Lapua Scenar Ammo
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sumpnz
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I've heard of a few people around here using Scenars for hunting. But I would question why one would feel the need. They're meant to be paper punchers (and in some cases people punchers), but they were never designed for use on game animals.
Hunters (normally at least) strive to produce the fastest, most humane killing shot on an animal that they possibly can. To me, that means in part using a bullet designed to impart maximum tissue damage to the vital organs. That means a controlled expansion bullet that will also retain as much weight as practiable for the given species. In the case of varmints, you want violent fragmentation. For large game like deer you want a bullet that will expand easilly but still hold together in the typical deer body structure. Elk/moose require an even tougher bullet that expands a bit slower that will stay together even after striking heavy leg bones.
The Scenar is none of those. It's a hollow tip but essentially FMJ type projectile, similar to the SMK. The hollow tip is an artifact of the production technique, and is not meant to signify any intended performance characteristic. The terminal ballistics will see it possibly tumble, maybe fragment, and if it expands it will do so in unreliable and unpredictable ways. Given all the other costs involved in hunting you're better of to spend the little bit extra get some Partitions or TSX bullets if you need something "premium". They'll perform much better on game animals. And the accuracy with them will be indistiguishable in the field from a Scenar.
Hunters (normally at least) strive to produce the fastest, most humane killing shot on an animal that they possibly can. To me, that means in part using a bullet designed to impart maximum tissue damage to the vital organs. That means a controlled expansion bullet that will also retain as much weight as practiable for the given species. In the case of varmints, you want violent fragmentation. For large game like deer you want a bullet that will expand easilly but still hold together in the typical deer body structure. Elk/moose require an even tougher bullet that expands a bit slower that will stay together even after striking heavy leg bones.
The Scenar is none of those. It's a hollow tip but essentially FMJ type projectile, similar to the SMK. The hollow tip is an artifact of the production technique, and is not meant to signify any intended performance characteristic. The terminal ballistics will see it possibly tumble, maybe fragment, and if it expands it will do so in unreliable and unpredictable ways. Given all the other costs involved in hunting you're better of to spend the little bit extra get some Partitions or TSX bullets if you need something "premium". They'll perform much better on game animals. And the accuracy with them will be indistiguishable in the field from a Scenar.
PotatoJudge
Member
You got an excellent answer from sumpnz. Feel free to google it if you didn't get the answer you wanted. Tons of people have started identical threads all over the web. Maybe someone gave the answer you want and did it with few enough words to please you.
skinewmexico
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Shoot something and see. I bet it works fine. Bergers work pretty well too.
Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow
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longdayjake
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there were some gel tests done on the 6.5 scenars by the folks promoting 6.5 grendel. I can't get on the site to get you a link here from work, but if you go to the 6.5 grendel forum it should not be too hard to find. My personal opinion is that the 6.5 is a superior hunting round for pretty much any non dangerous game in the US regargdless of whether they are soft point or hollow point. You will find on 6.5 grendel that the 123 grain matchking performed as well as hollow points did. My bet is that the scenar is similar in performance. Sorry that I have no actual experience with the scenars but I figured that I could atleast direct you to people that do.
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