deer hunting 6.5x55, bad stories?

The Swede

I have nothing but good to say for the 6.5 Swede. I have owned 2 and both were superbly accurate and produced 1 shot kills on Texas whitetails.
My mistake was giving the first one to my daughter whose scumbag husband hocked it!

P.R.

I'm sure the deer have many tales of woe concerning the 6.5 Swede, I've never heard anything other than very positive about it.

If a .257 Roberts will kill deer, if a .260 Remington will kill deer, if a .270 will kill deer; and it's pretty well documented that they will......then if you don't tell them, how are the deer going to know the difference between them and a 6.5x55? It ain't the headstamp on the case that does the job. With a proper hit in the vitals and a well constructed bullet, you will get very similar results with everything from a .243 to a .300 magnum. Not that every kill will be the same, but 10 deer hit with say a .270 will likely show as much variation in how fast they go down as 10 other deer each hit with a different rifle caliber. The Swedes have killed moose with the 6.5 x 55 on a regular basis for the last hundred-odd years.

Every time I've tried to go hunting with my M96 I've failed to see a deer.

I took a 7-pointer this year with my Tikka T3 SS in 6.5x55 and a hand loaded Hornady SST. 1 shot 1 kill.

As a Swede Mauser collector I have more 6.5x55 rifles than anything else. Including a couple of non-Swede 6.5s...
I have taken moose, black bear, black-tail deer and caribou with the 6.5x55.

If you can't cleanly kill a deer with a 6.5x55, it is not the rifles fault...

The 6.5x55 Swede has been used on every thing from mice to elephants.

ldhulk said:

If a .257 Roberts will kill deer, if a .260 Remington will kill deer, if a .270 will kill deer; and it's pretty well documented that they will......then if you don't tell them, how are the deer going to know the difference between them and a 6.5x55? It ain't the headstamp on the case that does the job. With a proper hit in the vitals and a well constructed bullet, you will get very similar results with everything from a .243 to a .300 magnum. Not that every kill will be the same, but 10 deer hit with say a .270 will likely show as much variation in how fast they go down as 10 other deer each hit with a different rifle caliber. The Swedes have killed moose with the 6.5 x 55 on a regular basis for the last hundred-odd years.

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Amen! That is a wise summary, "Bullets matter more than headstamps". I'm a big fan of the 6.5x55.....I have 4 of them. Bullets that have been accurate in my rifles (1:8 twist) and very effective on medium game: 120gr TSX, 125gr and 140gr NPT, 140gr Berger VLD. I think you'll be very pleased toting a 6.5x55 as your primary deer rifle.

The 6.5x55 Swede has been used on every thing from mice to elephants.

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Wonder what would be better for mice, FMJ or Ballistic tips...........

It doesn't get much better than a 6.5X55 SE. Mine is a Tikka T3 Hunter.

I prefer Ballistic tips....cause the mice evaporate and you don't have to clean em

Preference...

I prefer the Nosler Accubond to the Nosler Partition. The NAB is the more accurate of the 2, and the plastic tip doesn't deform in the matazine when the previous round recoils.

Either is deadly on deer-sized critters, with anything like a properly placed shot.

As a bonus, the NAB is cheaper per bullet than the NP.

What's not to like?

Yes , yes , I have a bad story about the 6.5x55 and deer hunting. When you shoot a deer with one it dies,very quickly and very dead........I'm a bad man.

The Swedes have killed moose with the 6.5 x 55 on a regular basis for the last hundred-odd years.

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European moose, not real (North American) moose.

But, anyway, 6.5x55 is plenty of cartridge for deer.

good for Hogs as well


er, well not for the Hog.

Same exact critter!!

Horse Soldier--You said

European moose, not real (North American) moose.

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It's the same animal, Alces alces. The confusion comes in that in Europe the palmate-antlered one is called "elk." When the early explorers came to N. American shores, they pinned that label on the first large deer-like animal they saw, which turned out to be the wapiti, Cervus canadensis. Then when those early explorers saw what we call a moose, they couldn't call it "elk" because that name was already taken, so they corrupted the local Indian word for it, which was something like "mus," which probably meant something like "he strips bark," and called it that.

As to shooting either one with a 6.5x55, I think it'd do the job given decent bullet placement. As pointed out, the Swedes do that routinely with their "alg," which is the same animal as our "moose."

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet."

It's the same animal, Alces alces.

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But not the same subspecies. Alces alces gigas, found in Alaska and Canada is bigger than its European cousins (and everything else in the deer family tree).

Some North American subspecies are smaller than the European subspecies though

I've killed 2 deer with it. One dropped in its tracks, the other went 20 yds. Its very deadly on deer. Yet the round has mild recoil and is fairly flat-shooting.

Never shot a deer with my 6.5, but the only variation in my group when shooting my M96 was due to my hands getting used to steadying the rifle.
To give you an idea of penetration - a 1gal jug filled with water, shot with a M39 mosin, had a cute little .30 entrance hole, and a blown-out back, emptying the contents in one shot, and who knows where in the 3-4 way split the bullet exited...
My 6.5 made a 6.7mm entrance and a 6.8mm exit hole (could connect them with a dowel), but the pressure tore both sides of the jug open from the cap to the base, and emptied about 85% of the water through the sides with the burst alone (only 15% was left to feebly dribble out).
Granted, that was a water jug, but equate that to the soft, squishy, water-filled tissues existing in your average woodland critter...confined in the same sort of manner.

I have only punched paper with mine, but the guys who use it on deer tell me that the 6.5 works exactly as described.

Works good.

They work, but there's no magic to it. Medium/largish bullets with good sectional density going at moderate velocities.

30-06
30-30
280
270
6.5-06
308
6.5x55
etc. etc. all work

You won't ever see people arguing about whether or not they kill deer reliably. You could probably throw the 25s on that list too. Now 243 Winchester and smaller, that's debatable.

Shot my first deer with a M96.

A better query might be: "Does there exist a better cartridge for deer?"

"Does there exist a better cartridge for deer?"

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Not in my neck of the woods.