6.5 swede tikka t3 powder and pet loads?

dan belisle said:
Best groups in three different 6.5 Swedes, to date, were with RL22. 140 gr Sierra Gameking bullets. - dan
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While these bullets are very accurate, had good results on the range, i would consider them less than ideal for hunting. I had them explode on impact on two separate occasions. One on a shoulder shot around 40 yards and the other quartering shot (front chest/shoulder) at 300 yards or so. Needed follow up shots to finish the wounded deer.

Much rather use accubonds/partition/interlocks/speers than gamekings in this caliber
 
dgradinaru said:
While these bullets are very accurate, had good results on the range, i would consider them less than ideal for hunting. I had them explode on impact on two separate occasions. One on a shoulder shot around 40 yards and the other quartering shot (front chest/shoulder) at 300 yards or so. Needed follow up shots to finish the wounded deer.

Much rather use accubonds/partition/interlocks/speers than gamekings in this caliber
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I've used them on deer for over 30 years. Not had any failures yet. Guess I've been lucky. For bigger game than white tails I use partitions, generally. - dan
 
dgradinaru said:
While these bullets are very accurate, had good results on the range, i would consider them less than ideal for hunting. I had them explode on impact on two separate occasions. One on a shoulder shot around 40 yards and the other quartering shot (front chest/shoulder) at 300 yards or so. Needed follow up shots to finish the wounded deer.

Much rather use accubonds/partition/interlocks/speers than gamekings in this caliber
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Is funny how I had same experience - but was with 308 Win about 1980 or so - 165 grain GameKing SPBT was a superb bullet on targets. I shot a deer - going away, my right to left and up a side hill - hit it squarely on the backbone - deer, of course, dead as a door nail - but shrapnel - lead and bullet jacket all up my side of the backbone /neck - from bullet entrance pretty much to skull - did not penetrate that vertebrae - bullet came apart and lost about 16" or so of "back strap". Did not like that performance, and stopped using them for deer. We only got to use one tag a year for many years - was not going to "take chances". Started with Speer HotCor 165's - ever since. Never bought Sierra hunting bullets again. Maybe not fair to them and their product, but that one "failure" was enough for me as a hunting bullet. I have nearly a thousand Sierra target bullets on hand though - #2156 155 grain HPBT PALMA for 7.62 NATO.

There used to be a small gun store along 21st St E. (?) in Saskatoon, Sask. Owner had similar experience of Sierra 165 grain "blowing up" from his 300 H&H on an antelope. Might have been B.S. story to keep me as customer, but I felt better that one other person had experienced similar with Sierra. But thinking on it now, I can not remember hitting any other deer dead centre on the spine, at a longish angle, either.

After son "inherited" that 308 Win, I got a 7x57 - it only ever shot deer with 150 grain Partitions - complete satisfaction for 20 years or so that I used it. I had initially tried 140, 150 and 160 Partitions - I liked the groups from 150's the best, so stayed with them - never had any reason to look for another option.
 
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Potashminer said:
Is funny how I had same experience - but was with 308 Win about 1980 or so - 165 grain GameKing SPBT was a superb bullet on targets. I shot a deer - going away, my right to left and up a side hill - hit it squarely on the backbone - deer, of course, dead as a door nail - but shrapnel - lead and bullet jacket all up my side of the backbone /neck - from bullet entrance pretty much to skull - did not penetrate that vertebrae - bullet came apart and lost about 16" or so of "back strap". Did not like that performance, and stopped using them for deer. We only got to use one tag a year for many years - was not going to "take chances". Started with Speer HotCor 165's - ever since. Never bought Sierra hunting bullets again. Maybe not fair to them and their product, but that one "failure" was enough for me as a hunting bullet. I have nearly a thousand Sierra target bullets on hand though - #2156 155 grain HPBT PALMA for 7.62 NATO.

There used to be a small gun store along 21st St E. (?) in Saskatoon, Sask. Owner had similar experience of Sierra 165 grain "blowing up" from his 300 H&H on an antelope. Might have been B.S. story to keep me as customer, but I felt better that one other person had experienced similar with Sierra. But thinking on it now, I can not remember hitting any other deer dead centre on the spine, at a longish angle, either.

After son "inherited" that 308 Win, I got a 7x57 - it only ever shot deer with 150 grain Partitions - complete satisfaction for 20 years or so that I used it. I had initially tried 140, 150 and 160 Partitions - I liked the groups from 150's the best, so stayed with them - never had any reason to look for another option.
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From Ballisticstudies.com by Nathan Foster:
<The 165gr Sierra GameKing produces excellent performance on game weighing between 80 and 120kg (180-264lb) out to ranges of around 320 yards. On lighter or very lean game, kills can be very delayed due to slow bullet expansion. At the other extreme, when used on very large bodied game, the GK becomes a highly frangible bullet and cannot therefore be relied on to produce exceptionally deep penetration at close to moderate ranges>

<The 140 grain GameKing is a highly frangible bullet. There was a time when western hunters had a choice between this and the 140 grain Interlock while the 140 grain Partition was considered a special occasion bullet, seldom being employed. The GameKing produces slightly wider wounding than the Interlock due to its explosive nature. This bullet is best suited to game weighing no more than 60kg (130lb) although it will handle cross body shots on game weighing as much as 80kg, especially at ranges beyond 150 yards. This is a good open country bullet for light game species. On heavy bodied deer and especially wild pigs, the GameKing lacks the construction needed for emphatic kills, especially at awkward angles.>

As usual the key is to know what we use and for what.
 
120 grain Barnes TTSX
Hornady Cases
Federal GM120M Primers
50 grains Reloader 22
3080 FPS Sub M0A
Tikka M695 Hunter with a really long throat, this is a max load and may not work in your rifle, gleamed it from an article in Rifle Shooter from 1997 by Ross Seyfried, most loads in the manuals are low for the old "weaker" Mauser '96's so there's no reason using modern rifles and powders the old Swede can't shoot with the new cartridges.
 
bearhunter said:
I use GOOD 140 grain bullets for everything, other than Coyotes.

I use Lapua brass, CCI 250 magnum primers over 51.0 grains of IMR7828sc.

Velocity is just over 2800fps, and if I do my part, 1/2 moa is a consistent grouping at 100 yds.
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This is a load I use in my Remington 700 "Classic" with the 140 Partition. [It is on it's 3rd barrel] accurate and 2800+

With the 125 Partition, I use a 50.0 grain charge of AMS 47SB lot 10 [Slower W760] Shot a lot of deer with this load. :)

I have a load developed with the 130 Scirocco II, that I have yet to use on game: 48.5 grains of 100V. It is shooting
right around .6 moa consistently, so I'm sure the deer will hate this load too, lol Regards, Dave.
 
The biggest reason people have trouble with bullets such as Sierra Game Kings and the Hornady non interlock type SST bullets is because they are shooting them at much faster speeds and at closer distances than they were intended for.

When the 6.5x55 rifles first started showing up in Canada, there were only a couple of choices of cartridges available at local gun shops, for most people.

CIL Dominion Cartridge 160 grain round nose bullets were driven about 2200 fps out of a 29 inch bbl and were considered to be just fine for everything from Bears to Deer, Elk and Moose.

They used the same bullet in their 6.5x54MS cartridge at appx the same velocity.

The other option was NORMA, which was much hotter and if the store carried any, it was invariabley loaded with 139grn flat base, spire point bullets.

Again, depending on the LGS, there was a very limited range of 6.5 components available. It was a barren wilderness back in the mid sixties.

CiL Dominion cases had to be scrounged from factory loads, they did sell their 160grn rn in handy little plastic trays of 50.

Norma components were the same. Norma bullets were special order and EXPENSIVE.

Sierra in the US was making their MatchKing 140gr spitzer HPBT for match shooting, but they certainly weren't acceptable for hunting.

During the early seventies, International started importing components. Mostly from Norma and out of Yugoslavia. Bullets from 90grain to 160 grain became available at reasonable prices but the quality was questionable.

The Norma bullets, other than their specialty lines were still very frangible and the Yugo, which had very thick jackets were right on par with full metal jackets, when it came to expansion.

People were expecting much more from the 6.5x55 at the time than it could deliver.

Not that there was anything wrong with the cartridge, or the rifles, just that the cartridges and their components were still mired in early 20 century tech.

Once the cartridge caught on in the US, everything changed. That was around 1975-80.

Up to that time, anything with mm designation was frowned upon, other the ubiquitous 7x57, which was also mired in earlier tech and firearms types.

That's all changed now and they can both be loaded to very decent velocities, with a wide selection of components from a wide group of manufacturers.

Most folks just don't look into the designs of their components, because they've been so lulled they the excellent offerings from just about all of the component manufacturers and that even applies to their factory loaded ammo.
 
Eagleye said:
This is a load I use in my Remington 700 "Classic" with the 140 Partition. [It is on it's 3rd barrel] accurate and 2800+

With the 125 Partition, I use a 50.0 grain charge of AMS 47SB lot 10 [Slower W760] Shot a lot of deer with this load. :)

I have a load developed with the 130 Scirocco II, that I have yet to use on game: 48.5 grains of 100V. It is shooting
right around .6 moa consistently, so I'm sure the deer will hate this load too, lol Regards, Dave.
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Yes that Scirocco II 130gr is wicked accurate in my son's T3 pretty much one hole with RE#22..........good retention on impact with deer.
 
Back when the earth was flat I bought 1000 156gr Sako RN 's from ammo-mart/Higginsons and fed a few of them to various moose and deer.My Win 70 FWT with it's 1-8 will shoot them but not the 160gr Hornady for some reason.I got tipping with those.Everything shot in the Swedish Husky 38 mauser with it's 1-7 1/2" twist. My moose drill.
 
The price was ridiculously cheap at $9/100 for Sako 156SP's.............wish I'd have bought 10,000 ! I put one through a rutting WT buck's shoulder at point blank while he was busy thrashing a tree in almost gale force winds.......off switch activated.Either 42gr of IMR 4350 or N-204 with the 156-160gr was just the ticket.
 
I was referring to the Sako factory ammo loaded with the 156gr. Must be something magic about those 156gr bullets.
 
I don't usually either but I was getting a hard time finding an accurate load so I tried some factory. Was pleasantly surprised.
 
On factory ammo ,I once purchased 5 boxes of Federal ammo loaded with 140gr Partitons for the brass.They shot 1.5" groups at 100 yards.........nothing to write home about in a Win 70 FWT. I bumped the bullet OAL longer just shy of the rifling and bingo now cutting less than 1/2" groups at a sedate 2600fps but accurate.The cannalure is well above the neck.
 
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