6.5x55 Swede vs .25/06 Rem.

[Shawnee]

Ok Lads... what are the Pro/Con comparisons between these two cartridges for YOUR personal hunting - the hunting you do, not the hunting you might do if you win the Lottery.

I would think the .25/06 might win by a nose because it is more adaptable for varmints, is great in the deer/black bear/hog corral and not much, if any, behind the Swede for the larger stuff.

What say Y'All ???

 

[cjanak]

I own a rifle in 6.5x55 but not in .25-06. Like you said, I'd think the .25.06 would have the edge with respect to varmints, especially at longer distances, as I understand it is flatter shooting. On the other hand, the Swede is probably a bit better all around cartridge for larger sized game due to somewhat more killing power. But the Swede's advantage on larger sized game might not make much of difference unless you're really going after pretty large animals (plenty of Elk have been taken with .25-06 after all), so I wouldn't disagree that the .25-06 might be the better choice in your case.

Bullet Trajectory
Killing Power
Chuck Hawks on Ideal General Purpose Deer and Antelope Rifles
Glen Harmaning on the the 6.5x55 Swede
Glen Harmaning on the .25-06
THR Archive on .243 vs. .25-06 vs. 6.5x55 Swede

 

[High Planes Drifter]

I dont own a .25-06, and have never shot one. Heck, I've never even held a rifle chambered in it, nor the ammuntion. Therefore, as with all internet commando's, Im fully qualified to comment on the shortcomings of the cartridge.


Really tho, I own a 6.5 Swede Mauser, for the whitetail hunting I do, it's an excellent cartridge.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

cjanak, excellently-organized post!

That Chuck Hawks article you linked to on "Ideal General Purpose....." is a most outstanding article, in my view.

FWIW, I have rifles in .243, .25-06, 6.5x55, and .270 win. I have killed 3 smallish deer with the .25-06. All neck shots with 100 gr soft points. All DRT. But I also have no doubt that any of the other three would have done the same thing with properly selected bullet choices. I have hunted with the .243 and 6.5x55 but not gotten any deer with them. I passed up a little forkhorn last year while carry a sporterized 94 Mauser in 6.5x55, loaded with 140 Federal "Vital Shok". Could have almost reached out and touched him - a .74 cal musket smoothbore would have been adequate to hit him. This year, if I get a little luck on my side, I'll blood the rifles in this order on whitetails: 6.5x55 first (same Mauser)(same Federal 140 vital shok), then .243 win (Rossi single shot)(undecided on load as of yet), then I'm not sure which - maybe my new Rossi/LSI Puma 92 in .45 colt.

I'd be (very) happy with one rifle deer and one bow deer however. Two deer is about all I eat before the next year, without giving a lot away.

 

[dirtyjim]

i prefer the 6.5x55 over the 25-06 for anything from varmints to whitetail. at one time the bullet selection in 6.5 wasn't very good but now i think its better than whats available in 25 cal. if you chambering it in a modern rifle i would go ahead & do the ai version with a good 1-8 barrel & you can shoot anything from 85 grain varmint loads to 160 grain round nose & use less powder doing it.
i have four rifles in 6.5x55 & one thats about to get rebarreled to it. i would buy a 25-06 but it would be for a donor action not because it was chambered in 25-06

 

[Float Pilot]

I have had a couple 25-06s. I sold them to my brother (Lives in the lower 48) who used them for goat hunting.
It is not big enough for most of our critters up here.

I still have 3 6.5x55 rifles. The 6.5x55mm (.264 caliber) is more accurate, less noisey and has less recoil. It does not shoot as flat as the 25-06, but I'll get over that.

 

[doctorxring]

6.5x55

Have used it for years. Before that I used a .270 Winchester.

Many deer and hogs.

I can detect NO difference in killing power between the two.
I used a 130 grain Partition on the 270 and a 125 grain Partition
on the 6.5x55.

I doubt if the 25-06 would be much different with a good 120 grain.

The 6.5x55 is my pick for the "Most Balanced General Hunting Cartridge"
award. (or the 260 Remington)

Very efficient. Good sectional density and therefore penetration.
Excellent intrinsic accuracy attributes.


dxr

 

[Shawnee]

Glen Hamaring - in the links provided above by "cjanack" - talks about:

CXP1 game, CXP2 game and CXP3 game.




Pleeeeeeeeeeease tell me we haven't decided to use "CXPx" to describe the "platforms" of different game animals !!! :banghead:

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The key to understanding the 6.5x55 is the rifling pitch. Early smokeless powder rifles (the Swedish Mauser, the 7X57 Mauser, the M1892 Krag and even the M1903 Springfield) were designed to fire a long, heavy-for-caliber bullet -- about 160 grains in the 6.5X55 and 220 grains in the .30-06.

This not only makes them accurate with lighter bullets, it also allows them to drive long, heavy bullets at moderate velocities -- ideal for deep penetration, even without premium bullet designs.

 

[cjanak]

Shawnee, an explanation of the CXP classification system is here. The system was created by Winchester to help hunters select the appropriate ammunition for the pursued game. Federal has a similar system.

Of course, any system that divides game animals into four large categories is going to be a bit simplistic, but hopefully it is nevertheless a useful starting point for discussing which cartridges are sufficient for a given game animal.

 

[Drgong]

I am not the ideal person to as, as I am a major 6.5x55 Swede fan, but I would go with the Swede as it is a viable round for anything outside of Cape Buffalo. It is used for elk and moose in some places. In North America I would be happy to use it up to but not including bear.

 

[NCsmitty]

This not only makes them accurate with lighter bullets....

I have to disagree with you Vern, it's been my experience with the military twist barrels of 1in7.5 to be less accurate with the lighter 129gr and even more so, the 100gr. Hornady's that I tried working up loads for accuracy. The longer 140gr. are much better and those twists absolutely love the 156gr like Norma makes.
The 25-06 is a wonderful flat shooting round that has an edge in initial ballistics but the BC of the 6.5 round eventually overtakes it. How many 25-06 do you see at 1000 yd shoots?

NCsmitty

 

[berettashotgun]

I'd take the 25-06 over the 6.5x55mm every time.
257 vs 264 WHAT? 7 thousandths....that* will *make a difference.
Velocity edge very clearly goes to the bigger case, and all of this B.C. talk is kinda' pointless except for the competition shooters as far as these two rounds are compared. Check out some Nosler 25 caliber offerings - the newer stuff available has some sweet numbers; but I really NEED a B.C. over 0.500 to shoot a deer/hog/bear dead.
The 25's numbers have worked in the U.S.A. for quite some time on the pronghorns, seems like
Recoil is so close; a different stock is more a factor than the loads. Re: recoil enhancing Ruger #1 wood vs. Weatherby Mark pillow.
These two rounds are very close, but in the U.S.A. 25-06 is much easier to come by:
A: Loaded ammo
B: components
C: Rifles
That said, I have ALWAYS wanted a remy model 7 in 6.5x55mm; just never ran across one.

 

[Shawnee]

The Rem. model 7 is made in 6.5x55 ??????

 

[OFT]

For medium size game under 300 yards I don't think it makes any difference. And I have owned a 6.5 Swede and currently have a 25/06.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Pleeeeeeeeeeease tell me we haven't decided to use "CXPx" to describe the "platforms" of different game animals !!!

OK, I won't tell ya. But we are. Why?

I think I may have inadvertently stumbled upon a highly-entertaining new hobby: "Shawnee-Agitation".

berettashotgun:

Velocity edge very clearly goes to the bigger case, and all of this B.C. talk is kinda' pointless except for the competition shooters as far as these two rounds are compared. Check out some Nosler 25 caliber offerings - the newer stuff available has some sweet numbers; but I really NEED a B.C. over 0.500 to shoot a deer/hog/bear dead.

You make a good point. The reality here (for me and probably many others) is this:

--UNDER 250 yards, I'll take the 6.5x55 swede, for the bigger heavier bullet. Trajectory between the two is a complete wash (for all intents and purposes).

--Also, OVER 350 yards, I'll take the 6.5x55 swede. It will have more retained energy than the .25-06 due to the higher BC AND higher bullet weight - primarily the BC. This is mostly theoretical and probably doesn't matter in the real (hunting) world because the truth is that I personally would never EVER take a shot beyond 350 yards in a *hunting* scenario (large game). It's just flat out unethical except under the most extraordinary unusual conditions. If you did however, holdovers and wind drift would have to be known/estimated regardless of chambering. But BC begins to trump slightly-higher velocity past 350-400 yards.

-BUT, it's this "in-between" range (250-350) where the .25-06 will shine and be (slightly) superior in helping you make a hit. Any errors in estimating wind drift will be minimized by the velocity (velocity trumps BC as between these two rounds in the 250-350 yard range). Likewise the PBR/MPBR is longer with the .25-06 than the 6.5x55, if you're doing point n click, not estimating holdover. No it won't be 350, but it will exceed the 6.5x55 somewhere in this 250-350 range (with a target size of 8" - plus or minus 4"). Now since it's NOT unethical (in my book) to sometimes take a 250-300 or so yard shot, if conditions are right, then the case can be made that the .25-06 is slightly superior, espec. coupled with the bullet point #2 above, that the 6.5x55 excelling past 350 is irrelevant for most any hunting situation, since you/we ain't gonna do it.

I suppose this is one reason why I've hung onto my .25-06 even though I consider it a "mistake" to have purchased a rifle in this caliber. It's arguably THE ultimate light-recoiling very-long-range pronghorn/mountain goat/mountain sheep rifle (and doubling as a dang good "light intervention rifle" to boot).

Also, separate from any ballistic factor, the .25-'06 Remington has now become of the THE quintessentially-popular chamberings for whatever reason, deserved or not. Go look at the new offerings in any turnbolt - the current offerings ALWAYS include this caliber for the American market, and even always include it when there are very limited numbers of chamberings being offered (new Marlin, Mossberg 4x4, etc.). The .25-'06, just in the last 5 years or so, has edged and pushed its way into a permanent niche as one of THE American big game calibers, *just almost* on a par with the "Big 3" of .30-30 win., .270 win, and .30-'06. It's roughly equivalent in popularity now, seems to me, with the super-popular 7mm Rem Mag, which are just behind the "Big 3". So the point is, ammo is cheaper and comes in more variety off the shelf than many many other chamberings, and MUCH more variety than 6.5x55.

 

[skinewmexico]

I've got both. I've just made the luckiest shots of my life with the 25-06, so I have more confidence with it. I think the 6.5X55 is probably better at longer ranges, and bigger animals. But when Berger puts out their new high BC .25 bullets, that may all change.

 

[Tarvis]

But the Swede's advantage on larger sized game might not make much of difference unless you're really going after pretty large animals (plenty of Elk have been taken with .25-06 after all), so I wouldn't disagree that the .25-06 might be the better choice in your case.

From what I have read, the 25-06 is capable of taking elk-sized (CXP3 :neener) game, but bullet selection is crucial, as well as shot placement. Now, I know, anyone that knows anything about hunting knows that bullet placement is very important. It sounded like a "slightly off" shot from a 25-06 would not be nearly as effective as a larger caliber bullet moving faster when it strikes the target.

The CXPx designation was probably designed as a marketing tool aimed at "box a year" hunters. It was probably an effective device for anyone that doesn't pour through the forums or put any thought into which bullet for which application. For example, if you had only been hunting for a year or two and only fired 2 boxes through your rifle, the suggestions on the box for what weight to use for which game would take the thinking part out of buying ammo, thus you would be more likely to buy the Win ammo as it clearly states that a certain bullet was made to be used for deer.

 

[cjanak]

Tarvis: I certainly agree that the Swede is probably better than the .25-06 on larger sized game. I simply meant that, if you're not hunting a lot of large game, then the difference may not be that important to you.

To me, the CXP thing is basically the same idea as the little table commonly found on the side of a box of shotgun cartridges, which recommends which loads to use for quail, pheasant, duck, etc. Like you said, it makes it easier for the casual hunter to select the proper cartridge.

-Chris