I'am thinking about building a new rifle, not sure if
I should go with a 6.5x55 sweed or 6.5 creed?

What is your thoughts?


Thanks,
jr1968

Depends on how much of a rifle loony you are.

As the gunsmith who barreled my custom 6.5x55 noted, the chamber dimensions of the 6.5x55 are "all over the place." This is because it's a very old military round, and like a lot of old military rounds, the original throat was VERY long to accommodate heavy round-nosed bullets. These days those are far from the most popular choice for 6.5mm rounds. Instead most people want to shoot spitzers with very high ballistic coefficients, which may not shoot very accurately in a traditional, long-throated 6.5x55 chamber. Which is why mine was chambered with a custom, short-throated reamer.

The rim size is also a little larger than the "standard" 8x57/.30-06 diameter, which occasionally causes problems with some bolts. Not usually, but sometimes. It needs a "long" bolt action, and some are a lot longer than needed for a 6.5x55. Mine's built on a commercial FN Mauser action, which is perfect, and a Ruger Hawkeye would also be about right; their CRF bolts also usually work fine with the rim size, but if not can be easily modified. While the 6.5x55 will feed fine in a long Remington 700 action, it's far longer than needed, and the case-rim may not fit in the bolt face.

I'm assuming you're handloader, so you'll also need to contend with 6.5x55 handloading data that's all over the place, due to widely varying chamber dimensions, plus rifles of widely varying ages and action strengths. If you want to buy factory ammunition once in a while, you're mostly going to find rather wimpy American ammo, which may or may not shoot very well in your custom-barreled rifle. Some factory ammo--both American and European--may not even fit in a minimum-dimension custom chamber, and European ammo may even be too hot for such a chamber.

On the plus side, Lapua (and other European companies) make 6.5x55 brass of excellent quality, and the 6.5x55 has somewhat more powder room than the 6.5 Creedmoor, allowing either a little more velocity, or the same velocity at lower pressure. It's also a cartridge with a lot of history and hence "cool factor," and definitely works very well. In fact, it was pretty much the inspiration for all the medium-sized 6.5 cartridges that followed.

The 6.5 Creedmoor doesn't have the "all over the place" problems, because it's a modern round with very specific chamber and case dimensions. It will work fine in any short bolt action for a .308-size round, and since the Creedmoor's popularity is increasing, both brass and very good factory ammo are becoming widely available. While velocity potential is a little less than the 6.5x55, the difference is less than 100 fps. In other words, it's by far the more practical choice.

The rifle loony way would be to own both (along with rifles chambered for several other 6.5's) but that's not particularly practical.

[The rifle loony way would be to own both (along with rifles chambered for several other 6.5's) but that's not particularly practical.
[/quote]

Ouch, that hurts... I thought I was very practical...

John,

I've had the 6.5 craze now for awhile and have owned a 6.5x55 in a modern action(CZ) for a number of years. I've been saving to get a 6.5-06 or 26 Nosler. Lately I've been thinking though. I will never shoot past 400 yards and almost certainly not over 300 yards. With those parameters would I be gaining much trajectory wise by using a hotter 6.5 over the .270 I already have? I'm talking bullets of the same weight, 130 or 140 grain. I do hand load.

Not John, but I have experience with the 6.5x55, 6.5 Creedmoor and 26 Nosler.

The Nosler is a great round, but IMO, a specialty round. It burns a lot of powder, makes a bunch of noise. But, way out there, bucking the wind, it's great. For general use, the other two make more sense.

To me, a lot depends on the individual gun, how it fits, how it shoots, etc.

JB made some excellent points, comparing Swede to Creed...

DF

But for shooting game at 400 yards and under is the 26 Nosler appreciably better than a .270 trajectory wise?

Not John here,but some of the longer bullets like the 130 gr Nosler Acubond pushed with 47 gr of H4831 at about 2800 fps work quite well in the 6.5 Swede's long throat

Yeah. With the right load and sight-in you can hold in the middle of the chest of a deer-sized animal out to 400 yards with a 26.

As pointed out many times by numerous writers, with range finders and high B.C. bullets, horsepower isn't at critical now as it may have been.

One place where velocity is nice, fighting the wind. Trajectory is science, wind reading, less so, more snake oil and guessing than physics...

The faster a bullets gets to target, the less time for wind to mess with it...

DF

If you are a handloader, and are building new :

The shoulder dimensions ( .435") and neck length of the Swede invite some consideration of one of its' Improved versions ( BJ? AI, etc.) .

More velocity, or same velocity at lower pressure, with less trimming!

The Creedmoor is already "improved" with a shoulder diameter of .462" !!

Or, you can do what I seem to be doing of late, shoot your deer at 50 feet or so where the wind is no factor at all....

except maybe in Wyoming!😛

So a 26 Nosler might be in my future then.

MD : Is that the SA or LA Hawkeye ? (~ 3" , or ~ 3.4" mag)

I'm shooting Berger 130 grain Hunting VLD's with IMR 4831.

My Swede really likes 139 and 155 Scenars over MRP, shooting half inch or so. Those rounds are pretty long, I don't have the COAL here at the office.

DF

DF-

Fixed it.

--Bob

John is right of course on the 26 being "flatter",and about like a 7 Rem Mag and a fast 140 gr load.

At 400 yards with the 270 you will hold at the top of the back,with a sliver of daylight.

Both eyes open you will see him collapse......

Jeez, I might resemble that remark...LOL

But as much as I love my Swedes, I have to admit my two Ruger 6.5CMs are extremely accurate and easy to load. So much so that I'm contemplating pulling the Lilja barrel on my custom 260 Bobcat silhouette rifle and having it rechambered to the 6.5CM. And for a 'thrifty' person like myself that's a big deal...

With a nod to their attributes, I am no 6.5 fanatic,being much more in the 7mm camp. But when I decided to get one other than the 264's Ive owned, the Creedmoor was a pretty clear choice.


The draw is the easy access to factory ammo that shoots really well. No brainer.

I'm kinda in this camp. Don't see the point of a 26 Noz on game when the world is full of relatively inexpensive and simpler to deploy 7RMs.

Careful...

You have to turn in your Loony card talking like that...👀

DF

I might do that anyway. I'm consoling myself about missing out on half-price Marlins on the basis that a 12ga with slugs will do anything I'd realistically or otherwise likely use a 45-70 for.

One of each of course. One way to avoid the chamber lotto for the Swede is to specify a 6.5x55 SKAN reamer. This was Sweden's attempt to re-standardize the dimensions and to allow for 140 grain +p loading. The dies can be more expensive though and harder to find. But a real loony would go custom or at least mix and match about three different makes of dies plus ream the seater when the rifle was chambered.

Choice is easy short action Creedmoor long action Swede. My 6.5x55 is doing things it is not supposed to with Reloder 26 and 142 NLRAB or 140 Bergers at 2900 fps. I will have to see how long the brass holds up but with Lapua brass it can handle some enthusiastic charges for awhile. No need for a 6.5x284 or 06 but the 6.5x06AI is still tempting.

But the quintessential loony round IMHO is the .256 Newton.

I have two 6.5X55's, a Sako 85 and a jack knife "sporterized" Swedish Mauser that I put a Williams peep sight on. The Sako shoots 130 grain Accubonds into bugholes, sub .400" at 100 yds. The Mauser is not that good, but good enough with 160 grain Hornady RN's to use it as a woods gun.

Point? I don't need no stinking point. I have the desire to push a 140 grain Berger Hunting VLD around 3100 FPS. I have no idea why, I just do. Common sense and practicality have nothing to do with it.

Spoken like a true Loony...

DF

What Distance down-range would that 140 VLD @ 3100 MV, drop to sub-sonic velocity ?

About a rch further than a 7mm Rem Mag with a 175 grain bullet.

Maybe even 2 rch
- Probably depends a lot on how blunt the 175 is

You're splitting hairs.

cdb,

It occurred to me that I wasn't quite correct about the 26 Nosler shooting a lot flatter than the .270 Winchester. These days there are a bunch of much lighter .277-diameter bullets designed for the 6.8 SPC, and they can be driven so fast the 400-yard trajectory is almost as flat as the 26 Nosler's with a 129-grain Nosler ABLR.

A friend in eastern Montana, for instance, handloads the 85-grain Barnes TSX in a 24" barreled .270 Winchester to 3900 fps. Admittedly, the load he uses isn't listed anywhere, but the velocity really flattens the trajectory. The downside is that the 85 TSX drifts more than twice as much in the wind as a 129 ABLR from a 26 Nosler--the downside to lighter bullets at warp speed.

Wind-drift is also the "hidden" flaw in comparing most cartridges to various 6.5's. To reduce wind-drift in larger calibers bullets must be much heavier, increasing recoil. Which is why 6.5's are currently increasing in popularity, whether mild cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmoor or boomers like the 26 Nosler. With the advent of laser rangefinders and modern scopes, flat trajectory isn't nearly as important as it used to be. Essentially, minimal wind-drift at longer ranges has replaced flat trajectory as a virtue for many shooters.

I guess I should have mentioned wind-drift also in my original post because I know that's important. I don't think about it as much as I should because the vast majority of game I've killed has been at well under 200 yards where wind-drift isn't as much of a concern.

I will stick to 130 grain bullets and above in my .270. Thank you for your information. I appreciate it when someone with your credentials takes the time to respond.