Switching away from 210 Berger to a 180 Swift Scirocco

Magnum61

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I wanted to put this out there and see if anyone had any experience with the 180 Scirocco. I have a half minute load with 210 Bergers but the last 5 tags of deer and antelope I've filled with it makes me want to go back to a bonded bullet.

Looking at the 180 Scirocco because I have a 1/11" twist in my 26" Lilja 300 Win Mag barrel.

Any experience would be helpful. Thanks!
 

wyo

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I haven't personally used the Sciroccos so I'm not much help there. They do have an excellent reputation though. If I may ask, what have you experienced with the Berger 210's that has you wanting to make the switch?
 
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Magnum61

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I haven't personally used the Sciroccos so I'm not much help there. They do have an excellent reputation though. If I may ask, what have you experienced with the Berger 210's that has you wanting to make the switch?

Thanks, Wyo - To give some background, I'm comparing 3 Mule Deer and 1 Antelope. Ranges Shot - 410, 150, 512, & 340. Load velocity of 2845.

The bullets expansion is very delayed. Seemed like it starts to open up just prior to exiting. Everything needed a second shot to put down. I wouldn't have a problem with this bullet on elk in this load but I thought I would see if anyone had any input on the Scirocco.

I've had a 200gr Accubond load that worked well but I had always been curious about the Scirocco.
 

JimGa

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The 6.5's I tried in my 260 liked alot of jump, around 100 thou off or more. When I called them they said to start at 50 thou off and go deeper.
 

Wrench

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I've killed a few elk and deer with them. I wouldn't have left if the availability was better at the time. I drove them with a 300rum and had bulls catch them as close as 20 feet and they didn't explode.

Not a bad choice. It does everything well and Nothing great.
 

Ryan Avery

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Sciroccos are flat nasty on animals, killed several elk, deer, and bears with them. One word of caution. They are a very hard bullet. Once you get past 500 yards you may have trouble getting them to open consistently. I would suggest looking at the Berger 215.
 
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Magnum61

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Sciroccos are flat nasty on animals, killed several elk, deer, and bears with them. One word of caution. They are a very hard bullet. Once you get past 500 yards you may have trouble getting them to open consistently. I would suggest looking at the Berger 215.

Ryan - Thank you! I appreciate that. My issue is that I have a 1/11" twist barrel and the 210's are on the edge of being stabilized in that twist. I can't even shoot the 190 & 210 ABLR or the 212 ELD X in this barrel.

I'm thinking I should just go back to the 200gr Accubond now. I shot that before but I was breaking the tips off when they fed into the chamber. I just swapped to an HS mag so the center feed mag should avoid all of that.

Could you elaborate on your experiences with Scirocco?

FYI - I've been going through your podcast. It's been great!
 
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Magnum61

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I've killed a few elk and deer with them. I wouldn't have left if the availability was better at the time. I drove them with a 300rum and had bulls catch them as close as 20 feet and they didn't explode.

Not a bad choice. It does everything well and Nothing great.

Thanks, Wrench! Any worries opening at range? I'm thinking I can get these to 3100 in my 300 win mag
 

slick

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Buddie's father uses a 264win mag with scirocco's. I shot my first bull with that combo and all it took was 1 and done. I'm a fan of bonded bullets and would like to have him work up a load for my 300 using them. Tagged along for this.
 

Roy68

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My brother uses sciroccos in his 7RUM. A couple of elk & several deer under 500 yds to date and those did not take a second step.
 

Sodbuster

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Good Whitetail in North Missouri this past season.
6.5-300 Weatherby.492 yards.


3b258936c450f015babc490774be6342.jpg
2d1a6ac7c32dfafdcb5c685b484cc00f.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ryan Avery

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A Scirocco is a bullet the Accubond wishes it was, great bullet.:) The trouble we had with them at longer ranges was if we didn't hit bone they would and could zip right through. The first gen Sciroccos came apart easier I sometimes wish they would not have improved them.

I am not joking, if I knew I was shooting under 600 yards I would shoot no other bullet out of a RUM.

I would talk to @Broz about the 11 twist with the 215s. I have no Idea about that.
 

Wrench

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Thanks, Wrench! Any worries opening at range? I'm thinking I can get these to 3100 in my 300 win mag
I never connected beyond about 650....but no issue there, again that a 300rum @3300ish.... so you should do the math to see impact velocity differences.
 
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Magnum61

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I have used the 180 Scirocco out of 30-06 with great results.

Also the 210 scirocco even more so out of a 338-06. In fact I am using that setup this spring on my spring Kodiak brown bear hunt. My wife will likely be backing me up with her 308 and 180 sciroccos. For general hunting 500 yards and less which is really what I am trying to stick to even though I can and have killed critters further the Scirocco is tough to beat IMO.

Like Ryan said the Scirocco is what the Accubond wants to be when it grows up. ;) That said the 200 Accubond is a good option. Why did you move to the 210 berger the better BC?

Thanks Luke - this is very helpful. I moved to the Berger because at the time I was in Portland, OR and I was fortunate enough to get around a LR shooting group that hunted and had access to some private ranges. They talked me into using it and I was very happy with the accuracy an consistency. Still am, to be frank. This load has consistently shot 3-4" groups at 550-650yds more times than I can count. It just has shown to be VERY delayed expansion in this load. Actually looked at going to the 200gr. Sierra GK and Sierra told me that bullet wouldn't open on smaller game, the jacket was built for Elk and Moose.

I'm open to any input and direction. I'm a 1 load guy, that was my original idea around the 200gr Accubond. That's why I was looking at the Scirocco. 85% weight retention on a high BC 180gr compared to the 65% on the 200gr Accubond. Especially if I could get them near or at 3100fps with accuracy.

Any thoughts?
 
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Magnum61

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Good Whitetail in North Missouri this past season.
6.5-300 Weatherby.492 yards.


3b258936c450f015babc490774be6342.jpg
2d1a6ac7c32dfafdcb5c685b484cc00f.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sodbuster - Great Buck! and great recovered mushroom! This may be a crazy question but are these bullets audible on impact? I remember the Accubond having a very load "WHAP" when they hit.
 
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Magnum61

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I would give the Scirocco a whirl then. You are absolutely correct about the weight rention on Accubond vs. Scirocco.

I have been using the 210 Scirocco in my 338-06 at over 2800 fps. Have had excellent results on caribou, moose, girzzly and brown bears. Have only recovered 2 bullets. One retained roughly 88% when I shot a moose head on through both sides of the skull and deep into the neck at less than 10 yards. The other went long ways through a 10' brown bear this spring at less than 100 yards. It weighed 196.6 grains (over 93% retention) and expanded to over .750".

Sometimes more violent expansion is better as well but its nice to know I am not gonna have a high speed come apart before the vitals as well. :) Like anything there is a balance I wouldn't expect a Scirocco to open very well below 1800 FPS but if you stay within the velocity limits they have proven very effective.

That's great perspective! Thank you for that.
 

Sodbuster

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Sodbuster - Great Buck! and great recovered mushroom! This may be a crazy question but are these bullets audible on impact? I remember the Accubond having a very load "WHAP" when they hit.

Magnum, I can't answer that one as the Whitetail was shot by a gunsmith buddy.I tried the 130's in a Creedmoor with great accuracy but did not shoot any game with it this year.
Not a crazy question, usually when I hear that sound, good things have happened.

Have you looked at a twist rate calculator for your velocity and 1:11 barrel. Looks like the 180 is in a sweet spot with plenty of terminal performance.
 

Formidilosus

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Have mostly use the .224 75gr version, but those do well above 2k FPS impact.



Another one to really look at is the Federal Edge TLR.
 
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