6.5 Swede Which 140 for deer?

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10gaugemag

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I am getting ready to try and get my dealer get me a CZ 550 American in 6.5x55 on the way. This will be my primary deer gun and a treestand rifle. Almost all shooting will be at 100 yards or less with one possibility of a 175 yard shot in a certain stand. I am leaning towards the 140 grain class of bullet right now to eliminate over expansion at close range because I need to make sure and have a nice exit hole for blood trailing if needed. Timber is heavy and even a 50 yard dash can leave you wondering where the deer went. What bullet in the 140 grain area would be good at Swede velocities? Looking like the Speer may be the harder of Cup n Core bullets with the Sierra being softest and the Hornady in between. I am open to Partitions as well or any of the other 6.5 bullets in another weight that hit em hard. Barrel twist will be 1:8.66 so really long bullets are most likely out of the question.
 
I owned a CZ550 in 6.5 Swede.

They are fabulous rifles. But the twist is too slow for a 140. If you do the math you will find it can be made to work with a 130 very well.

The problem you will have is this; the CZ is cut to the original 6.5 Swedish chamber making the throat long enough to accommodate the 160 grain bullet. But the twist is 1 in 10 and the original 6.5 Swede is about 1 in 8.

So no way for you to stabilize a 160 grainer. They do go sideways. Ask me how I know.

I had a custom reamer made. I had my smith in Colorado Springs ream mine with it and set back the barrel. I then had close to a match chamber for 130 grainers out of my 6.5. Its the best you can do short of replacing the barrel. An mine came out excellent.

If you really want to tweak it Hickman Rifles in Colorado Springs has the blueprint and the reamer and they did great work for me.

Then run a 130 grain partition out of it and you will have a deer hammer.
 
The CZ 6.5X55 I had was 1 in 10. It was a wood stocked American. I noticed that if you go to their website now that the twist disappears when you check 6.5X55!
 
My experience with the Sierras is they are among the most consistently accurate bullets I have used but they tend to disintegrate upon penetrating through the hide. I no longer using them for hunting because I was not getting an exit wound. I have since gravitated to Hornady Spire Point and Interbonds and Nosler Partitions, too. All have provided through and through penetration with large exit holes.
The only "failure" (because it did not exit) of a Hornady bullet I have had to date was one doe I shot at approximately 60 yards dead center as she was standing looking straight forward at me. The Hornady 129 grain Spire Point hit her sternum, passed through the heart and full length of her body. The shank was found under the skin at the back of the right butt after breaking the pelvis. The remaining bullet shank weighed 92.3 grains.

The 129/130 grain bullets are plenty of bullet for deer. So far, I have yet to be disappointed with Partitions, Spire Points, Interbonds or Barnes TSX in my hunting loads.

Poper
 
I own a CZ 550 FS in 6.5 x 55, reload for it and hunt with it a bunch. Have killed a pile of deer with it out to 300 yds. I have no problem stabilizing 140 gr bullets. I normally load 140 gr Hornady SST's which group around 1" (3 shots) at around 2750 fps. I normally get an exit hole on broadside shots.

I do not think you will have any problem with 140 gr bullets in your rifle. In fact, I think that is the best balanced bullet for this caliber.
 
jimbeaux82 said:
I own a CZ 550 FS in 6.5 x 55, reload for it and hunt with it a bunch. Have killed a pile of deer with it out to 300 yds. I have no problem stabilizing 140 gr bullets. I normally load 140 gr Hornady SST's which group around 1" (3 shots) at around 2750 fps. I normally get an exit hole on broadside shots.

I do not think you will have any problem with 140 gr bullets in your rifle. In fact, I think that is the best balanced bullet for this caliber.
Click to expand...

What he said.

Firstly the CZ550 6.5mm has a 1:9 twist.

Secondly is shoots a 140gr Sierra Game King with serious authority. For me 0.6MOA.

Thirdly is shoots a 120gr Sierra Pro Hunter and a 130gr. Nosler Accubond with equal authority. Also 0.6MOA, in fact it is my most bullet weight friendly rifle. Have not tried heavier as I use calibre changes rather than bullet weight changes.

My go to bullet is the 130gr Accubond, greatly reduced meat damage and you generally will have an exit wound.

I cannot offer any load data as we run local powders here, a Somchem S365. But some advice would be to seat the 130gr. Accubond 0.025" off the lands, to run a normal Large Rifle primer with probably IMR4350 which by all counts is almost identical to our S365. I was running at 2 850fps.

I believe that the CZ 6.5mm does not have as long a leade as some would purport as I can get a 130gr Accubond into the lands if I wanted.

I think you would do equally well with a 130gr. Partition.

Finally, when I got my 6.5mm out of the box it could not shoot. I soon established that the recess for the recoil lug had not been cut deep enough and that this caused the action to rock about the recoil lug. Check yours as a matter of course.

I always bed and free float and would recommend you do the same, the barrel is already floated so all you need to do is to bed. The CZ action was also a bit rough, ask you gunshop for a burnishing compound and work that bolt 500 to 1000 times before you go shoot, slick her up and you are good to go.

Wonderful rifle, wonderful calibre, wonderfully accurate, you will not be dissappointed.
 
I am looking at getting the Kevlar stocked model which sits in an aluminum bedding block so hopefully it shoots ok without needing a bedding job. The smith I use assembles CZ's safari rifles for them so he should be able to help me should the need arise. I will call CZ tomorrow to find the twist rate for sure but if it is a little slow I will just run 125-130 grainers if 140's wont stabilize.
 
Given you three already and it looks like the Interbond is the 4th candicate with the SST's featuring ....... not in any order.

Yuo will will the calibre very bullet tolerant.
 
What he said.

Firstly the CZ550 6.5mm has a 1:9 twist.
Click to expand...

1:8.66, or 1:220mm. I've already talked to the CZ Gunsmith at CZ-USA - those in charge of website design list "1:9" to round it up and keep it easy - but if you look at the 2012 CZ-UB (Czech) catalog (they discontinued the 6.5x55 in the 550FS for 2014), it lists 1:220mm.

ALSO: I have personally run the 160gr Hornady RN bullets through my 550 FS with total stabilization.

The rifle will have issues with the very long VLD bullets for sure - but anything in the normal spitzer range will stabilize.

On the action being rough - as I mentioned in another thread, my 550FS has a VERY tight chamber -Lee FL Resize dies will NOT bump the shoulder on my old brass (From Ruger #1 and M96) back far enough to let the bolt close easily, and factory Prvi and S&B both have "drag" on the last 60% of the bolt when closing.

Hornady 160gr RN bullets NEED to be seated at 3.050" to clear the lands - same as the 120gr Speer Hot Cor's. My old Rug could run the 160's out to the 3.140" mark, and let a 140 SST sit at 3.155. The 120gr Speers had a LOT of wiggle room... ;)
 
Last edited:
shadow9 said:
On the action being rough - as I mentioned in another thread, my 550FS has a VERY tight chamber -Lee FL Resize dies will NOT bump the shoulder on my old brass (From Ruger #1 and M96) back far enough to let the bolt close easily, and factory Prvi and S&B both have "drag" on the last 60% of the bolt when closing.
Click to expand...

Same here, S&B battle to chamber so stopped using them and bought Lapua. Need to grind from the top of my shell holder and this will allow the case to seat deeper in and consequently allow one to set the shoulder back. Have the same issue on Sako .375. Most have the opposite problem, a little to much headspace.

You have mail Shadow9
 
I use Nosler Partitions and it drills through them. NP are probably excessive for deer though. I got the blems years ago at a great price.
 
Heavy you say it "drills" through them, does that mean it is not expanding with minimal damage to the animal or are you saying complete penetration?
 
No Kevlars available due to the company that builds the stock not keeping CZ in stock with the. Tomorrow I am going to see if walnut is available. If no walnut 6.5 Swedes to be had a 270 Win is my next choice I think, I know where one is at brand new.
 
130gr berger VLD hunting bullets seem to pass rite through deer at 275 yds...
Not sure if the 3k muzzle velocity has anything to co with it?
1in 7.5 twist, new old stock original 24inch miltary barrel. Your rifle should handle 140's with no problem, i find that the 130's give optimum performance overall..whether it be hunting power lines, or 100yd hardwoods..
 
It seems like most of the hunting bullets available for .264 are good choices. I have some 140 grn. accubonds that I like but for deer I really like the 129 SST from Hornady. You can spend as much money as you want if you like, but at those ranges it should not take sub MOA and a premium bullet. JMHO. That is the great thing about reloading, you can shoot anything your heart desires!
 
to answer 10guagemag:

Complete penetration lengthwise of the deer & put his dk in the dirt right there w/ the Nosler Partition.

As other posters have said premium bullets are mostly not needed for deer IMO. I have used partitions, Speer Grand Slams, Rem CoreLockt & Hornady Interlocks and they all worked just fine.
 
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