30-06 Hornady Superformance 150gr. SST ???

[RedBeard22]

I have a 22" 30-06 that I'm going to use for antelope hunting this year.
I'm looking at the Hornady Superformance SST 150gr. for a little extra velocity/flatness. Max range is ~400 yards.

Most of the discussions I've seen around SST's in a 30-06 are old, including the horror stories of terrible inconsistency box to box and bullet fragmentation. I read somewhere that Hornady changed up the recipe at some point.

Is this a good factory choice, today? Is there another factory loading that y'all would recommend, instead?

 

[Thread Savage]

I have a 22" 30-06 that I'm going to use for antelope hunting this year.
I'm looking at the Hornady Superformance SST 150gr. for a little extra velocity/flatness. Max range is ~400 yards.

Most of the discussions I've seen around SST's in a 30-06 are old, including the horror stories of terrible inconsistency box to box and bullet fragmentation. I read somewhere that Hornady changed up the recipe at some point.

Is this a good factory choice, today? Is there another factory loading that y'all would recommend, instead?

I shoot Federal Fusion 30-06; 150 gr.

I have gone through a couple boxes of the exact same Hornady rounds you’re talking about as well (though never at an animal), and I can’t say anything bad about them, they’re just $5 to $10 more expensive per box than the Fusions, and the Fusions have never let me down for a decade or longer at this point. I have no reason to think you’re not making a fine choice, but I can vouch for the Fusions if you want to save a little coin.

SGAmmo is a good online supplier of both. They always deliver on time or early in my experience.

I will say this- in all the thousands of rounds I’ve put down range, Hornady seems to be the runaway brand leader in terms of having some strange problem, and then looking closely at the box and wondering, “Was that just one bad round?” I do shoot tons of Hornady’s though, so maybe it’s just a volume thing. I’ve never had a bad Hornady round in that specific loading though.

 

[Pharmseller]

Plus one on the Fusions.

Surprisingly good bullet.

If I didn’t handload that’s the factory ammo I would buy.

Don’t overthink it, though, antelope die easy in my experience.




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[RedBeard22]

Plus one on the Fusions.

Surprisingly good bullet.

If I didn’t handload that’s the factory ammo I would buy.

Don’t overthink it, though, antelope die easy in my experience.




P

Are y'all saying the Fusions are plenty accurate for out to 400 yards?

My concern isn't so much terminal performance on the antelope as it is the round being accurate and consistent. I've seen firsthand that antelope typically give up the ghost easily with decent shot placement.

 

[Pharmseller]

Are y'all saying the Fusions are plenty accurate for out to 400 yards?

My concern isn't so much terminal performance on the antelope as it is the round being accurate and consistent. I've seen firsthand that antelope typically give up the ghost easily with decent shot placement.

Plenty accurate.

My dad took his best antelope using Fusions out of his .30-06, 440 yards if memory serves.

That’s if you’re skilled, of course. 400 yards is a long way.




P

 

[Long84]

I have shot several whitetails with the SST. Mostly we're 165gr from a .30-06. A few 150gr from a .308. And 1 from a 6.5 Creedmoor. (All were under 100 yds) They're soft and shed a lot of weight. The few that didn't exit were hung up just under the off side hide. Most exited with ~2" holes.

 

[UnckleBob]

Are y'all saying the Fusions are plenty accurate for out to 400 yards?

My concern isn't so much terminal performance on the antelope as it is the round being accurate and consistent. I've seen firsthand that antelope typically give up the ghost easily with decent shot placement.

I bet the new tipped Fusions are accurate.

 

[alecvg]

My 30/06 lives SST’s. I shot 180s, killed dozens of animals with them. They got a little hard to find during Covid, so I swapped to ELDX.

 

[SDHNTR]

It won’t matter one bit on an antelope. Shoot what’s most accurate out of the gun.

 

[wpeach1912]

My dad and I have killed a lot of whitetails with SSTs. Like probably 20+. Very good results with them overall. All of his have been 150s out of an ‘06

 

[thinhorn_AK]

It won’t matter one bit on an antelope. Shoot what’s most accurate out of the gun.

I was just going to say that. My dad shot one last year with a 22-250. I’d imagine pretty much any well placed bullet from your 30-06 will be more than adequate.

As for asking about a bullets accuracy out to 400 yds……only you can know the answer to that. Try shooting it out at 400 yards and see how you like it.