140 TSX or 150 Scirrocco

[genecole]

Will be working up a load for my 7mm STW before long and was wondering which bullets you guys reccommended. i will be hunting whitetails and exotic deer, hogs, and anything else up to aoudad or possibly red deer. Will the Scirroccos hold up to 7mm STW velocities at short ranges? Most shots will be at less than 250 but may have some long ones out to or beyond 500.
Thanks,
Gene Cole III

[ 06-16-2004: Message edited by: Gene Cole III ]

 

[dakor]

I would go with the TSX just make sure you have a clear shot or you will be picking up two animals instead of one.

 

[genecole]

I have had good luck with the performance of the 160 TSX on deer. the one i shot with a previous STW was about 80 yards away and the bullet penetrated about 25-30 inches and broke a shoulder on the way out. it was under the hide on the off side and weighed 160.1 grains. i was thinking the 140 might give me a little more velocity to open up on those long shots better.
Gene Cole III

 

[dakor]

Gene I shoot both the 140 and 160 TSX in my 7MM STW Remington Sendero with the 140gr I am at 3613 fps and with the 160gr 3276 fps and there are no signs of pressure from either load but every rifle is different. I would say with the 140gr you should be able to get around the 3500 fps mark pretty easy if you have a 26 inch barrel. Dont worry about a Barnes X with close shots I dont think there is a cartridge that can push them fast enough to come apart they are probably the tuffest bullet I have seen and they take game down quick if you do your part.

 

[Guest]

Gene Cole III,

Last October I shot A Mulie and An antelope in Wyoming with my 7 STW. I used the Barnes XLC's (Blue Meanies!) because at that time there was no TSX to speak of.

I'll tell you this, Mulie 216 Yards and Lope at 48 yards. Neither took a step. Dropped in their tracks.

The terminal performance of this bullet is the best. You are not going to blow it up.

The accuracy of the XLC's was pitiful. So I switched to 156 Cauterucios. The TSX just came out when I purchased the Cauterucio's or I would have tried them next. This was before the good reports on the TSX bullets and I wasn't about to try barnes again.
I was very angry about passing up a 290 yard shot on a beautiful lope because these bullets were shooting so bad.

If you can shoot TSX with good accuracy....do it!

One note about the 7 STW. This is a fast 7mm. You may want to try the heavier bullets like 160's in order to improve accuracy. The 3600 FPS of the 140s might not be as accurate as the 3200-3300 fps of the 160.

 

[John Burns]

I have shot a lot of both the Scirocco and the XBT in the 7mm STW and I prefer the Scirocco.

This is based on seeing over 15 bulls in the past 2 years shot with both bullets (in 7mm STWs) at ranges from 200 to 800 yds.

The Scirocco will not penetrate as deeply but makes a larger wound channel and I get more slap for lack of a better word with the Sciroccos. Most of the game we shoot for the show is broadside and there is plenty of penetration for any reasonable shot.

Because the game you are listing is significantly smaller than elk I bet you won't have any problem with penetration.

The real answer is what ever you want to use because I have a hard time believing you will ever lose an animal to either bullet because they are both very good.

X bullets trade some wound channel diameter for length and Sciroccos trade some length for diameter.

 

[Jon A]

The Scirocco will have a MUCH higher BC than the TSX and be much easier to hit with in the 600 yd range if you get similar accuracy. But if they're too soft for your tastes for close shots, you might want to look at the 160 AccuBond. It'll have a slightly higher BC than the Swift and I'd trust it to penetrate farther at close range.

 

[Jon A]

Double Post.

[ 06-27-2004: Message edited by: Jon A ]

 

[John Burns]

I have shot the 160 Accu bond and it has a lower BC than the 150 Scirroco. I have not shot the 140 TSX but Barnes give it a .477 BC (G1). They are usually pretty close. They publish a .529 for the 150 XBT and I get a real .510 or so. (I use a .245 on the G7 so this is close.) There is not a nickels worth of difference at 600 yds with the slight speed advantage the 140 offers over the 150.

From what I have seen with one bull the accu bond is harder (338 ultra). I would have liked some more expansion. The bull was hit to far back on a quartering shot and the bullet only got one lung.(535 yds) An hour later when we found him he could still run. I thought the bullet should have done more damage. We examined the wound channel and it was not as big as I would have expected.

The Nosler has some antimony in the core and a guilding metal jacket where the Swift is pure lead core and pure copper jacket.

If the bullet had been placed further forward I assume no follow up would have been neccesary but with that experience and the lower BC of the Noslers I think the Swift bullets work better for what I want a bullet to do.

The Nosler have always shot well in my limited experience but Nosler always could make a bullet shoot well.

[ 07-01-2004: Message edited by: John Burns ]

 

[Jon A]

How are you testing these, John? Are you correcting for atmospheric conditions? Did you test the 150 Scirocco the same day the 150 XBT measured a .510? If so, you might wonder why the Swift measured so much higher even though it's advertised lower than Barnes advertises the XBT.

In any case, if you test the 140 TSX on the same day as the 150 Scirocco, I'll eat a box of them if they measure a BC 93% as high as the Swift as advertised. It will be much lower. Enough to increase wind drift substancially at long range.

 

[Oldguns]

Interesting post...I used a 150 grain Scirocco shot from a 7mm Dakota last year on a big Canadian whitetail. Shot was close approx. 70 yards. Bullet totally blew up(pancaked) on both shots. Got the deer but will not use them again. Thinking of another bullet...with the TSX 140 grain in the forefront

 

[John Burns]

I think this discussion belongs in Bullets, Ballistics and Barrels and I will post a reply there if anyone is interested.

thanks
John