Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Failure via Scenar

My Scenar experience is limited, and I am 2 for 2 with good kills on a Pronghorn and Mule deer (6.5/139 and .308/155 respectively). I got inspired by the "Deceased via..." thread and decided to give them a try.
But I think this thread is a great idea. Lots of folks asked for and discussed limited "failures" on the parent thread but I see nothing wrong with a place for counterpoints to live. I want to hear everyone's experience.

Thanks for starting it.

Rex

No trolling here. My weakness is over-thinking things. I do know bullets are like many other things. Some people will swear by them, others will swear at them. Sorry if I came across as trolling but was not my intention.

Only shot it at one animal, 155 scenar out of my .308.
Shot great for grouping and figured I’d give it a try.
Broadside doe at about 150 yds being wooed by a buck. I shot and felt good, watched doe run off with guts dragging below her and buck in fast chase. She laid down about 100 yds away and he mounted her. I shot her in the neck and she fell over.
The first shot was what I’d call great, about 1/3 of the way up from bottom of chest and just above front leg.
Exit was down and right towards her abdomen/back end. Bullet exploded or so it seemed, guts were hanging out, some perforations.
Was it a killing shot, yes eventually, but not what I like to see happen.
Decided against that bullet other than for paper and steel, keep reading good things, but burned once and I lose faith.

JonS, Perfect example of ONE. Rio7

I helped a friend gut a deer he shot with a Scenar out of a .240 Weatherby at probably no more than 100 yards. The damage was extraordinary with a front shoulder area hit. Not sure of the bullet weight. I bought some 155 grain Scenar and started using them in my .30-06 with about 56 grains of IMR 4350 IIRC. The load was as accurate as any I ever used and the rifle showed pressure signs with a heavier dose of powder.

Some hogs and deer I shot went down pretty quick if a shoulder was hit or the CNS. But a behind the shoulder hit that missed the heart would just pencil on through and the race was on. One night I shot a large hog (250-300 lbs.) at 200 yards. It was broadside and I had to pull a little further back in the ribs than usual to avoid hitting a metal post. I was sure of my hold and was using a dead rest. The hog took off and I couldn't see anything of it when I recovered from the recoil. There was not a speck of blood to be found anywhere. The next day I looked carefully for over 200 yards out finding not a sign.

A day or two later my neighbor found it on his place over a quarter mile from where it was shot.

I think the Scenar expands real well at high velocity but my rather tame .30-06 loads just weren't doing it. As I said though it was a very accurate bullet in my rifle and I've not found one better for tight groups. Nowadays I use 180 SST which is slow and not always consistent in terminal performance but its also very accurate and 180 grains of .308 caliber lead does the job and usually opens up a serious leak if the target runs off into the brush. A hog hit in the heart or lungs is going to make a run for it and I'm not good enough for head shots.

So should I go try it again? Yes it is/was a sample of one, but one left a bad taste watching her run with guts leaking. I still load them, like to practice, but haven’t ventured out again to hunt with them.

Well, there is something to be said for hitting the target which is the first order of business, but I've found the heavy SST to be almost as accurate and more damaging which opens up for a blood trail which is helpful in our Louisiana jungle.

I'm often guilting of thinking the critter is "broadsider" than it really is. I want a shoulder going in, or out, or both. I'm not living off the meat, and if I nuke a whole shoulder of a deer it's what, 3-5# of grind? I'll take that over a "behind the shoulder" shot turning into an "oops, that's the liver" and now I've gotta track through an ocean of cattails.

I hit the target where desired, spotter saw it as well and the entrance was right where I always aim, all present thought it was a good shot, just not good performance.

I am agreeing with you. At .30-06 velocity I find that the Scenar didn’t work well for me. The 180 SST isn’t perfect but is more reliable on creating a bigger wound and a blood trail.

A few years ago, my brother-in-law stopped using his 30-06 after decades of success because, in his words, "The elk just aren't going down any more."

He knows how to hunt. He buys and uses Winchester or Remington ammo with 180 grain soft point bullets, whichever has the best price when he happens to be shopping. He never was a long-range shooter, and his elk are generally taken at 150-300 yards. The last elk just walked off after the shot, and following the near-loss of another one the year before, convinced him to put away his Remington 700 and look for something new.

I asked a few questions: Bullet type and weight? Distance? Did you have a steady rest? How did the elk react?

All were within normal parameters, except for the "steady rest" question. He said he was kneeling on the ground, with a tree branch as a rest. I asked how he rested the gun on the branch - on top of his hand, forend directly on the branch or just the barrel touching wood?

"Barrel right on the branch", he said, "solid and steady."

I tried to explain to him that the barrel vibrates with each shot, and resting it on something hard would bounce the barrel upward so that it could have jumped up enough to completely miss his elk at 225+ yards.

He wasn't convinced, and went off to buy a .300 magnum.

The happy end to the story is that when I talked to him after last elk season, he had sold the .300 mag. "It kicked like hell", he said - and went back to his 30-06.

A "sample of one" - or occasionally even two - is usually a poor reason to change something that has been working according to widespread experience.

I have probably shot 40+ deer & Boar with 139 Scenars (6.5 Creedmoor), all one-shot kills & most exited.
Longest shot was 595 yards on a large bull Elk, broadside. He ran <30 yards & fell dead. Tore up the top of his heart & exited.
I reckon my handload was doing ~2160fps at impact.

I wish I could get a factory load!

I shot a cow elk at 930ish yards with a 300 grain Scenar in December. Went through rib cage and obliterated the off side hindquarter. Like 10-15 # of blood shot gooey meat. Can't imagine what it wound have done at 100 yards.

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I'm having no problem with Scenars in the 6.5 or .308

Does that critter have a piece of string hanging off his left antler beam?

Those are no doubt vines. He didn't go far but where he ended up was a swampy shintangle. North west Mississippi this past november. 155 Scenar from a .308