6.5x55 or 270?
- Thread starter moosecree
- Start date
Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
I have both, and like them both.
If you don't handload I'd say you'd have to go with the .270, as the 6.5x55 suffers from castrated factory ammo, like other european calibers, such as the 8x57JS.
If you handload, then these two calibers become extremely similar. Personally I like the 6.5x55 a little more.
As for those thinking 6.5x55 components may be getting rare - I disagree. There are tons of 6.5x55 rifles out there and RCBS reports that 6.5x55 dies have been a top seller for twenty years and continues to be that way. If people are consistently buying dies, manufacturers will supply components. Also with newer calibers like the .260 rem, 6.5 Grendel, and 6.5 Creedmore, .264 dia bullets are NOT going away, and 6.5x55 brass is readily available from many european makers as well as U.S ones.
If you don't handload I'd say you'd have to go with the .270, as the 6.5x55 suffers from castrated factory ammo, like other european calibers, such as the 8x57JS.
If you handload, then these two calibers become extremely similar. Personally I like the 6.5x55 a little more.
As for those thinking 6.5x55 components may be getting rare - I disagree. There are tons of 6.5x55 rifles out there and RCBS reports that 6.5x55 dies have been a top seller for twenty years and continues to be that way. If people are consistently buying dies, manufacturers will supply components. Also with newer calibers like the .260 rem, 6.5 Grendel, and 6.5 Creedmore, .264 dia bullets are NOT going away, and 6.5x55 brass is readily available from many european makers as well as U.S ones.
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I have both (multiple versions of the Swede, actually). I've had numerous 270's, but they always end up being rebarreled to something interesting. I have kept one I got from my brother though, very accurate rifle with 130 X bullets. - dan
BC Bigbore
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- BC's Peace Country
Both are fine and serve the same purpose but the .270 has the edge for ammo versatility. I use .270's and besides, it's highly rated by that gun writin' professor feller from Arizona, Jack something or other 
So load the 270 hot as well......The 270 is just a little behind the 264 Win Mag and far ahead of the 6.5x55. It can do everything the 6.5x55 can do and then some.
And this from a 6.5 fan (6.5 Carcano, 6.5 MS, 6.5x55, 6.5x58 and 6.5-300 Win Mag).
The 270 is just a little behind the 264 Win Mag and far ahead of the 6.5x55. It can do everything the 6.5x55 can do and then some.
And this from a 6.5 fan (6.5 Carcano, 6.5 MS, 6.5x55, 6.5x58 and 6.5-300 Win Mag).
Just wonder, Did you able to Chronograph the speed of your 6.5X55 and 270.
I read somewhere where a guy said he could load to 2900 with 140grain RL22, Wonder if that posible?
I dunno about that ... factory spec ammo/reloading data for a 270 Win is usually up around 65,000PSI-ish already. I'm not sure I'd want to heat that up much from there.
6.5x55 on the other hand, factory spec was 55,000PSI-ish. Any modern rifle/brass has proven to handle 65,000PSI just fine, so you could go pretty hot (compared to book loads) and still be below the 65,000PSI a 270 Win is already at. My QuickLoad says that with a full house load of Reloader 22 (just a whisker under 65,000PSI) and 24 inch barrel, you should be able to knock a 140 grain Nosler partition up close to 3,000FPS in the 6.5x55, and a 130 AccuBond up close to 3100FPS. Neither of those numbers is all that far off of a 270 Win.
All that said, though -- in this pirticular debate, I'd still vote for the 270 for all the reasons already mentioned (more common brass, more common caliber, easier to sell the rifle someday, etc). (of course, all that from a guy who owns a 270WSM -- go figure?!?!?! LOL)
Just about anything's possible if you ignore pressures. You can jack a 6.5x55 up to 3200 fps with a 140gr if you're ok with 80K psi.
I know this is futile to state the obvious to many handloaders, because all that matters to many of them is that they "got" 3000 fps, and there were "no pressure signs", but:
The 270 has a larger case capacity and larger bore size than the 6.5x55, so the laws of physics dictate that you can achieve higher MV's with the same bullet weight with the 270 at the same pressure.
Look at some published data (here's some from Hodgdon, but Alliant and others have it too):
6.5x55 - 129gr bullet - 45K CUP - 2800 fps
270 Win - 130gr bullet - 48K CUP - 3025 fps
Yea I know that the 270 load is at 7% higher pressure, but that does not account for 225 fps. Remember the laws of physics?
Yup, this is exactly true. A 270Win with that same hypothetical 24 inch barrel I was using above, could best those numbers QuickLoad was spouting by around 100FPS.
Quickload isn't perfect, and anytime you reduce case capacity and bore size, and a program tells you you can match a cartridge with more capacity and bore size with the same weight and velocity and powder......doesn't line up with physics all that well.
But hey, maybe its a magic barrel.
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northeast Ontario
I seriously doubt that you could fit enough RL-22 in that case to move it 3000 fps (at least not with 24" barrel).....not an experiment I would want to try. I happen to have such a rifle (modern action) and Im already loading the 140 gr. partition with 48.5 gr. of RL-22 (does not leave much room if any) behind it and im not approaching 3000fps . I believe that there are a lot Variables that Quickload does not take into account when calculating pressure.
Not a direct comparison but with my 270 win. I move 130 gr. bullets at 3000 fps with a mild charge (in my opinion) of H4831 (58 gr.)
Really? I have never reached anything close to 3100fps with a 140 or 3200fps with a 130 in my .270 without loosening primer pockets.
Knock 150fps off of the 270 and you have a modern 6.5x55. That still makes an awful great cartridge, and I wouldn't want to stand on front of a 140gr 6.5 bullet with a BC of .550 started at 2850fps. It won't bounce off of and elk.
All very interesting to someone who just purchased a new Finnlight 6.5x55
and just finished doing up my first loads for it. Since Nosler suggest 46.5g RL22 with 140G partition as max. load, most I'll try to work up to at first is 47.5g. Looking forward to seeing what I can get. Don't really care if I reach 3000fps but would be nice to get something like 2800 or more. With the wonderful Newfoundland winter we're getting this year, may actually get to fire a few rounds in March.Well, if you read my original post, I said "close to" in both cases, in reference to the 6.5x55. That said, I was quoting 270Win velocities from memory. A little tinkering with QL, and I think you are right --- it would be more like 60FPS (give or take a little) velocity difference between the two -- all else being equal (ie: both of them loaded right to the 65,000PSI mark with a suitable powder).
I realize QuickLoad is not perfect -- but I've got enough experience with it under my belt now, and have yet to see it be wrong by more than 40-ish FPS, that I trust it almost as much as I trust load manuals (most of which I have, on at least one occasion, caught being very wrong).
YMMV.
Yeah, that's quite a bit less powder than QL is suggesting as a 65,000PSI load. Though, as far as case capacity -- you do realize that you can run the powder 2/3rds (or more) of the way up the case neck, and then compress it when you seat the bullet, right? My 4831SC loads in my 30-06 are close to being full up to the brim before I seat the bullet (probably about 108 to 110% case fill) -- but they work great; very nice accuracy. My Varget loads in the 308 Win also go "crunch" when the bullet gets seated.
