What is a 6.5x55??

[Cooeylover]

What is this caliber and what is it equivalent to? Is it like a 243 or 270?
Never heard of this caliber much until lately and seen lots of them cheap on tradex. How common is the ammo to find? How well do the people that have them like them. How was your experiences with them?
Thanks

[rottie]

very simialar to the .260 they are a great little cartridge,low recoil ,accurate and because of having a good sectional density they penetrate well with the right bullet

[Booner Sniper]

6.5x55 was a Sweedish military round that is still used over there for Moose hunting all the time. I have 5 of them in our collection, and one of my target (main one actually) is a Mauser 98 with Shultz and Larson barrel. The are an extremely accurate cartridge and are very capable of taking game from varmints to elk and moose - some may think they are light for the larger but with a good bullet and the right placement they work just fine. Recoil is about the same as a 260. I have found that the 140s work best out of them, high BC and high SD make for a good all round target or hunting round.

[Jetski]

The 6.5x55 has been the Swedish low recoil military, sniper and biathlon cartridge for the last 100 or so years in that end of the world and it's still used to take down brown / grizzly bears and moose. Long skinny bullet pushed slow which are stable in flight but start tumbling when they hit something and make a real ugly and effective blood chanel. Before the 7.62x51mm NATO became the worldwide warfare round of choice the 6.5x55 was in the running, but probably got dropped because there are conventions against how lethal the bullets can be and the 6.5 is seriously lethal as the damage that it does is usually irreparable even in a FMJ.

.

[huntinstuff]

Ammo is common. Great cartridge. Ive had a few of them and found them accurate and great on deer and even a bear.

My first one was a Rem 700 Classic that I bought from Phil (before P&D) and the hunter who saw me take the bear bought the rifle from me right on the cutline......

[Rick65Cat]

My 1913 Carl Gustov 6.5x55 Swedish
A buddy of mine that ran a gunshop back in Ontario built this for me for bush hunting for deer. Its taken a whitetail with no problems. He cut off the straight bolt and welded on a "turn down butterknife" handle to clear the scope. Cut the barrel back to 19 inches and shortened the military stock.
Its stil heavy

[Cooeylover]

Sweet lookin bush gun.
Was thinking about getting one for my "nefew in law" for a first deer rifle. Seen them cheap at tradex and thought about getting one and cleaning it up. Looks like its a wise choice for a first deer rifle.
It will either be that or a .303 brit.
Thanks guys, great info as always.

[Jason Balesdent]

Go with the 6.5! Less recoil, more accurate and if you reload you get more than one reload out of the cartridge. Personally I'm on my 10th reload with the same brass. Load 100gr rounds for varmints (hell on gophers) and 140's for deer. Very accurate, low recoil and cheap to reload. Beats a 303 hands down in my books and yes I have owned em.

[Jetski]

For a kid's starter rifle I'd probably go 6.5, real light recoil, accurate and gets the job done. Tradex has some nice ones.

[catnthehat]

I love the 6.5 caliberm and the 6.5 Swede is one of my all time favourite cartridges.
The 160 grain Sierra SMP hits hard enough to stand a mule deer on its can past 200 yards.
Most people shoot the 140's, but I prefer the bigger bullets because I can use the extra 20 grains of lead as opposed to the faster, lighter bullet.
This is my goto hunting rifle, a FAIR O/U in 6.5X55
Cat

[eric2381]

What is a 6.5x55?

The greatest beginner deer rifle ever.

[4570]

6.5x55mm or 6.5x55mm SE (C.I.P.) (also known as 6.5x55mm Krag, 6.5x55mm Swedish Mauser or 6,5x55mm Mauser) is a rifle cartridge developed in 1891 for use in the new rifles then under consideration by the Swedish-Norwegian Kingdom. The two nations had independent armies and the normal procedure at that time was for the respective governments to use the same ammunition and then purchase small arms of their choice. Norway adopted the Krag-Jørgensen rifle, while Sweden adopted a Mauser rifle design.

1891 WOW...
I should get me one...


Cat what powder have you found works best in the 6.5 x 55???

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Rick65Cat

My 1913 Carl Gustov 6.5x55 Swedish
A buddy of mine that ran a gunshop back in Ontario built this for me for bush hunting for deer. Its taken a whitetail with no problems. He cut off the straight bolt and welded on a "turn down butterknife" handle to clear the scope. Cut the barrel back to 19 inches and shortened the military stock.
Its stil heavy

If you put on one of those low profile safeties, from Gun Parts Corp., you could lower that scope considerably , for very little cost. I've got one, with a very similar bolt handle, I bought at a gun show.
Grizz

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 4570

Cat what powder have you found works best in the 6.5 x 55???

I like the slow stuff, either H1000 or 4831, even for the 140 grain bullets.
Cat

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

if you stand a 6,5x55 & a 257 roberts brass and loaded shell together you can hardly tell the diff between the two

[Rick65Cat]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

If you put on one of those low profile safeties, from Gun Parts Corp., you could lower that scope considerably , for very little cost. I've got one, with a very similar bolt handle, I bought at a gun show.
Grizz

The way the bolt handle swings up, and the size of the bell on the scope...with those rings the bolt handle JUST clears the scope. Nothing to do with the safety the way I see it.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Rick65Cat

The way the bolt handle swings up, and the size of the bell on the scope...with those rings the bolt handle JUST clears the scope. Nothing to do with the safety the way I see it.

Here's mine.



That was a military stock, before I trimmed it down, with my little rasp. The front sling loop, was made for a Ruger #1 full stock model.


Grizz:

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by u_cant_rope_the_wind

if you stand a 6,5x55 & a 257 roberts brass and loaded shell together you can hardly tell the diff between the two

That's because the Roberts was originally necked down from the 7X57 mauser, and the 6.5X55 is from about the same era - it is NOT the same , however.
The case head is slightly different dimensions.
The 6.5X57 however, another European factory cartridge, is a neck down 7X57, IIRC.
The ballistics are very similar between all of them are very similar if you shoot the same bullet weight in all the cartridges.
Cat

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

That's because the Roberts was originally necked down from the 7X57 mauser, and the 6.5X55 is from about the same era - it is NOT the same , however.
The case head is slightly different dimensions.
The 6.5X57 however, another European factory cartridge, is a neck down 7X57, IIRC.
The ballistics are very similar between all of them are very similar if you shoot the same bullet weight in all the cartridges.
Cat

thanks cat i should have mentioned that as well either way they are awsome calibers and if they are in a well built fire arm I beleive a person cant go wrong wth any of them

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by u_cant_rope_the_wind

thanks cat i should have mentioned that as well either way they are awesome calibers and if they are in a well built fire arm I believe a person cant go wrong wth any of them

257 Bob is a great cartridge for sure, and some gun cranks figure ( Ackley was one) that the 257 Better Bob was one of Ackley's best improved cases.
Cat

[Bowmaster53]

I have bought 4 of these fine little rifles. I shouldn't use the term little as all four of mine were the Swedish Mauser 1896 Infantry rifle with the 29 inch barrel. When I bought these rifles they had just come in from the armories in Sweden, once the cosmoline was cleaned out of the barrels the bores were so shiny you would have thought they were chrome lined. Except for nicks and dings in the wooden stocks they looked new. I bought 3 Ramline synthetic stocks and removed the military leaf safeties and re-installed Buehler safeties, I kept the military triggers in place for my kids use. The stocks were cut and crowned to 22 inches with the barrels floated in the stocks, these rifles were made for my kids. The fourth rifle became my pride and joy. Again the barrel was cut and crowned to 22 inches and a Timney trigger with safety was installed. I bought a Fajen-Rhinehardt Laminated stock with a Red, Green, Blonde laminate with an ashtray cut. The action was glass bedded and the barrel was free floated . I topped this rifle with a 3X9 Vari X II Leupold Scope and the fun began. I won't say it was due to my tremendous ability to shoot a tight group at 100 yards, but on a couple of occasions on low to no wind days I have been able to place a 3 shot group in the diameter of a dime. However, I do reload my own cartridges and have developed a load which all 4 rifles seem to like. I prefer to use the Hornady 129 grain bullet for both deer and bear but would use the Sierra 140 grain bullet for elk sized game.

There is something that people should consider when considering to buy the 6.5X55, this rifle has almost the exact same ballistics as the .270 out to 500 yards. I know that might be a stretch for some of you to believe but take a look at a set of ballistic tables and see for yourself and save your shoulder as well. Am I sold on this cartridge? You bet I am, and when you shoot a deer with it they have a tendency to go down pretty darned quick. I love my venerable .308 Browning but my everyday deer rifle is my Swede!

[elkhunter11]

The 6.5x55 refers to a cartridge not a caliber. It drives a .264" bullet at moderate velocities, and makes a good low recoil hunting cartridge. Because of the availability of high B.C. 264" bullets, it also does well as a mid to longer range target cartridge.