In these days of Creedmoor let us not forget the swede

For many years I have been a huge fan of the 6.5x55. As an all round single rifle it is up there with the best. Nowadays it has been over shadowed by the 6.5 Creedmoor. Everyone seems to be going crazy and if you haven’t got a Creedmoor then you haven’t got the best 6.5 around.
For the none home loaders there may be a better choice if ammo in creedmoor but the Norma 120gr factory in 6.5x55 is hard to beat IMHO.
Ballistically the 6.5 punches way above its weight and 140gr at 2700fps carries the same energy out to 300m as a 165gr 30cal which is more than enough for any deer in this country.
Recently I have flirted with a 243 for foxes as well as deer but this would mean buying another rifle. Instead it was suggested looking at the 100gr bullets in the 6.5.
today I have found the load that works, 50gr Rl17 @ coal 2.850”. This touches at 100m. When I put it over the chrono it is running at 3100fps, same as a 243. It is flat out to 250m if set 1” up at 100m.
The meaning of this ramble is that one if the most versatile calibres still about is the 6.5x55. It can do what a 243 does with 100gr bullets and can do what a 30 cal can do ( out to 300m) with the 140gr bullets. I’m not sure the Creedmoor can do that but I’m sure someone will be along soon to tell me :stir:


Exceptional Post,
I am a huge 6.5x55mm Fan and also use Norma 120 grain.

Regards,
Glendine.
 
One advantage of the 6.5 CM is that you can easily re-barrel a .243W to it when lead is banned. The magazine and bolt head are already correct for it. If you are thinking about "future-proofing" your .243W .
The thing is most of the common rifles are suitable to rebarrel to many calibre’s. Such as the Remington 700 and its clones, Tikka T3, CZ550 and many others don’t come in scaled actions. So you can just as easily rebarrel in 6.5x55 or 270 or any number of other .471” base diameter cartridge.
Regardless of what cartridge you launch it with if your firing the same bullets at similar speeds. It follows the results will be very similar too.
By the way the advantages of the short action for Creedmoor. Are surely outweighed by the problem of OAL limits imposed by said action. When using the longer low drag and/or lead free bullets.
 
55 fan here too.
Good case life too.
I loaded mine with a 95vmax. Nothing was same beyond 200 yards.
I had one of the early T3 lites. Switching from 95 to 140gr required no zero shift but just needed a mental note of traj change.
Factory ball from anywhere in the world all shot outstandingly.
I always thought that just as 222 has a very good reputation, the 55 is its big brother!
 
I've tried a few calibres, but settled on 6.5x55 and .30-06 now. Both have been around for well over 100 years, and do the job very capably. I've just started using RWS Evo Green in the Swede, which are very light at around 93 grains, so will be interesting to see the results.
 
.22 LR
.223
6.5 x 55
30 06
9.3 (mmmh maybe)
.375
40??

All fantastic in my book

All have their own slot as a hunting & target round even if some overlap

I do like the 6.5 x 55 ----- 0.5 moa, long range; good hitting power, fun to shoot at targets out 1000m

Isn't it fun that there are so many to choose from, explore and come to understand

Makes us riflemen rather than just purchasers of equipment
 
And I thought I was the old fuddy-duddy in this crowd. I have eleven 6,5x55's and four Creedmoors. The best reason for the Creedmoor is the variety of rifles/platforms readily available for it with all manner of factory options. Additionally, there are a multitude of excellent munitions available for the 6.5 CM. It has nothing to do with faddism. The round and it's popularity evolved in the US where 6.5x55 is an odd turkey for which there might be one or two different varieties of ammunition available on a store shelf -usually at a steep price. Creedmoor rounds can be had as cheaply as $14 US per box and it's available at a lot of retailers. It is also a very well balanced cartridge that is easy to make shoot well. Factory match ammo by Hornady and Norma is some of the best ammunition I have ever shot.

Trust me. If the 6.5x55 had greater merit than the Creedmoor in this world of long range shooting, US shooters would be clamoring for it. It doesn't. They don't.~Muir
 
And I thought I was the old fuddy-duddy in this crowd. I have eleven 6,5x55's and four Creedmoors. The best reason for the Creedmoor is the variety of rifles/platforms readily available for it with all manner of factory options. Additionally, there are a multitude of excellent munitions available for the 6.5 CM. It has nothing to do with faddism. The round and it's popularity evolved in the US where 6.5x55 is an odd turkey for which there might be one or two different varieties of ammunition available on a store shelf -usually at a steep price. Creedmoor rounds can be had as cheaply as $14 US per box and it's available at a lot of retailers. It is also a very well balanced cartridge that is easy to make shoot well. Factory match ammo by Hornady and Norma is some of the best ammunition I have ever shot.

Trust me. If the 6.5x55 had greater merit than the Creedmoor in this world of long range shooting, US shooters would be clamoring for it. It doesn't. They don't.~Muir

If the American ammunition manufacturers finally decide to produce 6.5Swede at realistic chamber pressures to match the plethora of MODERN Firearms that are made in this caliber, and again IF they also fronted the cartridges with the type of MODERN bullets being loaded in the 6.5CM the comparisons would be far more weighted onto the venerable old 'Swede'..

But the arms manufacturers (in the States in particular) have invested waaaay too much money and advertising into the new kid on the block and doing what I am suggesting above would kill sales in the "CM" in place of the "Swede" i.m.h.o..... So the "BEST" option just will just NOT happen, .. Will it!?

Besides, the arms makers "over there" are far too worried by the possibilities of getting Expensive Law Suits from Numpties who might ignore the common sense warnings and load and fire full-chat cartridges in old Mauser actions which MAY - and I do stress that here... MAY - get damaged (even explode??) under the firing pressures of modern, full steam ammo...

Out of interest here 'Muir' do you know if there have been recorded incidences of modern COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED ammo (like the European Norma for instance) being used in GOOD QUALITY Military Mauser actions and that same COMMERCIALLY produced ammo damaging and even destroying the rifles used??... It surely must be a given that Bad Practice home-loading procedures can and WILL destroy ANY Rifle, no matter how strong if poor components or too much &/or Wrong Type Propellants are used, so I am not including said produced ammo in my query here.

Kind Regards,
Blobby159
 
If the American ammunition manufacturers finally decide to produce 6.5Swede at realistic chamber pressures to match the plethora of MODERN Firearms that are made in this caliber, and again IF they also fronted the cartridges with the type of MODERN bullets being loaded in the 6.5CM the comparisons would be far more weighted onto the venerable old 'Swede'..

But the arms manufacturers (in the States in particular) have invested waaaay too much money and advertising into the new kid on the block and doing what I am suggesting above would kill sales in the "CM" in place of the "Swede" i.m.h.o..... So the "BEST" option just will just NOT happen, .. Will it!?

Besides, the arms makers "over there" are far too worried by the possibilities of getting Expensive Law Suits from Numpties who might ignore the common sense warnings and load and fire full-chat cartridges in old Mauser actions which MAY - and I do stress that here... MAY - get damaged (even explode??) under the firing pressures of modern, full steam ammo...

Out of interest here 'Muir' do you know if there have been recorded incidences of modern COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED ammo (like the European Norma for instance) being used in GOOD QUALITY Military Mauser actions and that same COMMERCIALLY produced ammo damaging and even destroying the rifles used??... It surely must be a given that Bad Practice home-loading procedures can and WILL destroy ANY Rifle, no matter how strong if poor components or too much &/or Wrong Type Propellants are used, so I am not including said produced ammo in my query here.

Kind Regards,
Blobby159
Why would they spend time developing 6.5x55 ammunition? The rifles -especially good commercial rifles- are few and far between in the US. Since Great Britain, at best, is only 5% of the market, why would they bother? I like the 6,5x55 and I know it's potential -with a case that has 3% more capacity then the 260 Remington, it can produce some excellent performance in a good, modern bolt gun. US manufacturers down load the 6.5x55 due to the Krag rifles that once occupied the surplus market and the Swede Mausers which, by the way, were never criticized for their strength, but for the lack of shielding from escaping gasses if a case let go. The 98 Mausers have the large cover for the cocking piece that the Swede lacked. (I always thought this bull pucky as the Remington 700 is no better in that respect.)

You can go on and on about the 6.5x55 being underserved by munition makers in this country but it has gotten as much attention as it deserved with regards to the American market place. The last US manufacturer I know of that made a 6.5x55 for the US market was Winchester in form of the Model 70 Featherweight and they were rumored to have been made for a non-domestic marketplace. (I have 2 of these) The long story short is, as I have already pointed out, the cartridge is not used by enough people in the US to warrant any attention.

With regard to factory ammo wrecking rifles: Not that I know of but then, even the hottest loads are kept to under 55K PSI.~Muir
 
All ammunition producers are profit making organisations. If a generation comes along that has cut their teeth on sniper computer games and honestly believe being able to shoot a bug off an apple at 500yds is the ultimate in something or whatever, then go on to watch videos of animals being shot at thousands of yards to an applause like it is a special goal of achievement the ammo makers are going to jump on it!
Men of a certain age see through it. They generally still hold to the notion that you don't need a sledge hammer to drive a tack, and you don't need to drive a tack from a thousand yards, heck no, you can walk right up to it!

Take the new 35 Winchester legend.
What a sweet cartridge for real world hunting. Perfect for the UK woodland scene.
But, we hear nothing of it. Why? Because it's not macho enough! It's limited!
It's nuts to not pick over which is best, they are all good, they all will produce the same outcome and most produce from any cartridge will most likely on any game animal, large or small, be well under 200yds!

Countless Swedish moose have been harvested with a 55 at standard pressures.
Not one of them ever complained or asked for a 'better' cartridge as far as I am aware!
 
The thing is most of the common rifles are suitable to rebarrel to many calibre’s. Such as the Remington 700 and its clones, Tikka T3, CZ550 and many others don’t come in scaled actions. So you can just as easily rebarrel in 6.5x55 or 270 or any number of other .471” base diameter cartridge.
Regardless of what cartridge you launch it with if your firing the same bullets at similar speeds. It follows the results will be very similar too.
By the way the advantages of the short action for Creedmoor. Are surely outweighed by the problem of OAL limits imposed by said action. When using the longer low drag and/or lead free bullets.

Not really as it was designed to cope with long VLD bullets in a short action without compromising powder space, unlike the .260 it replaces
 
One advantage of the 6.5 CM is that you can easily re-barrel a .243W to it when lead is banned. The magazine and bolt head are already correct for it. If you are thinking about "future-proofing" your .243W .
The two Tikka T3s I have precisely (a 22-250 and a 6.5x55) the same sizes at th bolt face.
Was a bit of a suprise but it's not too much of a leap.
 
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