no tracking by blood.

Id say skin that coon and you might find the thumb size hole is the exit and the entrance is so small and miniscule you overlooked it in all that hair.

I'm just impressed that someone found a gun that would shoot a superformance shell accurately. I've tried them in two different guns and both looked closer to a shotgun pattern than a group.

I'm with redchevy on this one...I bet there was one but it didn't expand enough to tear it up enough to make a big hole going out. Also, by the looks of the picture...it looks like it did a fine job

I didn't skin it but 3 of us spent 10 minutes looking for 2 holes. I don't know, guess we will see what the results are on a deer. The old WIN lead tips maybe put back in use

I have had mixed results with hornady bullets. I worked up a load in my 375 ultra for Africa in 2012. I found a 300 grain Hornady DGX shot great out of my ol RUM. Well I damn near lost two animals due to those [censored] bullets. I had one blow up on a waterbuck,and damn near lost a Livingston eland, before I went back to the 4 swift bullets I had in my case...I had some old interlock bullets that the jackets were brittle, but that was years ago...I have seen hornady quality control go down hill in recent times.

Ed

This may be apples and oranges, but I experienced a similar thing with a coyote with the Hornday 165 BTSP Interlock- just cup and core with exposed lead at the tip-- and I only used those because my Weatherby Vanguard chews up the lead tip of my preferred Speer 165 BTSP too much.

I have only killed 4 deer with that bullet, as opposed to the nearly 30 deer with the Speer, but from what I can tell that Hornady is a harder bullet than the Speer. It's always exited, and those deer which have not dropped on the spot were very easy to trail.

Yet-- I shot a 40 lb male coyote at just over 100 yards with a straight-on shot, dead in the middle of the chest-- and the Hornady 165 BTSP did not exit. The one deer I shot with that bullet after that (from the same box and loaded at the same session) performed as it always had. So I don't know what conclusions can be drawn from deer bullet performance on smaller animals.

My conclusion is that I have had very sporadic results with Hornady interlock bullets. I loaded 150 grain in 270 and 154 grain in a 280. On both of them sometimes you would have good expansion penetration and a manageable exit. Sometimes you would get an exit you could stick a cantaloupe in and sometimes you wouldn't get an exit. Shot a buck in the neck with no exit(and we are not talking about a 200 lb buck, more lie 110-115 on the hoof) Also shot several deer through the ribs with no exit that went through the deer then hit the off side ribcage and turned toward the guts. I wont shoot them anymore. I have about 40 rounds loaded that I haven't pulled yet.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but that is interesting to note. If the Weatherby were not so rough on 'em I'd use nothing but Speer-- I have a box left, but they are hard to find lately. The Speer 145 spitzer has been excellent in my .280. 4 for 4 with that bullet. It doesn't knock as big of a hole as the 165 .308 but they have all been one shot kills.

I shoot hornady soft points and I rarely get an exit wound

Dosent bother me as most deer are taken with a shoulder shot and DRT but if you need an exit wound its not my first choice, but neither are most soft points

If you want an exit move to a partition, a-frame or a bonded bullet

SST is crimped jacket like a corelok
Spire point(SP) is no different then a normal cup and core bullet (Nosler BT,Serria GK, VLD, etc)
Interbond is a bonded bullet like the Accubond, corelok ultra, scirocco

I shot a 30lb pig last week and flipped it with a 130 vld in creedmoor. No exit but is was mushy on both shoulders(shot was right behind shoulder), second pig I hit in the arse and blew it in half.

I shot a 85 lb dressed doe and a turkey this morning with a interlock....exited both times

Have seen mixed results with the SST bullets from the 7mm08, some did very well while others didn't and came apart. Due to those inconsistencies I shot the rest of the SST loaded bullets to empty the brass for reloading.

Yezzzir.

Although every deer/axis I've shot with the SST's has been a 30 yard tracking job of less, I won't be loading them in any of the higher (2500 fps) speed loads that I have simply because of the seemingly explosive expansion and massive exit wounds I get on game inside of 100 yards.
Some examples -
30-06 180 gr SST @ 70 yards on a whitetail doe left an exit wound about 4" across. Animal staggered back, walked about 20' and dropped. Shot was upper-third part of the chest behind the shoulder. Ruined part of the off-side shoulder as well as the tenderloins and backstraps (shot was 4" below the spine)
300 Win Mag 100gr SST @ 130 yards Axis doe. Left another 3" exit wound and took out 4 of the ribs on the off-side. DRT. Shot was center of rib cage. Ruined part of the tenderloin and a little damage to off-side back strap.

I'm thinking these might be good 200 + yard bullets, I just don't have that many shots in that range.

I've has similar results as some others with the SST in my 270. They were accurate. The deer all died. But, the blood trails were sparse and although most deer didn't go too far, finding them was harder then I like. Internal damage was like a grenade went off in the chest cavity. I switched to partitions and have been happier with the results.

So are you concluding that the SST bullet is the issue or the combination of a Very high velocity (over 3000 fps) coupled with the SST bullet...causing the bullet not to perform well?

I have shot deer out to 600yds with a 300wm that i load with 180ssts, they drop. I won't use anything else. Mainly because it would be a nosler partition and those cost like 3x more. Amax are a little softer. Interbods are bonded.

I bet that thumb size hole was the exit hole. The entrance hole is always pretty small, suspiciously bullet diameter.