Hornady sst 12 guage shells

[Steverino]

Good morning JM,

I mounted a new scope on my Savage Bolt slug gun last month and headed off to the range with some Lightfields, Winchester XP's, and a box of the Hornady SST's (I was curious as to how they shot)

My first shot at 50 yards was almost 2" high of center but the windage was off about 4- 1/4"clicks to the right. After dialing it over on the bench to the shot, the second shot was 2" high of center, in the center ring. Was very pleased at this point.

I then shot at the 100 yard range and fired two shots that printed dead center but smack dab between the center 100 yard center and the printed 200 yard box. A consistent 150 yard grouping.

For my last shot, I adjusted the elevation turret up and popped off the last shot at the 200 yard range. This shot printed about an inch and a half off to the right of the 200 yard mark. (Which was completely me, not the load!) Needless to say, I was simply estactic to be shooting so well and I feel that the Hornady SST 12 ga. sabots was very good medicine in my particular bolt gun. Overall, was very impressed with these loads in my set-up. As a matter of fact, at one point the R.O. came over the PA and said "you boys have a slugger here that's making you all look pretty bad this afternoon." During the shooting break, a couple of the fellas ambled over to ask about the load and were as amazed as I.

On my way back home, I stopped in at Dick's, who had these sabots on sale for $8.88 a box, and bought five more boxes with the same lot number. I wasn't taking any chances! The department manager asked me if I had shot any of these saboted loads yet and I proceeded to tell him about my very recent range session. He told me that while he had not yet shot these, he has heard good reviews from the majority of hunters that had shot them so far. He said that there were a couple of folks that shot them (1 out of an 870 and the other a BPS) that did not care for them. At the time, I wondered how these guns were set-up (as I also shoot a 12 ga. BPS with a fully rifled cantilever barrel, now relegated as my back-up or family loaner slug gun) as well as the competency of the shooters.

In short, I'd recommend that sluggers that are looking for a little more accuracy at some longer ranges pick up a box and see how it shoots out of your particular set-up. Oh and save the box with the lot code, you'll be needing this when you stop by your local ammunition dealer on the way home from the range to buy more for hunting season!