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Thinking about switching to 155 scenar

backyardsniper

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 29, 2011
385
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45
pottsville, ky
I shoot a good bit of 308. I run an AT with a 20" no brake. Its kind of my go to hunting rifle and I have been running nosler 168 CC for a long time and I have a lot of them but I was looking at the 155 scenar the other day and I had no idea the had that high of a BC IN a 155 bullets. I hunt with match bullets, obviously since I run the 168 so that's not a concern. I'm somewhat familiar with the scenar as I used.to run them in a TRG. My point is it looks like the high BC with the speed you can generate with a 155 would make a hell of a combo. I just wanted to get some opinions from some.guys that have first hand experience with them. Powder valley has a good price on them and I was thinking about picking up 1K to try them out.
 
I run them in one of my 308's exclusively, prior to the insanity you could get them in a 1000ct box for around $400 at Graf's. I am a guide in the hill country of Tx and have shot numerous native and exotic animals with them, and in my experience they perform better in meat than a large number of hunting bullets. Varget at 47 grains is the old magic highpower shoots in anything load, however please work up to that level, as it can be on the warm side in some rifles.
 
I used to run 155 SMK’s and they hammered everything that I shot with them.
 
I shoot a good bit of 308. I run an AT with a 20" no brake. Its kind of my go to hunting rifle and I have been running nosler 168 CC for a long time and I have a lot of them but I was looking at the 155 scenar the other day and I had no idea the had that high of a BC IN a 155 bullets. I hunt with match bullets, obviously since I run the 168 so that's not a concern. I'm somewhat familiar with the scenar as I used.to run them in a TRG. My point is it looks like the high BC with the speed you can generate with a 155 would make a hell of a combo. I just wanted to get some opinions from some.guys that have first hand experience with them. Powder valley has a good price on them and I was thinking about picking up 1K to try them out.

I run the 155 Scenars in an AI AW and they are very accurate at close range, especially when you consider how fast you can get them moving out of a long barrel.
When you get out closer to the 1000 yard range, you'll have to be pretty mindful of the wind, but they will get there just fine.
 
I also made the move to 155 Scenars for target and hunting just this year. They grouped well out of my 1/10 twist 18 inch barrel with 46.3 grains of Varget. Have yet to check velocity. I took two does with no recovery problems.
 
Lots of love for the 139 and 155 scenar - Pat Sinclair led me to the water and it’s mighty tasty.

 
I shoot 155 Scenars out of my 20" GAP AR10 10 twist Rock barrel in Tactical matches out to 1000 yards. They easily shoot 1/2 MOA or less all the way to 1000 yards. I have also shot a few whitetails with the 155 Lapua's out of the same rifle. Dropped every one in their tracks 1 shot 1 kill.
I will take the 155 Scenars over any other bullet in a .308.
 
Well that settles that. I'm gonna scoop a bunch of the 155 and 250's for my 338. They have 155's at powder valley for $361 per thousand I believe if any body else needs some
 
Good hunting bullet even tho its not marketed as such,,, killed a ton of whitetails and a few fallow deer w that bullet.
 
Exit wound from a double lung shot at 100 yards. 20 inch barrel doing 2850.
20201127_083308.jpg
 
Not scenars but I used to shoot factory hornady 155eld match ammo out of a 24” howa 1500. It shot flatter than my buddies 18” 6.5cm with 123gr eld ammo.

I really liked that combo. I just hated using longer barrels and went 18.5” barrel with the berger 185gr juggernauts.
 
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I have used older normal 155gr scenar (gb491) for long time and they have been proved very good for long range .30 cal bullet. I am using them with 20" barreled Hk. The rifle likes it with vihtavuori n150 powder at 46.8gr with coal 71.85mm. Muzzle velocity with this combination is about 850 m/s. Performance wise it has been very good from 100 to 1000 meters. With previous barrel I could usually do average 120 mm groupings at 500 meters. At 500 meters the drop is 3.2 mrad and for thousand meters it is around 12 mrad. Also last summer managed score hit to 1575 meters with that bullet, which was quite a strectch.

The problem is that Lapua discontinued the old gb491 recently. The new replacing product has been on market for a while, the scenar-l 155gr bullet (gb552). However I have heard quite mixed experiences with them. Lapua is stating that they are maide with tighter tolerances. Also the shape is different, however it is still having same BC that the older gb491.

From previous expriences I am liking 155 weight class little bit more than 168 or 175. Flatter shooting with good bc. Your mileage may vary depending on barrel lenght. Also 155 scenars has been quite easy to find an accurate load. I would qive a vote to atleast test those.

Compared the 155gr .30 cal to my .260 remington utilizing 139 gr scenar with 860 m/s velocity the differences are quite minor shootig to 500 meters. Difference is only 3 clicks. At thousand meters the is more noticeble difference. There . 260 has 2.4 mrad less drop.
 
Man all this talk,, now I need a 308 again. Push the 155 at 3000-3050fps w Lapua brass and it’s no slouch at 1k.
 
My Bartlein barrel gets here Wednesday and I’m sending it off for a 19 or 20” 308 shortly...

Creedmoor sports is selling their ammo with Lapua brass and the 155 scenar for $1.50/round. Not a bad price considering the price of components today.
 
So Lapua has discontinued the 155 gr Scenar in favor of the Scenar L with the same weight and BC.

Is it reasonable to believe that a charge weight that works for the Scenar 155 gr will also work for the Scenar L? I've been shooting the old school Scenar 155 gr out of my 308 and I don't want to go through the load development process all over.
 
My guess is yes. The changes to the Scenar-L are to improve external ballistics, and shouldn’t affect internal ballistics.

Shoot some and let us know. I want to try those.