6.5 X 55 Swede and its performance this year....

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deerhunter61

deerhunter61

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In the Dallas Ft Worth area
I bought a CZ 6.5 X 55 Swede this year after reading some stuff on this forum about the performance of the 6.5 X 55....I was looking for a good deer rifle that would do the job without kicking the crap out of me. I have always deer hunted with a 7 Mag or a 300 Mag. Now that I am getting a little older I realized I could take a deer without taking the recoil that they put out.

So here is the tally:

2 Hogs, 1 over 150 lbs and both fell in their tracks

1 Doe, fell in her tracks

1 Fox, fell in tracks

And 1 buck and he ran about 80 yards and dropped.

Also let a young man shoot it that came to my lease as a part of an orphan hunt and he took 3 shots at 3 different deer and hit one which dropped in its tracks.

I did take a cull buck but shot it with a CZ 22-250 and it ran about 60 yards and dropped.

So the tally for me was 5 shots 5 kills and 4 dropped in their tracks.


Oh, and I did not EVER get the crapped kicked out of me. THE GUN PERFORMED ABOVE MY EXPECTATIONS!

I love the performance of the single set triggers too! You talk about making it easy to place your shot...amazing.
 
The 6.5 Swede has panache these days and it is a great round. I also love CZs so applaud the choice although my version is a Kimber in .260 Rem.
 
I believe the 6mm, 6.5's and 7's (7x57, 7mm-08, not 7mm mag) hit deer sized animals a lot harder, with more devastation, than what the energy figures state on paper -- compared to 30 cals.
 
May I ask what loads you used?

I did not get outstanding performance from my 6.5x55 with year with Federal 140s - they were too penetrative and not explosive enough (small exit hole). Two deer shot, one down quickly (40 yards), one never found. NEITHER left a single drop of blood ANYWHERE, and that's with 3 people looking. The only place the buck I found left blood (that I found) was at his final resting place. Glad it worked great for you though.

I likes my guns and my women Swedish. :)
 
I believe the 6mm, 6.5's and 7's (7x57, 7mm-08, not 7mm mag) hit deer sized animals a lot harder, with more devastation, than what the energy figures state on paper -- compared to 30 cals.
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I find that a little hard to swallow. It is all in the construction of the bullet. Yes if you shoot a deer with a 180 grain cxp3 then it will punch straight through. A ballistic tip or light weight 150 grain soft point. That is another story. .30's hit way harder than sub calibers. Given the velocity is in the same neighborhood.
 
I find that a little hard to swallow. It is all in the construction of the bullet. Yes if you shoot a deer with a 180 grain cxp3 then it will punch straight through. A ballistic tip or light weight 150 grain soft point. That is another story. .30's hit way harder than sub calibers. Given the velocity is in the same neighborhood.
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I dont think he was saying 6.5's hit harder than .30 cal's , I interpreted his post as saying that 6.5's hit harder than thier ballistics (on paper) lead you to believe. I can understand his point. On paper , the 6.5x55 is a mild round. In reality, out in the field, it is a fantastic round capable of cleanly taking all non-dangerous game in the the lower 48.
 
Well

30 cal is over kill to start with, hence the reason you don't notice a difference. Heck, even 243 works fine for deer. Deer aren't very hard to kill really.
 
You can drive a 140 gr pretty close to 2900 fps (depending on barrel length).

I like to have a little extra bullet weight as a margin of safety on game. The extra penetration can be handy. I'd rather put a 140 at a moderate velocity into a shoulder, than a lighter bullet going faster.
 
I have a theory (hard to test, but here goes) on why it is the 6 to 7mm bullets seem to work so well against deer, and also why it is against a variety of other critters, while sometimes with a .30 cal, and sometimes, not.

Also, why it is the Swedes went with it. With a .30 caliber or (or larger, in diameter round) it has enough power going through that the penetration overrules not only yaw tendencies, but also cavitation as well. Going through becomes the highest priority (in terms of physics) of the bullet. Atleast in a medium such as a deer or boar, or human. You know, thin skinned mammals in the 100-250 lbs. category which covers well... us and a few of the animals we eat.

What I wonder is whether the Swedes adopted the 6.5x55 as a lower recoil, better long range weapon, and discovered the terminal ballistics, or whether they already knew.

Frankly, I also wonder how one could test out the theory that on thin-skinned mammals does the 6.5x55 actually impart a higher amount of hydrostatic shock than most .30 cal rounds compared to it's penetration power against a comparable .30 cal cartridge?

Although this is all supposition, and frankly, a .30 cal round will kill a deer every bit as much as a 6.5 or a .270, .243, 6mm Rem, 8x57mm... you get the idea.
 
Only One Shortcoming

I think the Swede is a great competitor to the .270 - .20-06 class of weapons, with only one thing it really doesn't do well as a cartridge: machineguns. The 30 caliber class is better for really hard targets like vehicles and airplanes, where tracers and armor piercing incendiary rounds are useful. And bullets for really big game like 220 grain solids aren't very popular in the Swede. But for just about everything else, it does pretty well, and the Swede lovers hold a niche kinda like the .257 Roberts does.
 
Hi "jjohnson"...


I understand your point about The Swede having to stand down when the really heavy bullets are felt necessary (rightly or wrongly). But as a hunter I cannot fault The Swede (or any other cartridge) for being less than suitable for machine gunnery.

You may be right that the Swede aficionados are a "niche" group.

Seems to me, though, that they are part of a pretty large "niche" that includes the fans of most of the .24 through .284 calibers - and to my mind, that would indicate it is, in fact, the .30-caliber devotees who are most deservedly termed a "niche group". Their pet caliber(s) are too much for deer (excepting the .30/30), they are acceptable but hardly optimum for elk and anything larger. Granted, however, they are loud and at least one of them does well as machine gun fodder - which, of course, is of small value to hunters.

Local opinion may vary.

;)
 
I have a family member who has a 7mm-08 and I have examined a number of deer killed with it. At the relatively short ranges his shots are taken from, it seems to me the managed recoil ammo with the 140 gr bullet produces better results than the higher loads and that's what he now uses. I don't know why this is except maybe over-penetration.

PS - It seems almost any caliber or range of calibers can either be hailed as incredibly versatile and capable of doing it all, or condemned as too much for this and too little for that, neither fish nor fowl.
 
"...it seems to me the managed recoil ammo with the 140 gr bullet produces better results than the higher loads..."

10-4 to that, Woof.

One of my sons sometimes uses a 7mm/08 for deer and, from examining his kills with it, I agree that the "managed recoil" loads for it would definitely be my choice if I were forced to use the 7mm/08 on deer.... but since I consider it to be a "larger than deer" caliber the point is sort of moot at my hacienda.

:)
 
For the 6.5mm Swede, I use the Hornady 160 grain round nose soft point, with 46 grains of RL-22 and a standard Federal primer. Within sporting range (300 yards or less) the trajectory is just fine. Plus it drives right on through everything like a bus full of cement.

Low pressure, low recoil

Muzzle Velocity:
16.0 inch m/94 carbine = 2,303 fps
23.5 inch m/38 rifle = 2,500 fps
29.0 inch m/96 rifle = 2,585 fps

I am obtaining 1 inch groups or less with iron sights while using a lead sled.
 
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