120 SST and the 270

[Richard Teague]

First Hello everybody as this is my first post on this board. I really need a load that will either not exit or just exit as fragments. I have a HOA with a hog problem and I have to hunt them in the neighborhood. There are safe directions to shoot but I want as little to chance as possible. I ordered 200 SST's and want to know how fast I should push this bullet so that it generally doesn't exit. No shot will ever be over 75 yards, all hunting is at night which I am very good at. By reading many posts on this bullet most of the 6.8 rifles are getting less than the mid 2500 fps range and your results are good. If I push this bullet to say 2700 fps would the bullet still do it's job or am I pushing it too fast? Is there a perfect velocity range?

 

[FrankT]

you may get a pass through the faster you move the bullet

 

[pruhdlr]

"Generally" . . . the faster you push most bullets,including the .277" 120gr Hornady SST,the more and faster it will expand and less chance you will have of a pass thru.
Out of a 270Win,push the 120gr SST as fast as possible,and put it square on the shoulder,and it most likely will not exit.
I believe that a better choice would be a "varmint" bullet,with a nice open hollow point cavity,pushed as fast as possible. --- pruhdlr

 

[Richard Teague]

Well after deer season some testing will have to be done. In fact before then some water filled milk jugs will be sacrificed!

 

[Jhop]

Why not try a Barnes MPG bullet 90gr? I remember talking to a guy that used Sierra 90gr hollow points to stop pass thrus and ricochets. He pused them pretty fast as I remember.

 

[Richard Teague]

I will eventually order some of the 90 gr. Sierra's. I just got two boxes of the 120 SST's and as they are designed for pretty low velocity use I figured a 10-15% increase in speed over the factory load speeds would get where I want to go. Hornady doesn't even list loads in the 270 with the 120 SST and gives a max velocity as 3000fps. Another bullet I can get around here easily is the 11o gr. Hornady HP "match" and also wonder if this bullet might work at somewhat elevated velocities.

 

[Jhop]

I can hear ricochets sometimes when I miss with my 6.8 firing the 120gr SST's. My load measured at 2550 over my chronograph.

 

[Jhop]

The far right bullet is a 120gr SST. it appears to have ricocheted off the ground. It then struck the pig I was shooting at and stuck in the her side. The pig was right about 300 yards when this happened. The round probably hit on a hard packed dirt road on the cattle ranch rather in the field.

 

[Wildfowler]

I use the Hornady 120 SST in my 270AR at approx 2800 - 2850 ft./sec.

Large hogs no pass through. Smaller hogs (50 lb) massive exit wounds.

Very few of any size hog ever escaped being shot with this rifle.

 

[Richard Teague]

Well then that's the speed I will push them, easy to reach with a 270. Bullets that ricochet tend not to go far as they lose their stability and usually shape.

 

[Richard Teague]

So did some testing today. I loaded 42.5 grains of IMR 3031 under the 120 SST. This turned out to be very accurate in my 270, once I got it hitting 1/2 inch high at 100 yards I set up four gallon milk jugs full of water in front of the 100 yard target in line. Went back to the bench and let round number 6 center the first jug, it totally destroyed the first two and just made a hole through the third. I found the jacket and core lying between the third and fourth jug, together they weigh 60.3 grains and the jacket expanded to .580. I think a chunky feral hog will be more resistant than the gallon water jugs. My velocity should be around 2850 fps but I have no crony to prove it.

 

[Richard Teague]

Tested the 110 grain Siera ProHunter from my 6.8 on water filled milk jugs. Bullet going approximately 2500 fps penetrated 4 jugs and I found it a foot behind the last jug. It broke up the first three and just made a hole through the fourth.

 

[ZenArchery]

Use a thin jacketed bullet such as Berger VLD-H, or Hornady Amax. They will completely shed upon impact. You can also try the new line of bullets such as LeHigh Defense and Hammer Bullets that have aloy material that shed off with nominal base material left.

 

[Richard Teague]

The Lehigh controlled chaos was a fail, could not stop one in 5 jugs!