6.5x55 swedish

[fishinjosh98]

I was thinking about this for a deer rifle and was wondering what people thought of the caliber

[Archerysniper]

I have one in the original Swedish carbine mauser, It's a great little rifle and caliber extremely accurate as well. That caliber was used a lot for moose and bears.

[Crow Hunter]

I have not shot one myself, but from what I have read it is very accurate with very light recoil. The factory loads are loaded on the mild side because of all the old military guns out there, they don't want to load them too hot. It appears plenty of companies make rifles for this caliber, and lots of companies load the ammo as well. 140 grain bullets seem to be the usual load used for deer, etc.

[CrewJones]

i use one for deer hunting, its a small projectile high speed bullet at distance its great but through brush its probably not that great. fun to shoot, i end up buying my ammo online because i dont have luck finding it around here

[fishinjosh98]

would anyone buy it over say a 30-06 or 7mm-08?

[Gordie]

After doing a little research on the 7mm-08 it is way under rated in my book.

That is one sweet little round and its one I would like to add to my collection

The 30-06 IMO is one of the most versitile rounds on the market

nuff said . I also own one

Sorry but my answer is NO I would not take one over either of these guns.

[fishattacker]

Much like the 7mm-08 is underrated I think the 6.5mm is underrated as well. From a little bit of reading I have done it sounds like the 6.5mm is the european all around cartride.

If you were looking for a more modern rifle there are still gun manufacturers selling rifles in the .260 Remington which is the same size bullet.

Good Shooting!

[JBar]

The 6.5X55 is actually a pretty good round in the brush. The reason for this along with it's capablilty to take large game like moose is the sectional density of the bullet. The bullet in the 6.5 was designed for penitration at a lower ft lb round like the 6.5 is. The 6.5 was my first rifle and my wife uses it now. If you're looking for a modern design your best bet would be from Tikka or Sako hard to find though. This round in the states has not gained the credit it has comming imo. If low recoil, deep penitration and acuraccy are what your looking for the 6.5 is hard to beat.

[swamptiger]

Great caliber. As said, the factory rounds are usually loaded on the light side so they can be shot in the old military rifles. I have a custom Swede mauser with a 25" barrel and a Timney trigger, and it is a tack driver.

If you don't ever plan to do any reloading, the .260 Remington is the same bullet in a shorter case, and is available in U.S. rifles. I think Savage is chambering .260 Remington now.