180 grain. hornaday SST bullets

37rangemaster

Anyone tried these bullets for hunting use and or accuracy? i picked some up for my .300 win-mag and am shooting 73.5 gr. of R22 behind a winchester magnum primer...i have yet to get it to group well...i'm shooting it in a rem.700 the bullet is seated just far enough so its not up against the rifling...anyone have any experience with the SST Hornadays or better yet the .300 win-mag?...any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated

n/a

I don't have any experience with that particular bullet, but how far are you seating them off the lands?....and what kind of groups are you getting?

sandwarrior

37rangemaster,

I've been shooting 117gr. SST's out of my .257 AI (1-9" twist) and have had exceptional accuracy, 1 3/4" @ 300 yd. So, all I can add here is that I think the quality control is good. I used 48 gr. of VVN160 and 45 gr. of H4350 for powder. Loads were near max., and bullets seated .010 off the lands. It may be that you got a bad batch. Have you tried other brands in the 180 gr. range? If so that would really show if it is rifle or bullet. Powder too will make difference. Switch to a given target load or slow the load down more then work up. Maybe use a faster powder? Step up to RE19 and see how that works if you have any. -good luck

37rangemaster

i guess i'm not familliar with the term "lands". but i am seating the bullet just deep enough to where you cant see the rifling marks on the bullet itself when you chamber a round...i've done the same thing with my .220 swift and get excellent results with accuaracy...as for best group that was at 50 yrds (it was early spring and too wet to do anything 100 yards+) and it put 2 rounds in the same hole the third was a flyer 2" high and 2"to the right (jerk or flinch) that however was with 68.5 gr. of R22 and a hornaday 180 PSP...i'm waiting to get my aftermarket trigger installed before i do any SERIOUS bench work but just from playing around with the current setup it wont group worth a crap...5 shots all over a 8x12 target at 100 yrds...i'm wondering if i might just be wasting my time trying to get the SST's to shoot in my rifle

JustC

74.0gr RL22, fed 215M primer, seated maybe .010" off the lands.

If not, run that load with the 178gr a-max or 180gr NBT and see what that does. The SST is either great or crappy from what I have seen. We get better results with the NBT's and a-max's and even v-max's.

n/a

What JustC said....however, it sounds like you are just touching the lands which can cause unequal bearing surface on the bullet. You might try seating them about .005-.010 off the lands and see if that improves your groups. Either that or seat them further into the lands (with a slightly lighter load to avoid pressure spikes). I've found that most of my rifles like to be seated .005 off the lands.

37rangemaster

thanks for the responses guys once i get my new trigger in and some time i'll play around with some different loads etc...right now my manual says using hornaday 178-180 grain bullets and winchester brass and winchester magnum primer i should be pushing 2900 fps the max load listed is 76 grains of R22 at 3000fps..i'd like to keep it close to that to take advantage of my burris tactical scope. i'll give an update when i get a chance to do some more shooting...oh note to everyone i would'nt advise shooting a remington 700 with synthetic stock and sporter barrel chambered in 300 win-mag prone 30-50 rounds in one afternoon, unless of course you have a tough shoulder[;)]

Noah Mercy

How do, 37'.

I use the SST 180 in my Ruger 300 Win Mag. I load a grain more than you of RL22, and use Remington 9 1/2M primers. I seat them so that the case mouth is centered on the canelure and I crimp using a Lee die.

Sub 3/4" groups at 200 yards are the norm.

[:D]