Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Swift Scirooco's, How good are they?

Aggie-- Haven't heard anything for sure yet.

Montana Sam-- Nothing beats really good shooting, especially when they stand just so. There is also a compromise to be made between expansion and penetration. Even a really big elk is only about 15" from side to side, just behind the shoulder. Problem is, sometimes they won't give you that shot.

MD

I used some 150 scirrocos in my 280 when they first became available and shot 2 whitetail does with the load. One was at about 225yds. Both animals dropped quickly but I was disappointed in the penetration. I would not use those bullets on larger game. I mentioned this to Hober at Swift at a SCI show that year and he didn't seem surprised. They may have thickened the jackets. If so, that probably settled what to me was a weakness. Both bullets struck bone and both weighed around 90 grns. My impression was a good bullet for 150# or lighter game in .284 driven at 280 velocities. But...as stated, that was a few years ago.

As I stated above, Swift designed the Scirocco was a bullet for deer-sized game. They already had the A-Frame for bigger stuff.

When the Scirocco appeared the only plastic-tip deer bullet on the market was the Nosler Ballistic Tip. Some hunters thought it expanded too much, and the core could separate from the jacket pretty.

So Swift brought out the Scirocco as super-accurate, plastic-tip, "deer" bullet that would hold together, but they also designed it to open quickly--as a lot of people believe a good deer bullet should, especially the sort of hunters who like to shoot deer at longer ranges with super-accurate rifles. In other words, the same boys who shot Ballistic Tips.

The Scirocco II is very much the same bullet as the "old" Scirocco--or at least the samples I've gotten have acted that way. So don't blame the Scirocco for not penetrating deeply. It was never meant to.

MD

MD, as a deer bullet I have no doubt that the Scirrocos excel, however, my experience seems to have been somewhat different than some others or it was a combination of tissue/bone that stopped the penetration. I realize that these bullets open to a large frontal area but I thought they should have gone further in the animal than they did. But as everyone states....dead is dead.

You want the bullet to expand most of it's energy into the animal not on the tree behind the animal, correct?

Mule Deer,

Do the bullets open up as much as the BT's? I like the BT's for their accuracy but they open up a little too fast for me. I was hoping the Scirocco II's would be some where between the BT's and the Partitions.

Ken L, the ones I have recovered opened up to just over the size of a quarter and retained 82-84% of their original weight...they were .284 150's started at 3279fps.. Both were from Ks whitetail bucks, the first was shot on the point of the shoulder, quertering, at 180yds..I found that one in a kidney.. The second was shot at 45yds walkin straight at me... he never even wiggled!! I found that one in the far guts... 721

Ken--

Ther Scirocco's open up as wide as BT, but tend to retain somewhat more weight--at least over the "deer-size" BT's of under .30 caliber.

MD

Mule Deer

Thats a good point, about improving smaller calibers with the TSX. I shoot a 6.5X55 and really love the 120gr X bullet in it, but i wouldnt shoot a deer with a Speer hot core 120gr or any other conventional bullet in 120grs.

This year i shot a nice size 5 point whitetail with the swede and a 140gr Speer hot core at around 35yds. The shot was right behind the shoulder, it should have cleaved the heart right in two, but that didnt happen. It was the first time that the swede did not completely penetrate an animal, and im talking 120gr 129gr and 140gr bullets.

It looked like the 140gr hot core entered at an angle from front to rear and instead of holding a straight path it was deflected into the paunch. I didnt find blood until 40yds in the thick mountain laurels, not fun! but i found him, the X bullet would have kept its course and exited no doubt about that.

Interesting! I have shot a lot of deer with Speer Hot Cores and have always had good luck. In fact I shot a couple with the 140 from a .264 Magnum a couple of years ago, and they worked fine. I wonder what happened to cause that weird behavior....

MD

I have also had very god luck with Speer Hotcores. I find they are the toughest of the traditional cup and core crowd.

I culled a bunch of fallow deer with speer hotcores and never had issues, but like I have said on this board many times I have never had a bullet fail.

Ken,
In my experience, BT's and Partitions both open up very rapidly with the main disparity occurring in the realm of penetration. For any bullet to squeeze in between them would be asking a lot and would be splitting hairs.

My most instantaneous kills have always come from BT's and Partitions. They are both awesome on deer!

So what kind of preformance do you think I would get from a 264 mag with the 130 gr sicroccos @ 3400 fps on deer size criters? I was realy hopeing they would hold together better than it looks like they will!
Thanks

Muledeer, are you likeing the 264 a little better now?

The one Scirocco I recovered from a deer was on a quartering towards shot from a 300 rum. The 180 Gr. bullet came to rest just in front of the offside ham and weighed 142 Gr. That bullet penetrated quite a bit of deer including the gut pile. It was actually a very poor shot due to the deers angle to me being misjudged through heavy timber. At the shot I thought I saw him leave his feet and realised the actual angle and that he was gut shot. I watched him briefly regain his feet and go down again thrashing. Within 2 minutes he was dead.
I felt like that bullet did its job when I needed an edge. Most of the other deer I killed with a Scirocco were broadside behind the shoulder. Typically small hole in, large hole out, maybe 2" with lung chunks sprayed on the ground. I like these bullets because they do hold together yet expand.

Good,!!!!!!! I have got a good load worked up for my 300 wsm with the 165 sicrroco aroud the 3250 mark, I put 3 in .3 @ 100 I cant wait to test it agin at longer ranges.

prdator--

I like the .264 fine, but not enough to own one anymore.

My experience with it was all positive, but I also found that it doesn't really start to beat the .270 until the bullets get out to around 500 yards. In all my life I have never yet shot any big game at 500 yards--or even shot at them that far away.

Out to 400 I have found the .270 just as effective. So my .264 got traded for another super-hot number, at least for its day: A Winchester Model 1894 made in 1898, chambered for the .25-35 WCF, with 26-inch octagon barrel and 2-leaf rear sight.

MD

Just got off the phone with a Swift Tech. He said the Sirocco 2�s or second generation are a different bullet than the first generation.

That they are constructed differently with a changed metallurgy. That they will not open up as wide as the first generation. He said they would work on elk and that penetration should be no problem on the largest animals.
He also said an unexpected plus was that they even became more accurate.

Cool, cant wait to try them out.

I'll test them for penetration along with some 130 TSX's
to see how they stack up against each other.

Well so far my 264 does not like them that much, shot it this am and first 3 is in .5 the next two open it to .9
I was hoping for a lot better than this but will keep trying difernt powders.

What powder were you using?

What was your seating depth?

today was
Magnum 72 (3461fps) and 72.5gr(3497fps) No pressuer signs yet but will stop there.
Magpro 70(3405fps) 71(3465 71 was too hot)
I may try H4831 agin and maybe Retumbo
I'v got them about .010 off the lands, Do you think they need to be close or farther away?

I think Ill start trying TSX's next week