Just got back from an antelope hunt in south east Colorado. I was hunting the Kim Ranching for Wildlife area for the second time. Great country and a beautiful ranch. Filled my doe antelope tag early yesterdaay morning with a really big doe.

Used a Remington Model 700 Classic in 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser topped with a Burris 3x9 FullField II. Shot her at about 125 yards with a 131 gr bullet and as is usual with the Swede, it worked perfectly.

So, I've got an antelope to butcher. Anybody else filling tags this weekend?

Cheers Mac

Congrats on the hunt and compliments on a fine rifle, my 6.5's have always been some of my favorites. Low noise, low recoil, plenty of power and trajectory. The 129gr. Hornady is a favorite of mine, I had an M70 FWT shoot them to 2800fps and under an inch at 200 yards. Too bad antelope are extremely rare up here, I'd love to try hunting them.

131 gr bullet, would that be a Sellier and Beloit load? One of my 6.5's will group a 1/2 inches or better with that stuff. Super cheap too. I bought somthing like four cases of it, for around $6 dollars a box. Been useing it as pratice ammo.

Congrats of filling the tag -- not to mention the freezer. The 6.5x55 is one of my favorite rifle rounds and is among the most balanced of cartridges available. You can burn more powder, absorb more recoil and subject yourself to more muzzle blast, but when it comes to medium game, there is little else that kills as efficiently and effectively as a properly-placed 6.5mm, 140 grain bullet. ANd those long, slender bullets have a high sectional density, so when you launch them at the modest Swede velocities, they penetrate extremely well, negating the need for "premium" bullets. The part of Texas I live in has a high population density of wild hogs, and the 6.5x55 performs admirably on these tough critters, including some rather large ones I've been fortunate enough to take.

All well and good... except you used the 6,5x55 period. It`s not a Mauser cartrigde, it was made in the United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway (1814-1905).

Sorry to disagree, but I believe it is a Mauser designed cartridge. Every reloading book including the info on this site call it the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. Mauser made and designed cartridges for most the military in Europe. The 7x57 is sometimes caalled the Spanish Mauser because the caliber was made for Spain's army. There is also a 6.5 Portugese Mauser and don't forget the 7.65 Argentine Mauser. All designed by the Mauser Company.

Not worth getting into a pissing contest over, it's still a great cartridge.

Mac

You can diagree all you want, but it will not change the facts.
Mauser designed the 6,5x57 not the x55 - if you look at the casehead diameter you will see that the x55 is slightly larger than the family of Mauser cartrigdes.

The reason many calls it the "Swedish Mauser" is quite simply that it was chambered for the "Swedish" Mauser. Norway, though in union with Sweden, did not buy German guns but chambered the 6,5x55 in the Norwegian Krag-Jørgensen. (You do know the US Krag-Jorgensen was designed in Norway...? )

Point is: There is only one blueprint for the 6,5x55 and it has no official name other than the metric designation.

Congrats and congrats on getting the damn tag. I have 3 points so far. At this point I'll just wait another year or two and get a buck tag.

Got my interest up being a 6.5x55 owner. Looked this up on the internet written in a sporting magazine in the UK.


"This round has a rather illustrious history, "having started development by both Norway and Sweden during the 1890’s as their standard military round. Slight Swedish case dimension modifications for Mauser (up to World War I) and subsequently Carl Gustaf built rifles, led to the cartridge that many of us have come to appreciate in today’s sporting environments." Smoker1

Smoker1
The development were done by a group of Swedish and Norvegian engineers given the orders to make a common cartrigde for the armies of the union.

The myth of "the different 6,5x55s" comes from the different practices in Norway and Sweden when it came to manufacture of military materiel. The swedes were influenced by the germans and used the minimum numbers when they started to manufacture the common cartrigde, the norwegians were influenced by the british and using the maximum numbers of the blueprint. Results: The swedes had problems using norwegian manufactured ammo in their Mausers. This caused quite a stir in the media at the time. Especially since the union were having trouble because the norwegians wanted their own consulates abroad, something the swedish government refused. It ended in 1905 july 7 when the norwegian national assembly concluded that they could no longer share a king with the swedes which did not support their view.

Today the national shooting asscotiations in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and I belive, Finland) has agreed to use 6,5x55 rifles and ammo manufactured to the middle numbers in the blueprint. Rifles and ammo intended for this standard is marked "6,5x55 Scan".

The process of the development and history of the 6,5x55 is well documented.

Well written and very interesting,Tordenskiold.
That is a very complex history. I really appreciate your effort to write it. Now on to the wonderful 6.5x55 SWEDE. I have just finished tuning a M70 FWT. What a wonderful cartridge!! Fooled the hell out of me, as the light powder charge gave me to wonder if there was gonna be enough poop. Well...what an ass kicker! I have shot several white tail and it will kill them through the shoulders, through the heart, and through the lungs as well as any cartridge I own. Everything I have read was true. Wish I bought this rifle 20 years ago. Good shooting, Smoker1

Mac, I just filled two antelope tags near Kemmerer,Wy in September; The first at 304 and the second at 351. I used my Sako Hunter in 6.5x55 and 120 Nosler BTs, which worked as advertised. Both animals dropped as if hit by lightning.