Swift Scirocco Bullets - Performance on PG and North American Game

This post is a request from me to all of the AH hunters asking for hunting stories about your use of the Swift Scirocco bullets in any caliber on big game from African PG to North American big game such as deer, elk and moose.

I love a good bonded bullet. I think it can be one of the best combinations of weight retention, penetration and terminal performance on big game animals. I also like the Barnes TSX/TTSX bullets and have had good results with them as well. But, for the most impressive results ever, I was using a bonded bulled. Not a Swift but a Federal Fusion. It got me five African one shot kills using a 308. After that I used it on whitetail deer using a 7mm Mag. Impressive but, I never thought the Fusion was the best.

Two years ago at the SCI convention, I had the opportunity to meet Bill Hober, CEO of the Swift Bullet Co. I did not know who he was at the time. He just happened to be the only guy manning the Swift booth that day. I had purchased some big A-Frames to take to Africa and was discussing those with Bill. That was when he told me about the Scirocco. Bill said that it was designed for PG hunting with a bonded core and thinner jacket than the A-Frame to produce more rapid expansion in thinner skinned game while retaining all or most of its weight. According to Bill, it was "All you need for PG hunting and any hunting in North America". That was a strong claim. At the time, I was only able to obtain A-Frames for my 308 PG rifle and it really did not shoot them the best, so I left them at home and used the Fusions because they were also bonded and at least similar in construction to the Scirocco. Since then, I have been able to get ammo loaded for my 30-06, 7mm/08 and my 270 using the Swift Scirocco II bullets. But, I have not had the opportunity to shoot any game animals with them.

I am taking my 30-06 with me on a Canada Moose and Elk hunt this fall soon but it is to be my long range back up rifle and not my main hunting rifle. It will be loaded with 180g Sciroccos running about 2775 fps MV. Those are actual chrono numbers out of my old Husky Swedish Mauser. It is a rifle that I have a lot of confidence in. But, I have never used it with the Scirocco.

My request to all of you is this. Tell us about your hunting experience with the Swift Scirocco. What rifle, cartridge, bullet weight did you use? What muzzle velocity did it have? What range was the animal and where did you hit it? How did it perform? Would you use it again? Pic is looking down range over my old Huskey at our 400y range, as I was fine tuning my dope out to that max distance. It is zero'ed at 200y and drops 0.8 mil at 300y and 1.6 mil at 400y. It manages to maintain sub moa groups at all of those ranges at least on a calm wind day.

Main the other year. Took a doe at 273m

Small buck from last season taken at about 15m

Using 180grn h4350 avg 2635fps. From an old 3006 rem 700 keeps just shy of one inch groups.

I agree with the Fusions are awesome bullets for PG I finally found some A frames for my 416 and it took me like 6 mo of searching and finally was able to get 200 of them and I kept searching for actual Swift ammo and bullets none to be found. As someone stated here he is older and has no desire to grow the business to meet demand then I'm out. They spend a lot of money advertising but don't ramp production makes no sense. So I decided yesterday to dump mine not going to waste my time working up loads to not find any replacements in the near future. I'll stick with my fusions, corelokt and barnes.

Shaw said:

I agree with the Fusions are awesome bullets for PG I finally found some A frames for my 416 and it took me like 6 mo of searching and finally was able to get 200 of them and I kept searching for actual Swift ammo and bullets none to be found. As someone stated here he is older and has no desire to grow the business to meet demand then I'm out. They spend a lot of money advertising but don't ramp production makes no sense. So I decided yesterday to dump mine not going to waste my time working up loads to not find any replacements in the near future. I'll stick with my fusions, corelokt and barnes.

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FYI - I have some of the Swift branded ammo for my 7mm/08 and 7mm RM and found both to be loaded to conservative velocity and still lacked the higher precision that low pressure loads often produce. That was a big turn off for me. Federal Premium occasionally loads ammo with Sciroocos and it is higher in velocity and higher in precision (lower SD's) and still costs less than the Swift branded stuff. Two thumbs up for Federal (if you can get it). Double Tap also offers some ammo with Swift bullets but theirs are loaded close to the max. This often results in higher std deviations in the velocity which is not the recipe for precision. But, this does vary by cartridge and rifle. I have some 235g 375HH ammo by them that is loaded with TTSX bullets that are screaming hot (3050fps) and still shoot well despite SD's in the teens. Have others in my 30-06 loaded with 180g Sciroccos that are also screaming hot but still have SD's in the singled digits. That is pretty good and are getting about 100fps more velocity than typical.

Swift makes great bullets. That is their forte and they are good at it. They do the different calibers in batches over the year(s) and as a result, the most popular bullets are not always available. As a reloader, you have to buy them when you can get them.

Anyone else have hunting stories using Swift Scirocco bullets on large game? Please share.

I’ve shot the 180 grain sirroccos, loaded by Remington out of one of my 30-06s. I’ve only shot whitetail deer and hogs with this combo. Absolutely devastating on both. I would hesitate to use them on PG in Africa and any thing up to elk or moose here in North America.