Hornady sst slugs

Checking to see if anyone else had similar results, I have had fantastic results at 50 yards can get a box of 5 under 2″ groups. But moving to a 100 yards can’t hardly cover 5 shots with a pizza box.

I would switch to Remington Accutip’s and not look back. Had the same issue with Hornady’s. Also, had good luck with the federal sabots with the plastic tip.

I seem to think they pattern fine but the problem I’ve had is with hitting a deer with a double lung and having virtually no blood trail. Took one at 150+ last year with a rifled 12 ga. And on fresh snow not a tick of blood… found the deer 75 yards away in CRP following tracks. I shot once with a rest and figured I missed. I’m switching to solid copper sabots this year. (We had several other deer with similar no or little blood on 12 and 20 SSTs)

Partition Golds will pattern for you and they make blood real nice.

I second what tight_lines wrote, a few years back a couple of people in my hunting group switched to SSTs, they may be great for long range field hunting, but we lost three deer at under 40 yard shots. I am guessing there is little expansion or as good of shockwave at close range.Nothing beats good old lead. I really like Rottweil® 12 Gauge 2 3/4″ 1 1/4 oz. Laser Plus Sabot Slugs.

I shot SST’s for 1 season. Was the first year I shot a deer and actually had to blood trail it.
Switched to remington buckhammers and every deer I’ve shot since was DRT.

I shot a buck right through the heart with and SST and he ran 80+ yards like he wasn’t hit and another that I had to shoot a few times. I switched to Winchester DualBonds 285gr after that and they group well and man do they do some damage. Unfortunately I am wondering if they discontinued as they are sold out now and I also may have to make another change. If they are not done with them I would give them a go! Here are two that I have recovered out of deer.

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Switched to Winchester xp3 and haven’t looked back. Great blood trail from deer shot at 30yds all the way to 180yds out.

I used to love hornady but I’m coming off the wagon too. Between the slugs and the bad luck I’ve had with the 7mm deer hunter bullets. I’m switching. Recovered the animals…but minimal blood

Now I’m scared. I just sighted in my muzzleloader with Hornadys. Are people seeing similar results with their muzzleloader sabots as the are with the shotgun sabots?

reefhawgwi wrote:

we lost three deer at under 40 yard shots

You cant shoot them in the tail.

I am jumping off the bandwagon as well. For one, I’m switching to copper. For two, the doe I shot last year ran much further than she should have given the shot placement. And I never did recover the buck I shot. The two deer I shot this season with my bow didn’t travel as far as the ones I’ve shot with the SSTs.

I used to swear by them, not sure what changed but they don’t seem to be the same.

The SST slugs shoot great. But with my experience the knock down power sucks. I switched to Winchester’s dual bonds.

Remington has a new slug with a Barnes bullet. Have seen them at Runnings.

https://www.remington.com/ammunition/shotshell/slugs/premier-expander-sabot-slugs

Now I’m scared. I just sighted in my muzzleloader with Hornadys. Are people seeing similar results with their muzzleloader sabots as the are with the shotgun sabots?

I haven’t had problems with the muzzle loader sabots…but done with the sst. Slugs and rifle ammo.

SSTs seem to have two functions: one is to grenade on impact with bone and the other is to pencil thru soft tissue. Hornady XTPs in muzzleloaders do a very good job, but I’m switching to Barnes Expanders and XPBs this fall in a couple of my front stuffers.

I am relatively new to shooting slug guns. Used to using rifles for whitetail in Wisconsin. It is a big adjustement going from watching them drop in their tracks to having them run off. This is what I have found in my short 5 year stint of shooting slugs. I tried a wide variety of slugs including the SST but the only ones I could get to shoot good out of my 20 gauge Slug Hunter were the Remington Accutips. Deadly accurate at 100yds and still accurate out to 200. The only problem I had was that when you would shoot a deer right in the honey hole they would run off. They would only go 50 to 100 yards but the blood trails were minimal making tracking a job. So 2 years ago I switched to Lightfields because of the recommendations of some heavy duty slug hunters. Yes the deer still run but at least you have a good blood trail. Of course the Accutips were 250 grain and the Lightfields are 385. Plus they are still pretty accurate at 100 just a lot slower which you would expect. Now I am having a hard time finding the Lightfields so not sure what I am going to do.

Sorry for rambling on just my observaions.

Thanks,
RVRDUX

I also shoot lightfields. They kick ass but are hard to find ! Used a light field on this guy this morning actually !

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I have had the same problem with SST 12 gauge sabots. I shot a deer this weekend and it left no blood trail. It took me a half hour to find it, the deer ran over a hill and out of view on the field I was hunting and, unbeknownst to me at the time, doubled back towards me. I didn’t realized it at the time as about 10 deer scattered, but trusted my instincts and followed the direction of that “what if?” buck. I found it sitting in the woods, about 100 yards in, in thick dead fall. I could hear blood in the lungs but it got up, went 150 yards and stopped. This continued for over a mile, through a half frozen swamp and onto a neighbors property. It was pitch black with no good shot until it finally collapsed and I was able to finish it with a shot to the head. As I field dressed it, I was amazed at how little damage there was to the lungs and there was no exit wound. The sabot went through a rib and left a pencil wound, as described above. I hit it at about 100 yards and have never seen a sabot perform so poorly on a cleanly shot deer. A Remington Accutip would have dropped that deer in its tracks and and shredded the lungs. Now I know why the guys who recommended SST’s to me keep “missing” or loosing deer. I was hunting solo and getting that deer out of a half frozen swap and through that maze of mature dead fall damn near killed me. I’m done with SST’s. I am going stock up on Accutips tomorrow.

Former SST guy here. I used Federal Trophy Copper this year in my 870 12 ga. It was a lung hit and passed through. Deer ran 50 to 75 yards and died. There was a great blood trail and the lungs were messed up. The exit hole in the rib cage was about 1.5″ in diameter. I was impressed. I talked to another guy that had similar results.

I shoot Accutips in my 220 and will give the Federals a try in that this off season.

I gave the CVA Optima with SST’s a rest this year. It’s sighted in with XTP’s for the late muzzle loader season. The new A220 with Accutips did the job Sunday morning double lung shot & went less than 40 yards with blood trail. I have battled the SST blood trail issue before but won’t any more. Accurate but thats about it.

My girlfriend shot a 9 pointer with SST’S this weekend it didn’t go 10 yards.

sjhauge wrote:

I gave the CVA Optima with SST’s a rest this year. It’s sighted in with XTP’s for the late muzzle loader season. The new A220 with Accutips did the job Sunday morning double lung shot & went less than 40 yards with blood trail. I have battled the SST blood trail issue before but won’t any more. Accurate but thats about it.

This is what a 44 Cal XTP (300 grain) did to my bucks heart Sunday. About a 80-90 yard shot. Quartering away shot, bullet went through offside shoulder and into the hill past the deer. 70 weighed grains of Blackhorn. Bloodtrail was 3′ wide so about only easier track job would have been not having to (which was the case last year)

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I was out deer hunting opening day in Illinois. At 0640 am. Had a nice buck come in 70 yards. Perfect side shot. Pulled the trigger he buckled up good hit. Waiting about hour. I watched were he ran. Got out of stand. Good hit brown fur all over the ground. Tracked him to the Creek were he crossed not one drop of blood. Lost him. My scope is dead on. I’m never using the Hornady SST slugs again. Went yesterday purchased five boxes of Winchester Copper Impact Sabots. Sighting gun in today. Going to try them second season. They said there good slugs high expansion.

I have been working my local gun clubs sight in the past five plus years and I see this issue every year when people try to shoot the SST slugs. they will switch to a different brand and they dial right in with minimal shots. I haven’t been able to figure out why this happens each year with the SST slugs. you would think that Hornady would look into this and make changes so the performance gets better. I personally have a 20 gauge 870 that will only shoot the cheap federal sabot slugs. problem is that I haven’t seen that slug in over three years. luckily, I still have 9 boxes left. if I can’t get any more of that slug I might try the Winchester copper impact sabot slugs. might try the Winchester’s in my 20-gauge Mossberg 500 too and see how they preform in that.

Scoped Savage 220, bolt action 20ga. Both hornady SST and rem accutip shoot like a rifle round. Dropped a buck at 140yd with the 220 and hornady SST. Did’t have to aim high at all, just point and shoot out to almost 200yds. Quite the slug gun.