6.5x55 Swede on big game

Thanks for all the info and good insight.

Espen what seems to be the most common ammunition in Norway? Is it Norma or some other brand. What seems to be the most common brand of rifle?

I know 2 older gentleman who buy one box of .30-30 a year. Each of them usually shoots one deer and one elk and shoot the other 18 rounds for practice.

I'm a firm believer in practice, practice and more practice before hunting. The worst thing to do is to wound an animal and then have it suffer for hours or days before dieing. As others have said except for a narrow few, most people are ill served by the big boomers. Shot placment and distance are way more important than raw power.

Thanks again for the good discussions!

Cannot speak to what is most popular but, all my hunting friends in Sweden that use 6,5X55 and are not reloaders, use Norma 156 grain Oryx factory loads. Jaktsortiment | Norma Precision

Their 6,5X55 Mauser rifles kill a few moose each fall. They hunt in typical Swedish forests, where shots are seldom further than 100 meters. Hunting method is typically with part of hunt club members on stands and other part driving the moose toward the stands. This is very organized and controlled hunting. Most moose shot are calves, to cull the local herd.

Niklas

I have no quarrel with the heaviest bullet advocates who state that 160's made the 6.5 reputation.........but would point out that such extreme sectional density is not actually necessary for good penetration. Even 120s in the 6.5 equal 165 grain 30 calibers the 140s are equivalent to 190 grain 30s in sectional density. I'll stand my statement that I feel no need for heavier than 140s fro elk......but use what you wish.

I've killed several white tails with the 6.5 and never had to shoot any of them more that once. One was a 175 lbs which was facing me at about 100 yds. The bullet traveled the entire length of the animal and lodged under the hide on its back end. I shoot it from a Winchester model 70 featherweight and use 140 Nosler partitions. In my experience the partition is the best big game bullet on the market today including all the high tech bonded stuff that is now so popular.

Good hunting results are dependent on three things:
1. Bullet placement.
2. Bullet construction.
3. Caliber.
With caliber the least important of the three.

There's a zeroth law:

0. Good hunting, which makes #1 (bullet placement) easy.

I too prefer Nosler Partition bullets for bigger critters. First elk I shot was a frontal shot with 175 grain 7mm NP at about 2300 fps muzzle velocity. Bullet hit chest bone on way in, and then proceeded to make "walnut-sized" hole in heart, long "walnut-sized" hole through one lung, and a third such hole through liver. We failed to recover bullet from stomach. Hard to ask for better performance than that. Distance was 150+ yards. Elk ran/staggered maybe 75 yards.

Note that Norma loads 140 grain Nosler Partition bullets for 6,5X55 Mauser. Would sure expect more than an occasional moose fell to one of those.

Even the old-style 175 gr RN 7X57 and 160 gr RN 6,5X55 bullets performed well, most likely simply because velocities were low enough that these simple bullets did not fragment, just expanded some and penetrated lots.

Niklas

Benchrest shooters have been shooting this cartridge for many years due to its fantastic accuracy. My dad used a 140 gr Barnes on his elk 3 years ago with great success. If anyone needs components for 6.5x55, he is no longer shooting it and I have 400 or so rounds of new unprimed brass and some odd bullets I would be willing to part with. Drop me a line if interested.

120 gr Sierra's-My dad kills whitetail deer very nicely with his .260 Rem with the 120's.

K.38 said:

Espen what seems to be the most common ammunition in Norway? Is it Norma or some other brand. What seems to be the most common brand of rifle?

Click to expand...

Well, since I make a living out of selling ammunition, I might be able to answer that.
Different types of Norma, and Lapua with the Mega bullet is the best sellers. One reason might be that there is no competition from the US brands in that caliber.
There is also a good percentage of reloads. Norma, Nosler, Lapua, Hornady and Sierra have their fair share of the sales, but as you can guess we always sell more of the cheap stuff, than things like the Oryx bullets.

Gents,
I have been shooting the 6.5x55 Swede cartridge for over 20 years and its my hands down favorite.
I own and shoot a host of other cartridges from 17 Remington to 458 Win Mag. I have more than a few 30 cal, 270 and 7mm rifles, a 358 Norma Mag (another swede), and a 375 H&H. I like them all, but I tend to reach for the 6.5 Swede more then any other. I doesnt kick much, shoot flat and the long, skinny bullets penetrate like a javelin.
Some of you have compared it to a 6.5x06. I have a beautiful 6.5x06 built on a custom Springfield 03 action and the metal and stock are stunning. It has a 25 inch Douglas super match barrel and it out distances the swede in angle of trajectory, but only by 100 yards.

My 6.5x55 is my ugliest rifle. It started life as a Turkish mauser ( large ring outside dimension and threaded for a small ring mauser 8x57 barrel, which equates to a really thick receiver ring. It had the flange at the front of the receiver turned off and the action squared, lugs lapped and a small ring Swedish Mauser barrel installed. The barrel was cut from 24" to 22", recrowned and the intermediate barrel step turned down to make for a smooth medium weight barrel. Twist is 1:7.5. Pretty tight and perfect for 140gr bullets. The barreled action sits in a epoxy/micro-ballon bed, in a Brown precision fiberglass stock, and the works are touched off by a Timney premium trigger.
Scope is a Leupold 3x9x42ish, VXIII. Nothin fancy. It is scarred from stem to stern and is darn ugly, but it shoots!!!
Since the throat is set up for military rounds and the round is shorter than a 270, you can seat the bullets to the depth of the throat and leave the balance for powder.
I have two loads that shine it this rifle.
First one is a 140gr (Nosler Partition, Sierra Game King, Remington Coreloc't, Etc., they all seem to group well) over 48gr of IMR 7828 or RE 21. Velocity runs around 2750fps. These loads hover at .5"-1" clover-leafers and is my standard deer round. Velocities aren't screaming, bullets mushroom perfectly and they don't tear up meat, shoots as flat a pancake to 250yds, and at 300 I put the crosshair on the backbone. Took that load and ugly rifle to Africa and used it for most stuff up to 550 lb critters.
Second one developed is a 120gr Ballistic tip over 48 grains of H414. velocity runs at 3,000 FPS and a one holer. Great long range antelope round and not half bad for coyotes. I have killed a few of deer, hogs, and coyotes with that combo. its a tad thin jacketed for hogs, so you have to ensure a clean lung shot. If you're worried use the 140gr and reset your scope a few clicks.
Neither of these loads are suitable for older M96 Swedish Mauser Infantry rifles. If you drop to 42-44 grains of either powder/bullet combo you should be ok.
These loads are MAX. Start with the M96 load and work up, checking for signs of pressure.... flattened primers, etc.
I hope you enjoy your Swede as much as I do. keep your powder dry and happy shooting.

i have a 1910 carl gustoff long barrell and a 1945 that has been sporterized 18 in barrell thay shoot the 160 gn best i shoot the same load of reloader 22 out of both they have both killed a lot of deer my friend in montana shot threw a very good elk at 60 yard with hornady 148 bullit and 46 gr of reloader 22 in a model 70 dropped it where it was standing i will tack mine along with my 300 mag when i go hunting in montana

I used to use one for whitetail deer hunting. From my experience, the use of premium bullets is a waste of money and good deer meat. Mainly from lost deer! I use Nosler Partitions in all my deer cartridges and found that the partition in the 6.5x55 does not open well at the closer ranges. I got a lot of pass throughs at less than 100 yards.

I use a Winchester M70 in .243 with the 100gr. partition now.

I still do have a Swedish carbine that I load standard Sierra and Hornady bullets with IMR4350 powder. At closer ranges, they seem to open better and give quicker kills.

I've taken caribou with the 6.5x55. On broadside shots at <100 yards (the only shots I've taken) the 140 gr Hornady spiters exited the animals. These were the basic soft point bullet - nothing fancy.

I have a Winchester Mdl 70 in 6.5x55 that I cut the bbl back to 20" on and put it in a Mannlicher stock. I worked up load using 140 Barnes X bullets that is very accurate. It has become the "family" favorite, and just about everyone in the family has killed a whitetail with it. It is the favorite of the grandkids because "it don't kick like the other ones".

In 2008 I took a nice mule deer buck with the Swede.



And I tagged an antelope doe for the freezer with it.



In 2009 I used my Rem. 700 Classic 6.5X55 with Leupold FX4 scope to take an antelope buck (no picture ), fork horn mule deer, and spike elk in three ½ day hunts near my home in SE Wyoming. It was a charmed season, for sure.

Ammo was standard Federal 140 gr. for the antelope and deer. The elk fell to a handload using Hornady 160 gr. RN Interlock. The antelope and deer were 200 yard(+ or -) shots. The elk was less than 50 yards away when shot.





2010 was a tough year. My only harvest was a white tail doe with the Swede.



I am convinced that the 6.5X55 is greatly under appreciated and can handle all of my hunting needs as long as I do my part. I was not impressed with the performance of the 160 gr. RN bullet on that little elk. My modern Rem. 700 rifle shoots 140 gr. ammo the best. Going forward I will stick with 140 gr. bullet in factory loads or handloads for all my 6.5X55 hunting ammo, including elk (and moose if I ever draw the tag).