Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 180-Grain Sciroccos ... Elk Bullet?

I deer hunted with it a bit this past year, using the 180 in my M70 300 Wby at 3145 muzzle velocity. I shot a +/- 250# whitetail (live weight) as it ran across in front of me at about 40 yards. I hit it a bit too far back (nice way of saying gut shot) and it ran about 30 yards before it slowed to a stop. I shot it again at a quartering away angle. The first bullet entered just behind the ribcage and stopped against the hide on the far side. Impact velocity about 3060 fps. At first glance it looks like a textbook failure from a thin-jacketed frangible bullet (not wanting to drop a name here) with the core missing, jacket split back to the base. However, the bonding retained most of the core, although it split along with the jacket. It weighed 142 grains. The second bullet at about 75 yards entered behing the rib cage and stopped under the hide next to the brisket. It also opened dramatically and weighed 145 grains, with an impact velocity of about 2990. The next day a friend shot another buck with my rifle at about 275 yards, impact velocity about 2600. That bullet was textbook, looking like it came out of the Swift company brochure. It is, however, very rounded, unlike the sharp corners of an "X" bullet. Retained weight was in the order of 165 grains.
<br>
<br>;
<br>
<br>The one on the left is the 40 yard shot impact, the one on the right 275 yards.
<br>
<br>In my opinion, this bullet holds together and expands viciously. Too viciously. Think about it, whitetail buck at 40 yards, 300 wby with a 180 grain bullet, broadside shot with no bone in the way, and it doesn't exit? At magnum velocities it expands too much for adequate penetration, at least I suspect it will on anything larger than deer. On deer I believe this is a good bullet (that is after all what Swift markets it as) providing muzzle velocities are kept to 2900 or less. I also firmly believe that the Hornady flat base SP performs just as well, at 1/4 the price. Just as accurate, more so in my experience.
<br>
<br>In a larger-cased 30 caliber, I see the 180 grain bullet as a do-anything type of load. With the results I obtained with the Scirocco, I would NOT be comfortable, with a mature elk or bear quartering toward me at 50 yards, of shooting that animal in the shoulder. I am concerned that the penetration would not be sufficient. That same animal broadside at 150 yards, no problem. But I don�t see it as an all-around bullet in a magnum case, useful for taking any shot as it presents itself.