6.5x55 the little overachiever.
- Thread starter joey.45
- Start date
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
See-through rings.
I might buy a box of Factory ammo of some sort for sight in in my new rifle. I will be reloading from that point forward but starting out with a mid weight bullet suitable for varmint hunting, but with enough weight for some stability. Ordered some Prvi 120 gr Jacked hollow point from Tradex (low cost $37.00/100 https://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/65-bullets-prvi-120gr-hpbt--). I will be using IMR 4350 starting a bit above minimum with Speer's data for Modern Actions gradually working up for accuracy. 120 gr from Speer's test rifle gave velocities from 2630 - 2660 fps at max 46,000 CUP. Once broken in a bit; then serious load development will proceed, possibly with "better" bullets. Gotta start somewhere LOL.
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- Location
- Prince George
Anyone tried the 139 grain soft point PPU bullets with this cartridge on bigger animals like Elk, Moose, and Bears? At the very least it's an accurate, cheap hunting bullet in my gun. I also have more premium choices I'm just curious.
303EppsFan
CGN Regular
- Location
- Almonte,Ontario
I wanted a Swede for a long time but in the right rifle. I was walking through a gun show and saw a scoped rifle rifle on a rack in 6.5x55 for $425. Turned out to be a Husqvarna lightweight with a 2-7 Redfield on it, soon as I picked it up I knew I was buying it, got it for a bit less. It shoots very well with 129 gr Interbonds over 4350. It is a delight to carry and took my 2020 deer. I own many deer rifles and I rotate them year to year. FWIW I also own a 6.5 Creedmoor but in a Ruger Precision rifle. I enjoy shooting it, it's extremely accurate but it's not a hunting rifle in that platform.
Perhaps one thing. I think the 6.5 Creedmoor is better for getting people who don't need a new rifle to buy a new rifle.
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BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Kinda like the 300 WSM 20 years ago (#### me I'm getting old). I remember a coworker's husband asking me if I was going to pick one up. Couldn't see the point since I already had a 300 Winchester. He looked quite disappointed.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
If a Swede that is chambered in a strong modern action was already owned, I don't think any reasonable minded hunter would expect an advantage from the Creedmoor that would make switching seem worthwhile. We certainly aren't talking about a difference in magnitude that there was between a .30/40 Krag and a .30/06 Springfield, which you might almost think is the case when you read some of this stuff. Certainly there is less difference between the 6.5 Swede and the 6.5 Creedmoor than there is between the .308 and the .30/06, when all these cartridges are loaded to equal pressure and fired in rifles with strong actions.
In either the case of the 6.5s or in the case of the.30s, the cartridge with the greater powder volume has a slight velocity advantage when heavy for caliber bullets are loaded, and that is arguably the only advantage there is. Difference in weight between a long action and a short action rifle may come up, but even some long actions now are down around 6 pounds. Differences in accuracy have more to do with the quality of the chamber and bore, the choice of bullet, and the consistency of the loads, than from one cartridge design over another. Even when the .22 PPC arrived on the scene, it required extremely accurate target rifles fired from bench rests to prove the PPC's advantage over the .222, and in the field, neither could prove an advantage over the .22-250, so accuracy is not something that can be proven between hunting rifles. Perhaps some people just intuitively believe that new is automatically better than old. The problem of shooting big game is not new, we know what problems must be overcome, so why would a new concept cartridge, with little to discern it from the old, automatically be better? From the viewpoint point of shooting big game within normal ranges with midweight bullets, no great advantage of one cartridge can be demonstrated over the other.
As Jeff Cooper observed, new products come about for 3 reasons; to make our lives more convenient, to satisfy our curiosity, and to make money. The 6.5 Creedmoor as a hunting cartridge is not appreciably better than those that came before, so the claim cannot be made that it makes our lives more convenient. It might have been produced to satisfy the curiosity of ballisticians who designed it, but that would seem unlikely, so the overriding reason must be to make money. Making money is good. The companies that produce the products we need to shoot and hunt cannot survive without sales, so we all benefit from anything that drives commerce in the shooting industries. But if knowledge is what we seek, we must first be able to recognize marketing.
In either the case of the 6.5s or in the case of the.30s, the cartridge with the greater powder volume has a slight velocity advantage when heavy for caliber bullets are loaded, and that is arguably the only advantage there is. Difference in weight between a long action and a short action rifle may come up, but even some long actions now are down around 6 pounds. Differences in accuracy have more to do with the quality of the chamber and bore, the choice of bullet, and the consistency of the loads, than from one cartridge design over another. Even when the .22 PPC arrived on the scene, it required extremely accurate target rifles fired from bench rests to prove the PPC's advantage over the .222, and in the field, neither could prove an advantage over the .22-250, so accuracy is not something that can be proven between hunting rifles. Perhaps some people just intuitively believe that new is automatically better than old. The problem of shooting big game is not new, we know what problems must be overcome, so why would a new concept cartridge, with little to discern it from the old, automatically be better? From the viewpoint point of shooting big game within normal ranges with midweight bullets, no great advantage of one cartridge can be demonstrated over the other.
As Jeff Cooper observed, new products come about for 3 reasons; to make our lives more convenient, to satisfy our curiosity, and to make money. The 6.5 Creedmoor as a hunting cartridge is not appreciably better than those that came before, so the claim cannot be made that it makes our lives more convenient. It might have been produced to satisfy the curiosity of ballisticians who designed it, but that would seem unlikely, so the overriding reason must be to make money. Making money is good. The companies that produce the products we need to shoot and hunt cannot survive without sales, so we all benefit from anything that drives commerce in the shooting industries. But if knowledge is what we seek, we must first be able to recognize marketing.
My first rife that i bought was a 6.5x55 Carl Gustof 1896 carbine
a absolute dream to shoot. no recoil to speak of. only down side i found was the bark. seems that a very short barrel makes it bark .
i have just picked up a Weatherby in 6.5x55 and have had it out. love to shoot it. and it is noticeably quieter with a 24" barrel .
have shoot lots of deer with the old Sweed and looking forward to using the new one to get many more over the years to come.
a absolute dream to shoot. no recoil to speak of. only down side i found was the bark. seems that a very short barrel makes it bark .
i have just picked up a Weatherby in 6.5x55 and have had it out. love to shoot it. and it is noticeably quieter with a 24" barrel .
have shoot lots of deer with the old Sweed and looking forward to using the new one to get many more over the years to come.
I just took a minute and checked the Howa site, Nope no 6.5x55 chamberings but lots of CM
https://www.howausa.com/
and Ruger only in one model that I can see, the African
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Well I own a Howa 6.5x55, bought it in the last couple years from Prophet River, so they make them, if they discontinued it was recently.
