JGRaider
WKR
I always intend to learn something of which I have no experience but if I happen to have alot of experience on a subject then yes, I rely on what my real world experiences have told me. Can't imagine anyone thinking differently. With regard to what you posted, you refer to an entirely different bullet (136 Scenar L) than what I was referring to (139 Scenar), so you really have nothing to dispute what my experiences are. The 139 doesn't "keyhole" or "tumble" either for that matter.You are welcome to my information. And I will even provide it without sarcasm.
I killed four deer with 0.264 136 gr Scenar -L bullets, and that was enough for me to make my decisions on the bullet. All four did pretty much the same thing. The bullet tumbles, crushing the hollow nose cavity and then fragments. All four shots were on whitetail does. Three were broadside shots behind the shoulder that tumbled without expansion or fragmentation through the onside lung and heart area and fragmented out the offside lung. The fourth was chest shot on a doe facing me that tumbled intact through the entire heart lung cavity and started to fragment at the diaphragm, liver and rumen. Muzzle velocity was about 2500 fps and all shots were between 50 and 120 yards. Average distance travelled after the shot was about 100 yards, with a range of 60-150 yards.
I don’t have wound channel pictures, but the broadside shots were all a bullet sized entry, a slightly larger hole in the onside lung with some keyholing, and about a 2 to 2.5 inch hole through the offside lung with about a 1-1.5” exit. All of broadside shots were slightly behind the heart. The head-on shot was a bullet-sized entry that went between the lungs and tumbled, severing the arteries above the heart. There was a sideways bullet hole through the diaphragm and the bullet fragmented from there ending up in the rumen with no exit.
Does Scenars kill deer? Yes, but they can sometimes run a ways after being shot if it’s not a CNS shot. My preference for deer sized game is a bit more front-loading to the wound channel, which takes out both lungs and shortens the need for tracking.
I view Scenars as a step up from monos and bonded bullets in terms of killing potential. But I am not generally a fan of tumble-to-fragment bullets (e.g. Scenars and Bergers) as I think they are slightly less predictable and have a longer neck to their wound channels. Tipped fragmenting match bullets tend to be more consistent across a wider range of velocities, tend to have lower minimum velocities to fragment, and provide a more football shaped wound channel with a shorter neck.
When I kill something, I process all my own game so I know exactly what a bullet is doing. Your mileage may vary. And you are welcome to ignore all of this if you choose. My impression is that you tend to post here for your own edification and aren’t really here to learn from anyone else.
As far as "they can sometimes run a ways after being shot if it's not a CNS shot" statement, that's true of any bullet. If you've hunted enough, and killed enough game with different bullets you would know that.