Robert White;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust this finds you well.
To your original question, the largest mulie buck - antlers and body - that I've ever seen shot died in front of a B78 .25-06 with 117gr Hornady BT bullets. I watched that rifle shoot a few more mulies with 100gr Partitions and 120gr Speer Hot Cor too and it worked very, very well.
In fact if memory serves I think I shot at least one mulie with it too, but if it was deficient in any way on deer sized animals I didn't really notice.
We recently had an interesting exchange of thoughts and experiences with the 6.5x55 here in this thread that might interest you.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth.../Tissue_Damage_270_vs_6_5x55#Post9248055So while it's early days for me looking to find a barrel up here across the medicine line, so far the price of a barrel plus installation will be close to $1000 by the time the smoke clears...
I'll note that up here a Zastava Model 70 can be had in a 1:8 twist 6.5x55 and they're running less than the cost of a barrel installed.
While I can't say whether or not the 6.5x55 will feed in a Ruger 77, the other afternoon I stuffed 5 of our daughter's 6.5x55 handloads into my .270 and of course they fed like they were running on melted butter....
Anyway sir, hopefully that information was somewhat useful to you or someone out there this fine still fall morning. Good luck on your rifle whichever way you decide and good luck on your remaining hunts this fall too.
Dwayne
