I greatly enjoyed the thread on the 7x57. When I am out of college, I plan on buying a bolt-action rifle to be my #1 gun until my hunting days are done (a long long time I hope). I have been considering a Win 70 featherwieght in 6.5x55 topped with a 2.5-8 Leupold Vari-XIII. I have heard many wonderful reports about this cartridge and the gun. But my main interest is learning more about what actual hunters who use the cartridge have to say about. Who here hunts with the 6.5mm Swede? What is your favortie bullet and for what game?

------------------
Let the strucken deer go weep
The hart ungalled play
For some must watch while some must sleep
Thus runs the world away
-Hamlet

Hi,
Here in Sweden about 150 000 hunters use the 6,5x55 for any game up to and inkluding Moose -so have I, but use my 6,5x55 novadays only for game up to fallow deer. The 6,5x55 with a good 156 grain bullet (like Norma Oryx) kills safely the biggest moose.

Husky

It is a fine cartridge no matter how you look at it. Very flat shooting, excellent bullet selection, and good killing power with mild recoil. I have seen many penetration tests on various bullets and the little 6.5 performs much better than it appears on paper. The long skinny bullets really push their way through whatever is in front of them. I see that you live in New York. That means you will be hunting mainly deer. The 6.5 Swede is an ideal cartridge for them. I have shot them with 140 grainers and 120's. Both dropped deer in their tracks but I prefer the 120's due to lighter recoil and better velocity. The Winchester would be a nice rifle and should serve you well.

I do. I use it as my allround rifle, from birds up to moose. For small game I have started to use 123 grs lapua scenars with good results and for big game, normas 156 grs "alaska". I am not going to use the alaska anymore though, since I recently recovered a bullet from a moose�s neck. Only the core of the bullet was left. From now on I will only use bonded bullets, but I dont know which yet. It is a great caliber and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

/M

[This message has been edited by Umebo (edited 11-13-2001).]

I have had several rifles in 6,5x55 and found all of them to be very accurate, easy to reload and to maintain. But still, I think the biggest plus with the caliber is that you get a lot of killingpower in a neat package with a low amount of perceived recoil. But be cautious about using it on tougher animals (I consider the swedish moose quite "soft") like some antelopes and brown bear.

I've used the swede on deer for many years. With the 140gr bullets on they punched clean through them, every time! However the 120gr bullets were much more "explosive" and destructive to internal organs. In either case, I haven't yet needed to shoot a deer more than once and they didn't run far.

I do a lot of hunting with one, I have five such rifles in my safe. I like 160 gr Hornaday RN with a good load of RL-22. But any good bullet will do. You should buy that M-70 and just put a good fixed 4x scope on it. You could cook up a good load for a 140 gr Nosler Partition and never look back. Shoot everything in the lower forty eight and a good bit of alaska and the rest of the world too. The only thing about the M-70 I don't like is that they put a 22 inch barrel on it. The 6.5 x 55 is best with a 24 inch barrel. Its just a small thing, I would still buy a M-70 so chambered. The key to the 6.5 x 55 is good handloads and good bullets. Just about any 6.5 bullet is a good bullet.

I have the Win 70 Featherweight you mention with a Nikon 4x40 mounted. Nice combo, in my opinion. Watch out for the length of that scope, as I found that the scope was able to come back only so far, even with offset front mount, before the taper out to the objective bell stopped it. My favorite bullet so far is the Nosler 140gr. Partition. Good accuracy with RL-22, best 5 shot group about 3/8". (That was a very good day shooting) Deer shot in the heart/lung region tend to travel about 50-80 yards, then expire suddenly. Never find the bullets, pass completely through. I think you couldn't do better. As well, but not better. Mike.

Adirondack Joe
I use a 6.5x55 (and a 8x57) a fair bit. My rifle is a converted military rifle, it has a new sporter stock, bolt handle etc,I put a new military barrel on it two years ago and haven't looked back. I used it last week to take two boars, one about 80kg and the other a bit over 100kg, I also shot a donkey with it. I could not fault its performance, especially on the donkey as they are tough buggers to put down. Bullets used were 120gr Sierra's and 129gr Hornady's. As soon as I fire off my remaining 120/129 grainers I will select a 140gr bullet and stick with that for every thing. You'll do alright with the 6.5x55, good luck.
Bakes

The 6.5 Swede must be exceptionally accurate as Federal has added the cartridge to their lineup of "Gold Medal Centerfire" match quality ammo. It joins the .223, .308, .30-06, and .300 win. mag in that series of ammo.

I used to, and a 6.5x57 also, but I have modernized, and now carry a .260. Mine like the 129 Hornadys best so that is what I use on everything. I don't hunt really big stuff anymore, just whitetails, black bear and feral hogs. That's what we have here in E. Tennessee. If I was going for something bigger I might consider a 140, but the fastest elk death I ever witnessed came with a 129 Hornady out of a 6.5 Rem. Mag.

Hi AJ

I have had a couple of 6.5x55, both of them modern sporters. My current Swede has a 20 inch barrel with a 1:9 twist. It shoots a range of bullets from 100gr � 160 gr with MOA accuracy. I have dropped everything from 15lb muntjac to 400lb Stags with it. It has killed scores of roe and fallow for me. 98% have been one shot kills. I would never part with it. I recent weeks I have started using the Nosler 125 gr Partition but I have not yet killed more than 6 deer with it � roe and muntjac only so the bullet has not really had to do any work. However I am intending to shoot a young male red deer (275lb+) on Sunday with the 125 partitions.

Until recently I used the 100 grain Nosler BT for everything but that was before I took on a patch of land with bigger stuff than roe on it. I found the 100 grain Nosler BT extremely accurate but at 2950 fps is was a bit of a meat wrecker on small-framed roe and muntjac.

My preferred bullet when I worked for a professional deer hunter with a big cull contract on fallow was the Speer 120 hot cor at 2750 fps. It is nothing special but it was very accurate and never failed me for over 60 fallow over one winter.

I aim to push everything from 120-160 grain out at 2550-2350 fps in my short barrelled rifle. Flat enough out to 180 metres, which is far enough for me.

It is a sweet shooting cartridge and you will never regret getting one.

------------------
Regards

Richard

My favorite hunting gun is a customized 1906 Mauser m 96 in 6,5 * 55! It is topped with 3,5-12 *56 mm Zeiss scope! I mainly use it fore Foxes, and reindeer, but an occasional dolphin seized whale is the target.

I have used bullets from 123 gr. till 160 but I like the 156 probably best.

It is not as common here in Iceland as it is in Sweden but it is a grate caliber.

Einar k Har
Icelander

Has anyone here used the 140 Grain Rem Core-lock from the swede?? How was performance??

Hi Joe,
The wife and I use the 6.5x55. In fact I have the Win. Featherwieght with a 3.5-10x40 Leupold, Rimrock stock and LOVE it. This is MY rifle, my friend and right now the only rifle I have, a Win. Classic in 300H&H is on its way. With the 6.5 we have taken 13 deer in the last 2 years (3-8pts, 2-7pts,1-6pt and 7 does). 75# to 200# deer, 15yrds to 220yrds. The 6.5x55 just WORKS!!!! It's all the gun we need for deer hunting, the 300H&H is for Africa. But we want be leaving our 6.5s at home. Follow the link below to photos of some of the deer we took this year.

------------------
Mark
http://communities.msn.com/20012002HuntingSeasoninAlabama/homepage

I've used the 6.5X55 to take fallow deer, oryx and several hogs (some over 100 kilos). My favorite bullet is a 130 or 140 grain Barnes XLC. I've also seen this caliber used on red deer. As ever it is the rifleman and not the rifle that is most important.