I used a 270 Hornady 130 grain SST on whitetail last year. I shot at two deer and hit both. The first was a small doe that was hit 6 inches or so behind the shoulder from 65 yards. The bullet was deflected by a rib and the deer ended up gut shot. The second deer was a small buck that I hit on the rear part of the shoulder from 175 yards. The bullet split in two. The top half traveled up and clipped the buck's spine while the bottom half traveled down through a lung and half it's heart. Neither deer went anywhere but down.
I would say they were both well placed shots with the first shot being a very unlucky bullet path and the second being very fortunate. Of course the first deer shot had a HUGE exit wound from the guts, but the second deer had no exit wound, but I did find part of the bullet just under the skin on the opposite side.
I would say the bullet performed as intended by leaving EVERY bit of energy possible inside the deer. Some prefer an exit wound to track a deer easier. If you are one of these people I would look elswhere. I don't think an exit wound is a guarantee on a large deer. If you prefer a bullet to give maximum expansion I would look hard at the SST. I just traded in the gun that I was shooting with the SST's.
One more point...if you are thinking of something like bear, elk, larger hogs, etc...I would suggest a bullet that would hold together better. I would not choose the SST to go after any of those. On a deer, however, the SST just seemed to do a fantastic job of creating a huge path of destruction, but they do deflect easily it seems.
