Favorite 6.5 Cartridge

love my 6.5 dakota. 140 bergers at 3440 74.6 grains retumbo broughton 5c

 

116 year's ago the mauser brothers got it right, may be slightly out dated now days but the Swede's were scraping guns that wouldn't put 1.3 in groups at 300 meters with iron sight. That's simply amazing to me.

 

I like them all, but my favorite is the first one I had, the 6.5x55. Mild mannered and all the old mausers I have had could all shoot. My latest one is a build off a Stevens 200 action and in the modern action it can sizzle pretty good.

 

+1

6.5x55 is not on the list.

 

6.5-06 24 inch barrel. 8.5 twist. 57.7 H1000 2988 fps 140 Berger.

 

I have worked with several 6.5 cartridges and have settled on the 6.5x284 using 57-59 gr of Retumbo, 140 Berger VLD's or JLK's . I get 2975-3025 FPS out of my 24-26" barrels and consistent .25-.5 MOA out to 1000 yards. I hunt medium game, deer, antelope, and coyotes. This velocity seems to be the sweet spot for the 140 VLD's giving superb terminal performance on game from 50 yards to 1000 yards. For coyotes, as far out as I can hit them. Lapua and Nosler brass give identical performance and 10+ reloads/case. As to being a barrel burner, I have 500-600 rounds each through both my rifles with no measurable erosion of the throats yet. As a point of reference, my 270 WSM and 300WBY had 1/8 inch of erosion at about 500 rounds.

 

I voted "OTHER" for the 6.5x55. I own rifles in 6.5x55, 6.5-284, and 264WM. I love them all, but the Swede is my favorite. Lapua brass for the Swede is about half the cost of Lapua for the 6.5-284. The round itself is mild mannered, yet gives a lot of performance relative to its capacity.

All in all, I have to vote for the Swede because I think it gives the best bang for the buck among the 6.5's.

My best 6.5x55 load so far is 140g Berger VLD, Lapua brass, Federal LR primer, 48.2g H4831. I have never chronoed this load, but drops to 600 yards suggest 2750ish. From a 1/9 26" Shilen barrel, this load was shooting 3/8" three shot groups @ 100 yards. My first 5 shot group @ 600 yards in very windy conditions came in under 4".

My bigger cased 6.5's will outperform the Swede, but each of them is another step into the land of diminishing returns.

 

You kinda have mild to wild to pick from, so many good points on several of them to choose one! I would seriously look at the 6.5 Sherman, it's right at the top before you go to wild IMO so it seems to be very easy going from what I've seen but you still get some performance, 140's in the 3150ish range are just awesome and my dad played with some 123's the other day and 3400+ was easy with stupid accuracy!!! Easy to just call up Hornady and get a custom die set coming since they have it on profile.
I'm getting a barrel for my Savage to play with and my Bro is gathering parts for a Howa 6.5 Sherman. It seems to be one of those that you just grab when you go to the gun case!!

 

The 6.5X55 has been doing what the others have been doing for a hundred years.

 

260 gets my vote. Here's the rifle and load data:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f53/my-260-mcr-59628/

Also, you forgot to include 6.5creedmoor on the list.

 

A 6.5-06 imp would be my pick