6.5x55 or 6.5prc - Blaser barrels

[6pt-sika]

i think Nathan Foster mentions that cartridge bit, in his review of the 6.5x57 mauser, (i know because i have that, hence why i read his piece on that cartridge).
As for power behind the projectile, i think you are bang on already, i reckon it will be in the 6.5 prc, 6.5-06 etc territory, however i think Nathan mentions it was partially invented to allow for 6.5x57s to be reamered out to the x65 rws, but in that process it eats some of the freebore and throat that the x57 had, thus making the x65 less suited for long for caliber projectiles, which modern non leads are, after all,even at moderate weights. Just a thought.

Edit: yes, it seems i was right. 6.5x57 Well right according to NF, (and due credit to NF, of course, for his knowledge base, which is to a fair extent made free for reading on his website), and he should know better than me, i reckon.

I have a 6.5-06 , had a 6.5 PRC , have a 6.5 Sherman Short Mag (based on the SAUM case) , shot a few 6.5-284’s belonging to others , had a 6.5 Rem Mag and have thought of the 6.5x65RWS . As to the other level I have a 6.5x54MS , have a 260 , had several 6.5x55’s and have always been intrested in the 6.5x57 . Pretty much all I kill are whitetails and on occasion a black bear and any cartridge I’ve mentioned will do the job in my preferred spots . Now with that being said I do have a 26 Nosler which replaced the last of several 264 Win Mags I had the pleasure of possessing over the years for longer pokes , but anymore I find the 26 a bit on the heavy side and typically grab the 6.5x54 MS or of raining the 6.5 Sherman as it’s stainless synthetic . I got my first 6.5 when I was 14 or 15 , it was a Ruger 77R tang safety dog leg bolt in 6.5 REM Mag . That was mid to late 70’s and I’ve liked the majority of 6.5’s ever since . Now at the same time I’ve been quite fond of 7mm’s as well having tried a good amount of cartridges in the caliber and still have a 7x57 .

 

[6pt-sika]

Yeah I have a 6.5-06 and it's more like a 6.5x284.
Hits like a 270, used on larger deer.
I like my 6.5x55 sako 75 Finnlight.
Moderate recoil ,light weight and does the job.
Good luck on your choice
Jim

A few years back I was on my second 6.5-06 and my fourth 264 Win Mag I decided to set up the Chrony and see how they did velocity wise with the Berger 130 VLD Hunting Match . My 6.5-06 has a Shilen #3 stainless finished at 24” and the 264 was a factory Ruger #1B 26” . Both were pretty much at the max loading and the 264 got less than 100 FPS over the shorter barreled 6.5-06 with a bit less powder . That was pretty much the day I started looking for a donor 700 to build the 26 Nosler . The Ruger was a very nice rifle and shot nicely with handloads but I wanted a bigger gap between 6.5-06 velocity and a shall we say magnum capacity case . And I most certainly got that with the 26 . Amazingly accuracy with the 26 is quite good , I think at present I’ve sent 200 or so rounds thru the barrel over the 8 or 9 years I’ve owned the rifle . Typically it’s fired 3-9 times before hunting season to check sights and then maybe 1-4 times at deer depending on how often it’s carried . So I don’t think I need worry about throat burn out at 900 rounds as many will lead one to believe at 64 I won’t live long enough to shoot that rifle 900 times averaging let’s say 20 shots a year .

 

[Scipio]

I have a 6.5-06 , had a 6.5 PRC , have a 6.5 Sherman Short Mag (based on the SAUM case) , shot a few 6.5-284’s belonging to others , had a 6.5 Rem Mag and have thought of the 6.5x65RWS . As to the other level I have a 6.5x54MS , have a 260 , had several 6.5x55’s and have always been intrested in the 6.5x57 . Pretty much all I kill are whitetails and on occasion a black bear and any cartridge I’ve mentioned will do the job in my preferred spots . Now with that being said I do have a 26 Nosler which replaced the last of several 264 Win Mags I had the pleasure of possessing over the years for longer pokes , but anymore I find the 26 a bit on the heavy side and typically grab the 6.5x54 MS or of raining the 6.5 Sherman as it’s stainless synthetic . I got my first 6.5 when I was 14 or 15 , it was a Ruger 77R tang safety dog leg bolt in 6.5 REM Mag . That was mid to late 70’s and I’ve liked the majority of 6.5’s ever since . Now at the same time I’ve been quite fond of 7mm’s as well having tried a good amount of cartridges in the caliber and still have a 7x57 .

Hello friend .-) - wow, that is quite an extensive list of different 6.5s that you've used. Personally i think the 6.5-06 sounds like a really interesting cartridge, that i wouldnt mind if one saw more rifles in, here in Europe And yes, for mainly hunting deer and maybe a brown bear occassionally, i am not sure more is needed, really .-)
And yeah, i reckon it is a smart idea to also have a 7x57. Not just because it is a cool cartridge, but also just in case that you want to go up a bit in caliber and weigth of projectile and/or a hunting guide or area should require 270 or larger as their minimum

PS. Is your 6.5x54 MS chambered in an old Mannlicher Schoenauer Stutzen, if i may ask

 

[6pt-sika]

Hello friend .-) - wow, that is quite an extensive list of different 6.5s that you've used. Personally i think the 6.5-06 sounds like a really interesting cartridge, that i wouldnt mind if one saw more rifles in, here in Europe And yes, for mainly hunting deer and maybe a brown bear occassionally, i am not sure more is needed, really .-)
And yeah, i reckon it is a smart idea to also have a 7x57. Not just because it is a cool cartridge, but also just in case that you want to go up a bit in caliber and weigth of projectile and/or a hunting guide or area should require 270 or larger as their minimum

PS. Is your 6.5x54 MS chambered in an old Mannlicher Schoenauer Stutzen, if i may ask

I had a pair of 6.5x54’s the first was the earlier Mannlicher model 1903 and the one I still have is a Mannlicher Schoenauer MC carbine . The magnitude of rifles/cartridges I’ve messed with over the last forty years is large by most folks standards . I think at one point I had eighty sets of reloading dies for different cartridges and to be fair I think five of them were for stuff I loaded for friends . My desire to go far from home to pursue big game has pretty much left accept a few other states for Whitetail’s or Mulies , I’ll probably never do it but I’d still like to get Sika Stags in England , Scotland , Ireland and Northern Ireland . It would be really awesome to kill a couple Sika in Japan but to kill one there it has to be bow or spear

 

[Scipio]

I had a pair of 6.5x54’s the first was the earlier Mannlicher model 1903 and the one I still have is a Mannlicher Schoenauer MC carbine . The magnitude of rifles/cartridges I’ve messed with over the last forty years is large by most folks standards . I think at one point I had eighty sets of reloading dies for different cartridges and to be fair I think five of them were for stuff I loaded for friends . My desire to go far from home to pursue big game has pretty much left accept a few other states for Whitetail’s or Mulies , I’ll probably never do it but I’d still like to get Sika Stags in England , Scotland , Ireland and Northern Ireland . It would be really awesome to kill a couple Sika in Japan but to kill one there it has to be bow or spear

80!!!! now that is a lot of dies and reloading! It likely has given you some quite good insight into what tends to work for which cartridge and projectile type, though, i assume
The sika hunt idea sounds cool, and well i guess you already know what you need to learn next, if you want to make it happen in Japan ,-D