DOES ANYBODY KNOW IF THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOSLER BALLISTIC TIP AND SIERRA SST BULLETS OR HOW THEY PERFORM ON GAME?

I WANT TO TRY THESE ON MY 7 REM. IN 150 GRAINERS FOR ELK

First of all, Sierra does not make the SST bullet, Hornady does. I do not believe they are as strongly constructed as the Nosler Ballistic Tip.

We had very poor success shooting wild hogs with the SST bullets.

If I were going elk hunting with a 7mm Rem Mag I would look no furthur than the Nosler 160 grain Partition, possibly the Accubond.

I would not hunt elk with either of those bullets...

In the 7mm I would recommend 160 gr Barnes TSX,
160 nosler accubonds or 175 gr nosler partitions...

I have taken 1 bull and 1 cow elk with my 7mm RM. I shot the bull 3 times with the 160 gr Accubonds. The first two shots got no reaction although they were both full penetration lung shots. The third shot was a heart shot, at the shot he turned and took two steps, then his nose hit the dirt. The Cow was taken with one 175 gr Nosler Partition, at the shot she dropped on the spot. Iwon't use the BT or the like for elk.

The SST is a great bullet for deer or antelope, and I have had great success with it on both. As mentioned above, I would not use for elk.

Partitions or Accubonds for me if I was planning for elk.

My experience with the SST is extensive in my 7mm STW. It is a lightly constructed bullet and would recommend not using it on anything bigger/heavier than Whitetails. They do well on light skinned critters, but busting through large, dense muscle and bone is not what it was designed for.

i wouldn't use either for elk. see how your 7mag shoots either 160 or 175 nosler partitions. they have a long track record of cleanly taking elk.

I have only used the SST on deer. They have killed everything they have been shot at, but I don't like the way they disintegrate. For anything heavier than deer, I would go to a bullet with tougher construction.

I don't have any experience with the Nosler BT.

The only Hornady SST I have used is the 130 gr. 270. It worked fine for 3 small whitetails, but I shot a large Axis buck at 60 yds. and it didn't exit (still only went 25 yds).

I now use Hornady IBs in this rifle in case I get another shot at an Axis. On paper, they shoot to the same spot as the SSTs. I only shot one small doe with an IB this season, but it worked well (not a real test, though).

quote:

i wouldn't use either for elk.

That bears repeating.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
That bears repeating.

I wouldn't use it on bears either.

There are a hell of a lot of good big game bullets available like Swift, Nosler partitions, Barnes TSX, why would you want to shoot elk with a Sierra? I'd much rather use a standard 175 Hornady in a 7Mag for elk than either of these and they are dirt cheap.

IF you really want to use a 150gr from a 7mmMag then get yourself some 150gr partitions.

The heavy bulley mafia MAY have a point when discussing the 140gr 7mm Bullet on Elk, but their arguement starts to get a little hollow if they start comparing the 150gr and the 160gr partitions.

AllanD

Based on the twist rate of the 7 mm Rem Mag, a 160 gr grain lead core bullet should be the top weight in terms of bullet stability. I would pick a Swift A-Frame anyday over a Nosler Partition. With a Barnes TSX the 150 grain bullet will my choice. Elk bulls are large animals and I would only pick the best bullet I can buy at the time or what is readily available. The few bucks extra for a premium bullet is still your cheapest item on the hunt.

Warrior

Some one forgot to tell my rifle it would not shoot 175's!

My 7mm never shot the 175's or even the 160's well. The 154gr. Hornadys did okay, but they weren't the SST, just a regular soft point. Soon as I switched to the 140gr. Ballistic Tip the groups shrank dramatically and my 7mm became my long range rig of choice. I go to my .300 for elk, but if my 7mm shot the Partition 175's fine I wouldn't bother with the .300. Hoping my next 7mm shoots 'em well!

As for the SST - I'd pass.
As for 150gr. bullets on elk - I'd pass

If I had to make a choice between those two bullets the Ballistic Tip in 150 grain is by far the better bullet. I would avoid shoulder hits and angles much off dead broadside. I would take 160 grain partitions or Speer Hotcors on my elk hunt.

Both are good bullets for shooting PD's, that is all though!!

7 mag on elk:

excellent bullet choices:

aframe, partition, tsx, ttsx, mrx, accubond, interbond, and even the scirocco.

my choice would be either the aframe, partition, or tsx.

I would not hesitate to use a 150 grain bullet on an elk with a stout bullet. Punch the shoulder and drop him.

FWIW, there is a Nosler employee in the tech dept. that uses 150 ballistic tips on elk without problems. He related to me that he uses lung shots only.

i use sst bullets in my 308 for ground hogs when i am out of sierra match kings. i think the sst bullets actually blow up more. no way i would use them on an elk.

I was just in Zimbabwe where I used the 139 grain 7mm-08 sst superformance ammo to take impala wildebeest zebra bush pig and a leopard

Why send a boy to do a mans job..Those bullets are designed to shoot deer and antelope..I would alway opt for a 200 gr. Nolser partition or something on that same order for elk..A bull elk is pretty big and can be damn hard to kill at times, his phyical condition is created by his domain and he can be one tough cookie to kill at times..and if you have to stick a bullet in him at an angle or going away from you the 200 gr. Nosler will get the job done.

My hunting in Idaho ain't like saturday TV, these bulls are in the toughest up and down country in the USA, across canyons and I have not had a TV shot in a good many years..

Give me a 338 and 250 gr. Noslers on todays Idaho elk...I quit using the 25-35 a number of years ago..The elk are not the same today as when I first started hunting them..new set or rules and they tend to cheat .

I`ve tried a few of these 150grain SSTs from Hornady in my Liljabarreled .270wea. They were not very accurate. Best group was something like 3" at 200meters. My 150grain Nosler Par does less than half any day of the week.

quote:

Originally posted by jabali:


I WANT TO TRY THESE ON MY 7 REM. IN 150 GRAINERS FOR ELK

Id say that is a really bad choice. Personally Id rather have a Remington core lock than a Hornady interlock for penetration. And SST's are not even desgned for as much penetration as a plain old interlock.

Not knocking Hornady, I still use lots of their bullets. But I would not use any SST smaller than 250 grains for an Elk load.. Interbonds, yea, Id use an interbond.. Or an interlock of more weight than 150 gns..

I just bought some 160 gn Speer Mag tips for Elk from a 7mm. They have them on sale @ Midway. Get um while you can guys, Im guessing they wont be around for long..