Hornady 7.62x39 123 SST for hogs

Not too confident in this bullet for medium hogs, maybe to 100 lbs.

6 recent examples of body shots under 80 yards, 95% confidence in all hits, all run offs, 1 found later. Pretty sure the others had holes and dropped later though.

7th event was a DRT at about 20 yards.

Yes I know the body shots are hard to predict but before this 4 body shots with the WIN 123 Powerpoint were down in 10 to 20 yards. These have a larger lead tip with cuts in the jacket by the tip. I think the SST with the sharp point and uncut jacket is penetrating but not giving as much expansion.

Anyone else have experience with the 123gr. SST?

Body shots? What are body shots? Just anywhere on the body? That you are "pretty sure the others had holes" doesn't exactly sound very confident in regard to shot placement.

If you don't do significant CNS damage either directly or indirectly, expect the hogs to run. A hog can run upwards of 100 yards with a blown heart. They can run about that far with both lungs hit. 400 yards with a single lung hit.

I have used SST 123 gr. in Grendel. Great bullet. In 6.8, great bullet. The two guys that I know that hunt 7.62x39 use SST and have been quite pleased. In .308, great bullet.

There are several vids on YouTube using the 7.62x39 Hornady SST and it seems to work just fine.

It's the bullet I use in my X39. Over the years, I've found that it takes the piggies down very reliably if I hit them forward of the front shoulder; neck, earhole, eyehole. They generally just collapse, do a bit of squealing and kicking, and then check out. The further back, behind the shoulder, that I hit them, the less reliable DRT's I get. Hindquarters hits from the side just give me a long search that usually comes up empty. The buzzards find them the next day, and the amount of ground they covered dragging both hind legs is startling! So, it's very good bullet, IMHO and experience, but it needs to be put in a critical place to give me one shot kills/take downs.

OK, good info, more welcome...

And by body shots, I meant rib cage area. And I would bet on all the hits being within a 6 inch circle in that rib cage area.

Rib cage on any bullet the pigs will run off. Shot placement is the key. Ear hole all day long......

I've used these three Hornady bullets interchangeably and have noticed no difference in expansion/penetration. The SST's seem to like my particular rifle very well, and, from a rest, I can put 5 of them into one large, ragged hole at 100 yards if I behave myself. Start shooting more to the front of those hogs and your success and recovery rate will increase. Having said all this, if the Win Power Points puts 'em down for you, use 'em! Still urge you to aim for the head/neck area.

tacotime, the 'rib cage area is HUGE and it includes everything from the base of the neck to the stomach and upper intestines. You can make rib cage shots that are nothing but gut shots if you aren't careful. If you want to be successful with killing hogs with "body" or "rib cage" shots, you want to be hitting the lungs and/or heart with a shoulder area shot. A little farther back and maybe you hit the liver, which will be a good bleeder. Beyond that, you get into the guts, but are still in the rib cage.

You might consider looking up some anatomical views of actual hog anatomy and figure out where you want to place your shots based on what is inside of the hog where your bullet is going.

I love the SST's and use them regularly with my Grendel or Creedmore. Shot placement seems to be your only problem as you need to hit the hogs further forward than you would with a deer. I always try for the middle of the shoulder or forward of that area. With the middle of the shoulder I end up with a broken front leg as well as the internal damage to the organs and CNS. They generally fall right on the spot !

Ok, I'm seeing the light here then. Shoulder/head it is. I usually don't doubt Hornady products, and my own error appears to be the issue.

And, I'm old school - a plastic point on a bullet and a steel case were never seen back in the day, and of course almost no one had a "Soviet" cartridge.... but my suspicions look unfounded. Thanks.

Draw a mental line between the hog's eyes and the point of his shoulder, then shoot along that line. You won't have any more problems. The vitals of a hog are lower and further forward than the vitals of a deer. A perfectly good lung shot on a deer is very likely to be a gut shot on a hog. I once shot a hog behind the shoulder with a 9.3x62 Mauser, meaning a 286 grain bullet moving 2400 fps, and the hog still ran about 80 yards into the underbrush, even with lung fragments lying on the ground. We were very lucky to find him. That was also the last time that I deliberately made a shot behind the shoulder of a hog. On the point of the shoulder or along the eye/shoulder line, only. BTW, you will also find it much easier to field dress if you neck/head shoot rather than body shoot.

Shot a 125ish pound sow a few years ago with a 300 grain 12-gauge slug (Hornady) @ 40 yards through the heart. Hog still ran almost 100 yards with heart blown to pieces and huge holes through both sides. If you don’t take out the CNS, they are going to make tracks.

Here's 129 gr. SST doing work.

Keep on whackin' and stackin' 'em!

I use the Hornady 123gr SST in my ruger ranch 7.62x39 and have dropped all the pigs I’ve shot with it except for one that I shot on the run but that one only went a few feet before collapsing.


Dropped this 240lb boar with one center shoulder shot the other night.

tacotime, I too lost a few hogs years ago when they showed up on our property because of the deer hunters shot. I had only hunted deer all my life and the "right behind the shoulder" shot works great on deer, hogs, not so great. This sounds like your issue. Hit em anywhere between the shoulder and ear and down they go. It ain't the arrow but rather the Indian.

I am in agreement...

If you want to do a behind the shoulder shot do a quartering away shot where the bullet will go behind the near shoulder and come out in front of the off shoulder

I agree bullet placement is key when shooting hogs if you want to recover them. That being said I go with cheap 154gr soft point steel case ammo....

I can't bring myself to pay the premium for the SST. I use the Tula soft points and have good results. I always aim for the neck area when I can. I pulled this out of the back strap of a hog I shot at 75 to 100 yards last week. Tula soft point 762x39. 12.5" barrel I think.

That is good expansion from a medium velocity, medium power round.

Fixed it for ya. SST are not premium.