Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Failure via Scenar

This is a spinoff of the other thread. I know people are hesitant to post failures, but I would be interested in hearing if there are any. On a few other forums, I have read of some less than stellar results. The reason I am asking, there is a guy on YouTube that goes by simple minded man or something like that. He tested many different bullets, pc of deer hide and plywood in front of ballistic gel blocks. With the 139 scenar he was getting no expansion at 2100 fps. Made me pause and reconsider using it at 500-600 yards.
Feel free to post what you have personally experienced or seen happen. I know these threads often get into " that wasn't failure, bad shot, how do you know it failed " types of comments. I would prefer those comments not be a part of this thread. I would like to have people share their experience, and why they feel it performed less than desirable. Then let everyone draw their own conclusions in their own minds. There are people like me who truly want to hear/learn, but don't appreciate wading through pages of mudslinging and degrading comments to find a few nuggets worth saving. Please include which caliber/weight scenar you are talking about. And yes, I have read the entire thread on success with Scenars. Just want to see if there are negatives in a hunting situation. Thanks

I've killed a few truck loads of critters with Scenar Bullets, with no failures. Rio7

Well I don't know much about shooting plywood. But I have used the 139 scenar in my Sako 260 for W.T.Deer for several years now. Im Very happy with the results. I have never had any failures. I have started using it in my 6.5 Creed. So far so good.

I use 123's in my 6.5 CM and can tell you for sure they work out to 683 lasered yds. on animals
lighter than deer!

The silence is deafening....

Deer hide with plywood behind to possibly plug the small HP is just a possible recipe for the bullet failing to expand.

If I ever feel the need to hunt plywood encased deer I’ll be sure to choose a different bullet.

How many people do you think are using that specific bullet, and killing critters at 600 yards?

Very very few.

Hence the number of response’s.

You're wasting your time. Rio shoots craploads of game, as do many others here with scenars as evidenced by the dedicated thread. Scenarshooter's rec is another case in "all you need to know" about scenars. Game animals are the best "test media", not deer hides and plywood and all that other crap.

Probably a couple of pigs ?????

Nice answers and I agree, my experience with Scenars in both .308 and 6.5 has been very good. Real world hunting with all the variables is all but impossible to replicate. I always enjoy hearing from people that actually put things to use in "uncontrolled" situations. And there are several on this forum that fit that bill/

Simple truth about bullet's. What one guy calls failed another call good. I think the only thing some people can see is if the animal died or not!

don't care for them, they shoot well, but lack what I like to see in terminal performance, one deer at 781 yards with a 139 at 3280 fps. Hard quartering away, Doe was laying down, impact was just in front of the hip socket, tip broke off on impact, jacket/core separated traveled up along the spine. deer never got up but not much damage. the other was a mature buck at 407 yards,, shot broadside behind the shoulder, saw the bullet impact through the scope. Deer was not recovered. have much better performance from the 140 berger target bullets.

I doubt you’ll get a lot of “negative”. I’ve had piss poor results from anything Barnes but there’s page after page of glowing reviews. For every person who dislikes them and have had a failure you’ll find three people who swear by them. Find what you like and roll with it.

I’ve shot the 90gr 6mm scenar twice at sub100yd coyote sized European deer. FMJ performance so went elsewhere (TMK)

I have only shot two hinds with the 139gr 6,5 Secenar L at 385 and 407 yds.
Muzzle speed was 2,880 fps from a 6,5x57R.
Hit them both well centered in the ribs, right behind the shoulder, which they did not touch.
Both run for 300+ yards and could not have found them without my Bavarian Mountain Blood Hound.
They left no visible blood spoor, just a few drops and some hair where they were standing.
Butchering them showed evidence of very little damage to the lungs. One broke one rib on its way out, the other broke two.
I know the sample is tiny but I did not shoot any more at game after that.
Given how well they seem to work for others, I suspect that could have been a faulty lot but I did not care to insist and try a different one, as many other good options as there are.

I don't know that I'd call them "failures " but I used the 105 6mm scenar quite a bit for a while. If the shoulder bone wasn't caught on a deer or antelope they took a while to upset.

For tight behind the should shots it almost always resulted in a knitting needle entrance wound and 1 lung with almost no damage, ice pick wound. The 2nd lung would look like a grenade hit it and I'd have an exit close to golf ball sized. Everything died and bled well but they ran a lot longer than I was used to seeing.

Catch the onside shoulder and things got better.

I've used the 155 308 scenar some and they have worked well but they have all caught shoulder going in. They are still stout though.

I prefer tipped match bullets to the scenars for deer sized game.

I’m big on eld-m bullets from 1800-2800fps

What’s this got to do with scenars??

Not much honestly..

But they are cheaper and shoot well and do well on game.

That being said the 123, 90gr and 155gr have a huge number of reported good happenings in that 2900-3100 fps start out to about 600 yards.

Makes me think they are a harder (tougher?) bullet that needs a bit of velocity to get upset.

Jeyvod likes to troll

This is my experience, and not just with Scenars.

A while back a gun writer wrote an article about testing bullets in various kinds of media, both "wet" and "dry." He insisted that any hollow-point needed to have the hollow-point filled with something, or it wouldn't expand in "dry" media. If I remember correctly he used Vaseline.

I have tested a bunch of different bullets for expansion in "dry media," mostly stacks of newspaper--and have yet to have a hollow-point fail to expand, whether Berger Hunting VLDs or Barnes Xs....