Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles RN Hornady 160gr & 175 bullets in 6.5x55 Swede and 7x57 Mauser.

Good deer bullets under 150 yards at around 21/2200 fps?

I have only used the 6.5 160, at around 2200 fps from a 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer.

In my experience (and that of at least one other hunter I know) it's perfect if you like unexpected surprises. Have seen it punch through both shoulders and exit, and fail to reach the far side on broadside rib shots. Which is very different from my experience with many Spire Point Interlocks from .25 to .33 caliber.

I used the 175 in a mild load for the 7RM it worked well as a short to medium range deer load. Used the round nose so I could tell them apart from the full power loads at a glance. I think it would work well at 7x57 velocities as I think it was initially designed for that case.

Loaded up a bunch of the 160's in the 6.5x55 just because they look cool but now JB & Phil Shumaker have me concerned about them. Maybe I will use them on non critical meat hunts to see how they do. It seems like they have enough mass that even if erratic they wouldn't be an out right failure. But I could be wrong about that. Might be good for Turkeys.

The 6.5 Sierras actually have a good reputation if you can find any. And the Woodleighs are stellar if like a bullet that really opens up.

The 156 Norma Oryx is also a good 6.5 heavyweight bullet.

Even works at 2875 fps from a 264 Win Mag, I lent my friend my gun this year and he shot his first big game animals, one black bear and 4 deer.

I hope to try the 155 gr Lapua Mega at the same speed in a few weeks on a mulie doe.

The Hornady RNs have worked well enough mostly, the times I've used them, but, just as with their spire points, sometimes they come apart a little more than I'd like. But as long as you avoid bigger bones near the entry point, either of them work and I have no qualms about using any of the lead tipped bullets: 129, 140, or 160, in the .264 caliber on deer-sized animals.

Anyone have experience with the Norma Alaskan 156gr ? Looking for a 6.5x54 bullet for little whitetails and my rifle LOVES the long slow bullets. Whats difference in the Normas Alaskan/Vulcan/Oryx

Oryx is a bonded bullet and one of my favorites for more sedate cartridges.

Alaska is more a traditional cup and core and work well at sedate velocities.

Don't recall what the difference is with the Vulcan, but it seems it has less exposed lead, more spire point than the Alaska.

I have some left around...

Taking some of the boys out shooting the 1919 Mauser, I did a load of 30 grains of RL 7...with the 160s
in the 6.5 x 55. The kids like the "old gun" and the Military look of it... Recoil was almost like a 223,
MV was about 2200 out of the 29 inch barrel...The boys loved how it would punch thru manzanita trees
at distances from 50 to 150 yds....

Same thing with the 175 RN in the 7mm Mausers. Running at about 2000 fps MV... Targets on trees out on Forest
Service Land, or when they were used as a back drop. Slow MV allows them to be easy to shoot,
yet that high sectional density, allows them to plow thru a lot of stuff...

Both I've loaded at what I call 30/30 speeds and ranges, and would expect them to equal or better the 30/30 results.

They never disappointed.. Sorry both bullets have been discontinued...

Same with my several 8mm Mausers, 170 grain Speer SMP is my favorite bullet for them...loaded with anywhere from
20 to 35 grains of 4198 depending on if I am hunting with it, or letting the boys go out and shoot them...they really love shooting
the Turkish one, with the 29 inch barrel and the long bayonet on the end...

killed a big doe last year just as dead as can be and dropped as fast as possible. Just under 100 yds quartering-to, inside of near shoulder out behind off shoulder, text book hit and she just collapsed. Used the heavy bullet Privi 6.5x54 factory load. What the old boys said about the long slow heavy bullet is still as true as ever. Have used the old Normas in the past, kinda leary the Hornadys

I'd look at the lapua mega 155 gr. Last I checked they run a little cheaper than the Oryx, and are a bonded bullet aswell.

They are a good bullet too but not bonded, they have a thick mid section and a couple of cannelures to lock the core in.

You are right. Somehow I got it in my head they were bonded.

Probably because Lapua talks about the Mega being "mechanically bonded" (i.e. like an "interlock ring"). I made the same mistake when first coming across them.