.243Win with Sciroccos

[Rustystud]

I made 200 .243Win from LC 81 Match Brass. It was all sized trimed fireformed and sized and trimmed again. This brass is about 30% thicker than Lapua Brass. I have been using Federal 215GMM primers.

Today, I loaded Reloader-19 from 42.grains to 49.grains in in .5 grain batches of five.

I loaded Reloader-22 from 46. grains to 49.grains in .5 grain lots of five.

I loaded IMR4350 from 42. grains to 44.5 grains in .5 grain lots of five.

The temperature was about 70 degrees. It was gusty windy. I shot off sand bags on a bench.

The bullets were seated to max. OAL for the magazine.

The action was a Remington Model 7.

The barrel was a 20" 1:8 twist 5C Broughton Number 2 taper.

The scope was a Leupold 3 X 9 Vari X II.

All were five shot groups.

None of the loads with IMR4350 shot under 1.MOA at 100 yards.

Ironically the Reloader-19 and Reloader-22 both shot best at 48.grains. The Reloader-19 had an ES 0f 24fps and max velocity 3209fps, and a group size .7 The Reloader-22 had an ES of 19fps and max velocity 3195, and a group size of .9.

Had no presure signs with the Reloader powders, I did have a stiff bolt with the IMR 4350.

I believe the IMR 4350 would have done better at a lesser load. Since this is a primary whitetail rifle I like having the 3200fps velocity with a bonded bullet.

I will try a simular test with the 85 grain Barnes Triple Shock.

As I said conditions were less than Ideal.

I'll shoot a couple of deer next week with this rifle and the 90 grain Sciroccos. I have had great success with 150 grain Schiroccos in my .308 and 180 Schiroccos in my .300Win Mag. I am real curious to see how these 90 grain Sciroccos work on deer, coyotes, and wolves in Canada.

Later
Rustystud

 

[rstreich]

I've become a big fan of the Sciroccos. I shot a caribou at 300 yards this year smack in the shoulder with a 6.5 130 gr. Scirocco,apparently all the slamming around in the choppy water on the boat rides knocked it off zero). I recovered the bullet and weighed it at 125.2 grains.

With limited testing, they also seem to shoot. The load I worked up puts 3 into 0.250" out of a 24" Krieger #2. With the skinny barrel, it's awful finnicky, however. 0.2 of a grain in either direction and the groups are up to 0.750.

I hear nothing but good about the TSX bullets and had great luck with them in my .223, but the BC of the Scirocco is hard to resist.

robert

 

[Rustystud]

I have recovered one 180 Scirocco from a true 8 foot Alberta black bear shot from stem to stern at 120 yards. Hit in neck shoulder juncture and lodged under skin on back side of ham. It was perfectly mushroomed and after cleaning up it weighed 171 grains.

I have shot over twenty whitetails in the last two years with a 150 grain Scirocco in a .308 ahead of 51.5 grains of W748. Definately not a starting load. At 70 degrees they shot 3019 fps and grouped under.5. This is 4 grains above the max load in 5 of my reloading manuals.

I am a firm beliver the Scirocco and Nosler Accubond are the best engineered bullets on the market.

I had very poor performance from the Hornaday Interbond. In fact I put several in my mill and hemi-sectioned them. I found air pockets between the jacket and core. They grouped well but did not hold together.

I have not experimented with the Federal Fusion bullet but suspect since the jacket is thin in comparison to the Scirocco and Accubond they will be no better performer than the Remington Core Locks.

I would like to experiment with the Scirocco 22 caliber bullet that has not made it to the market yet. Bill Holbert said they were experiment with them. I also would like to see them come out with a high BC 6mm Scirocco in a weight range of 110-115 grains.

Rustystud

 

[JER]

Just for the record, there is no "h" in Scirocco. It sounds like there is, but there isn't.

 

[Rustystud]

I shoot on several farms with deer management tags. I like to shoot deer for both the meat and experimentation of bullets. This last week I shot 4 deer with the Swift Scirocco II, 90 grain bullet in a Remington Model 7 with a 20" Broughton, 1:8, 5C barrel. The Muzzle velocity was 3212.

The first deer was a 90 pound doe and shot at 100 yards. The bullet entered the front left shoulder and exited behind the right shoulder about 6 inches back, the entry wound was small, the exit wound was about 1." The hyrostatic shock was quite impressive. The deer reared ad ran about 20 yards.

The second deer was 180 pound six pointer and shot at 235 yards. The bullet entered behind the shoulder about 8 inches about half between the back and bottom of the chest. Perfect lung aorta shot. The deer bucked high and ran about 60 yards.
The entry wound was small, the exit wound was about 1." Again the hyrostatic shock was very impressive.

The third deer was 100 pound doe shot at 60 yards through both shoulders at the shoulder back bone juncture. The entry wound was small. The exit wound was 3." and explosive. The shock and trauma was extrene. The deer went down in its tracks like being being struck by a pole axe.

The fourth deer was a 100 pound doe shot at 35 yards. The bullet entered below the right ear about 1." and exited out over the left eye. The eyes were avulsed, the skull was mushy. The lower jaw dislocated. The deer went into a shiver after being shot and never left the spot where it was shot.

My general assessment of the Scirocco II 90 grain bullet shot out of a Broughton 20", 1:8, 5C barrel is very favorable. I think both Bill Hobert at Swift Bullets and Tim North at Broughton are making very good products. I know the Scirocco 150 grain work well in my .308 Winchester and the 180 grain bullets work well in my .300 Win Mag.

Rustystud
a/k/a Nathaniel G. Lamabth. Sr.
Custom Guns and Ammunition

 

[HTSmith]

Would you mind sharing your hunting load. I have box of the 90 Grainers and need to load up a batch for my nephews 243?

PS Do you think a 6 BR would push them fast enough to take a big doe at about 200 yds?

 

[Rustystud]

HTSMITH:

I worked up loads for my gun. I found 48 grains of Reloaded 19 in my .243 Winchester gave me .7, 5 shot groups This may be too hot for some guns, I suggest always working up loads.

I have a customer who shoots a 6BRX in a 32 inch Broughton barrel. He is getting 3080fps. I don't know what length barrel you are shooting your 6BR but if you can get 2950 or above the Scirocco would be the ticket. They mushroom but hold together without blowing up. I don't think you will be disapointed. I hear people complain about their cost. How many do you shoot in your hunting rifle. $1.00 a piece is not much when you can get 25 pounds of meat of a 90 pound doe.

I hear of folks shooting Nosler Balistic tips at whitetails. Yes, they will kill a whitetail grave yard dead. I know because I have shot over 200 whitetails with them in the bean fields. But 9 out of 10 times you will have jacket core seperation. The Swift Scirocco, Nosler Accubond is a much better hunting bullet and we all know about the Partitions and A-frames.

The new Sciroccos are made with a solfter more ductile copper jacket so as to be able to shoot in the smaller diameter bullets and not create preasure and frangmentation problems.

For those who want an accurate bullet with controled expansion, bonded core and a polimer tip the Scirocco is the best bullet on the market hands down.
Rustystud

 

[shcal]

Before I re barreled my rifle into a 6BR I shot a 22-250 AI and purchased one of the first batches of 75 gr Sciroccos. Wow, what a bullet on ground squirrels! I loved it but I also learned one thing about it, you need to ream a chamber just for that .224 bullet, it is so long that I had difficulty with my free-bore being long enough, I was consistently getting very sticky bolt lift with this bullet, I just could not seat it long enough for my chamber. So be ware if you shoot them in .224 caliber, they are LONG.
shcal