155 Scenar performance on game?

[TimberHunter]

In the quest to find an accurate load for my picky 308, I’ve read some very positives reviews about the 155 Scenar on game. Most of those were from 2005-2015 time frame

Wanted to see if people were still using them with good on game results? Talking mainly about mule deer and elk with velocities from 2700fps to 1800fps


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[204guy]

I killed 3 animals with them this year. Antelope, mtn goat and an elk. 2050-2750 fps impact velocities. They're still killers. Not as soft as a berger/eld but certainly not hard either. Very accurate bullet.

 

[TimberHunter]

I killed 3 animals with them this year. Antelope, mtn goat and an elk. 2050-2750 fps impact velocities. They're still killers. Not as soft as a berger/eld but certainly not hard either. Very accurate bullet.

Thanks for the info

Have you recovered any of the bullets? With all the pass throughs that I’ve read about, they must be sticking together pretty well.

For my close range (under 200 yards) bull elk hunting, I’ll likely stick with nosler partitions but I need a more accurate bullet with higher BC to make my 308 and effective mid range elk/deer killer (up to 700 yards)


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[204guy]

I dont recall anything not exiting. The elk was at around 40-50 yds.

 

[Clarktar]

@Formidilosus might have data on those scenars.

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[willfrye027]

I recovered this in the shoulder of a whitetail few weeks ago. Long story on the bad shooting...but bullet entered in front of the back ham going around 2850, hit some bone I believe pelvis, traveled through the body cavity and lodged that small piece of the core into the shoulder. Made a nasty soup of the insides. The deer made it farther that I expected but the damage was done mostly to the guts as opposed to lungs due to the shot.

Also shot a mule deer through the neck at 70 yards. Golf ball sized exit crushed the spine and the bullet did not “blow up”

 

[TimberHunter]

I recovered this in the shoulder of a whitetail few weeks ago. Long story on the bad shooting...but bullet entered in front of the back ham going around 2850, hit some bone I believe pelvis, traveled through the body cavity and lodged that small piece of the core into the shoulder. Made a nasty soup of the insides. The deer made it farther that I expected but the damage was done mostly to the guts as opposed to lungs due to the shot.

Also shot a mule deer through the neck at 70 yards. Golf ball sized exit crushed the spine and the bullet did not “blow up”

Thanks for the info, is that lead and copper or just lead?


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[willfrye027]

Thanks for the info, is that lead and copper or just lead?


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Just lead. I’m not 100% what bone i hit. I was trying to keep the meat out of the oozing gut mess so I did not dig around at all. But there was a 1in chunk of bone in the blood trail so it definitely hit something hard. Also it was going pretty dang fast on impact and may have separated the core/jacket just from the high impact into guts. I think the bullet worked just fine and I’ll continue to use them.

 

[30338]

I shoot them around 2790 fps out of an 18" 30-06. Daughter killed a nice bull at around 360-400 yards last year. Worked great.

 

[Kimber7man]

@Mackay Sagebrush just might have seen an elk or two killed recently with the 155 scenar.

 

[MallardAddict]

I have killed a boat load of stuff with the 155 Scenar in my 308 and 300 wsm and they have never left me disappointed.

 

[Mackay Sagebrush]

Lots of elk here with the 155 Scenar, mostly from my little 20" T3. Mule deer as well. They tend to pencil through on smaller stuff like coyotes, as they have a pretty thick jacket. I did not use my .308 this year. Instead I used a 6.5 CM. The ELD-X bullets did not impress me, but not much info can be gathered from a couple animals. I will reserve judgement just yet. I might load some Scenars for next season though (if they can be obtained in large quantity).

Back to the 155 Scenar. It has proven year after year to simply work well. Now I am very glad I put back a good number of them for future use for myself and the kids.

Here is the one I recovered from the off side hide. It is the only Scenar I have ever recovered from any animal.

110 grains.


The animal:

That's roughly 70% of its weight retained.

I see no reason to use any other bullet for big game hunting at this point, when the game is elk, moose, deer, etc. I have yet to find a .308 that will not shoot it into little tiny groups.

This one got popped right behind the shoulder by my daughter at 375 with her 20" T3 and a 155 Scenar:

Entry:

Exit Pic, You can see center of the shoulder, the hole where it exited:

 

[Mackay Sagebrush]

Another Elk the kid punched with her 20" .308 and a Scenar a couple years ago:

Hard to argue the results.

Though it is the internet and some guys will argue anyways..

 

[TimberHunter]

Another Elk the kid punched with her 20" .308 and a Scenar a couple years ago:

Hard to argue the results.

Though it is the internet and some guys will argue anyways..

Thanks for the info! Any idea on the impact speeds of the bullet on some of those further kill shots?

I too also have a 20” 308 and 155 Scenar shoot very well but leave the barrel at only 2720fps. Curious how they do on game at 1800/1900 FPS


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[Mackay Sagebrush]

In the picture above, where I recovered the bullet (the 615 yard cow 20" T3 on top of it), based on my drop chart had a velocity around 1800fps, and still gave complete broadside penetration from the shoulder to the offside hide.

Its further out than I am normally comfortable shooting that lightweight rig. The rifle is mechanically more than capable, but in December when it is minus 10 degrees, its is just too hard to hold such a lightweight rifle that steady and shoot with absolute precision. I try to keep my shots with that rifle on the inside of the mid 5s and most have been in the 4s which are (Knock on wood) no big deal for the little lightweight .308.

Shooting the same 155 Scenar load out of my heavy .308 (Sako TRG), then those longer shots are not a concern. But I don't want to pack a TRG up the mountains where I hunt elk.

 

[prm]

Lots of elk here with the 155 Scenar, mostly from my little 20" T3. Mule deer as well. They tend to pencil through on smaller stuff like coyotes, as they have a pretty thick jacket. I did not use my .308 this year. Instead I used a 6.5 CM. The ELD-X bullets did not impress me, but not much info can be gathered from a couple animals. I will reserve judgement just yet. I might load some Scenars for next season though (if they can be obtained in large quantity).

Back to the 155 Scenar. It has proven year after year to simply work well. Now I am very glad I put back a good number of them for future use for myself and the kids.

Here is the one I recovered from the off side hide. It is the only Scenar I have ever recovered from any animal.

110 grains.


The animal:

That's roughly 70% of its weight retained.

I see no reason to use any other bullet for big game hunting at this point, when the game is elk, moose, deer, etc. I have yet to find a .308 that will not shoot it into little tiny groups.

This one got popped right behind the shoulder by my daughter at 375 with her 20" T3 and a 155 Scenar:

Entry:

Exit Pic, You can see center of the shoulder, the hole where it exited:

Data point of one, but the 139 Scenar from a 6.5 CM worked well on a small Mule Deer buck. Penciled to the first lung, then left a large hole in offside lung and exited. Deer did a 5-6 second dash and went down. (140 Berger worked well on a bull elk).
The 155 shoots great in my .308, just never used it on any game.

 

[strow]

Mackay Sagebrush, if you could not find the 155 Scenar's in stock what would you try next? Berger has the 155 VLD Hunter, 155.5 Full bore, and 155 Hybrid.

I had some inconsistent performance with the 123 Scenar in a 6.5WSM years ago, but that is a different bullet and I understand they have changed the jacket since then.

I have been using the 215Hybrid in a short 300WM for the last 20-30 big game animals and it is decisive! I would like similar performance but on a much lesser and lighter scale.

 

[strow]

Precision Reloading has the 155 Scenar in stock for those that are interested.

Does anyone have a guess at what impact velocity you need to get consistent expansion? I have heard the jackets are a bit harder than the Berger and MK/TMK.

 

[TimberHunter]

Bumping this thread up. Leaning toward using these this year on my two mule deer hunts


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[Jraub]

if you want more feedback, jump over to 24hourcampfire. there is a thread a couple hundred pages long on "critters deceased via scenar"