Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5x55 for Moose? Really?

I would want a larger calibre/cartridge for an elk than a 6.5x55. It's one thing when you're a local and if you don't get the shot you want, go home and go again next week. It's entirely different if you've traveled to hunt and your single opportunity is fleeting and at a poor angle. Then you have the delima of "do I shoot and hope for the best or do I pass up the shot(as you should) and have the rest of the year to wish I had taken more gun".

I don't care what caliber anybody hunts anything with, but imo it's hard to outpenetrate a 6.5.

i figgered the hornady would be fine at that speed. i guess i could try nosler partitions

Do a bullet test. Shoot them both into a box filled with magazines, catalogs,etc, and see which bullet penetrates the best. I shot a Whitetail Buck that was quartered a little to me at the junction of the neck and left shoulder, the 14o gr Hornady exited in front of the right hind quarter. 8 pt at about 80 yards,I don't think you could get any better penetration than that. Interlocks are great game bullets.

Luke - I have a CZ550FS in the Swede. All the info I've read and researched over the years has indicated it being suitable for game the size of moose. Question I have are the "moose" in Sweden or Finnland any bigger, tougher or heavier then the species here in the U.S.? If the 6.5mm Swede is considered usable in those countries (assuming proper bullet selection and placement) why would we doubt it can be used here? Regards, Homesteader

here where I hunt 800-1200 lbs is average bull. The swede puts them down with authority with the 160 gr hornady. That is the only bullet I have used in the swede, but I expect a 140 gr tsx barnes would work as well.

Randy

I looked up Sweedish Moose the other day, and they are the same size as ours, but a little smaller than the Alaskan variety. Did anyone look up that Sweedish data on Moose kills yet, if so let me know what you think?

Homesteader, Do you get complete pass thru on a broadside shot with the 160 Hornady? I know it don't make any difference to a dead Moose, but I am just curious.

I am not Homesteader, but I have helped skin about 17 or so moose shot with various 156-160g bullets from 6.5 x 55's.

Exits have been pretty rare. I think I maybe one or two with this calibre...

Now exits with my .375 H & H with Barnes X bullets are a different story... One does not need this much power or penetration for moosies of course, but I just like using this particular rifle.

John

stillbeeman,

In my experience the entire theory that locals pass up less than ideal shots because they can go hunting again next week is pretty much BS.

This is because I live in Montana. I hear the same thing about Montana elk hunters, especially from non-resident hunters who usually arrive with much bigger rifles than the residents normally carry.

Here's the truth: The non-resident usually shows up for at least a week, and often 10 days, whether outfitted or not. If outfitted the non-resident is usually hunting in better country than the typical Forest Service public land accessible on foot to local hunters.

Most local hunters usually hunt on weekends, when everybody else is out too. Often they only hunt one day a weekend, because the other day is taken up with other obligations. If a resident hunted EVERY day of every weekend in the season, he would hunt 7 days, because opening day is a Sunday. (Or has been, anyway, for many years.) They take any halfway reasonable shot they can get, and almost never pass one up.

So the average local hunter isn't hunting any more days than the average non-resident, and usually in country with less elk. Yet somehow many residents manage to put an elk in the freezer every year with .270's, 7mm Remington Magnums and .30-06's (and yes, even 6.5x55's and 7mm-08's) while the non-residents rarely bring anything smaller than a .300 magnum, and often feel the need to buy a new .338.

Are these bigger rifles more effective? One of my favorite stories is about an outfitter I know who operates in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. He carries a .375 H&H as his back-up. I asked him is this was because of grizzlies, and he said no, it was to finish off the elk his clients gut-shoot with their brand-new .338's.

Mule deer,

not specific to residents of Montana in my opinion.

the number of times i ve seen huger calibers for the new kevlar protected caribou of northern quebec (new specy)...!!!!

ah that s maybe some polar bears are going in the camps lol ...!!!

I agree with MD. I am always puzzled by the notion of many hunters, that anything less than a 30-06 with 180's is a popgun. It's been hashed over ad-nauseum. Like Bell and others have said, a 1000 grains in the wrong place won't kill, but 50 grs in the right place will. My Dad always told me, "shoot them where they live".

Luke - I've not had the opportunity to try my Swede on anything approaching the size of a moose. However, I do know the Swede will penetrate (and pass thru) paper targets - LOL. Hopefully, it'll do the job on wild hogs and South Florida's newest hunting attraction PYTHONS! Regards, Homestead.

I think this notion is fed by hunters reading magazine articles and the writer is using a big caliber (not you) but some writers do this, Boddington comes to mind among a few.

Also, some outfitters recommend nothing less than blank____ caliber will kill their game. I have came across several canadian outfitter websites that actually say nothing less than .28 caliber is preferred for their whitetail hunts. Reading between the lines a hunter gets the impression not to show up with a 6.5 ot even a .270 Winchester to hunt deer. Some outfitters say a .270 is not suitable for elk hunting etc.

I don't expect all of the dead deer and elk that were killed with too small of calibers to be resurrected, but this is some of the ways non-resident hunters get the impression that they have to have BIG minimum calibers.

Mule Deer

I could not agree to your assessment of the local hunter more. My favourite story is one where I walked into an area for moose hunting early in the morning so I was four miles from the closest bush trail. As daylight was breakng I heard a four wheeler (ATV) coming down the game trail I had walked in on.

He stopped and was glassing a swamp/ beaver pond that I had been calling at. There was a nice little bull in the aders accross the pond that was watching us from cover. I asked him if he saw anything and scared him half to death. He said no, and enquired if I had seen any sign in the area. I told him no. He decided to drive back out and try another area. I suggested one twenty miles away.

He left, I waited a few minutes until it was full light, and I coaxed the bull out to within fifty feet of me on my side of the pond, where I shot him. On my way out to get an ATV to collect the moose, I walked past him and his truck stuck in a creek. I went out to my truck, drove it where he was and pulled him out, then went to recover the moose. Four hours later, almost at dark I came accross him again near the main road stuck again. I pulled around him, hooked a chain on his front hooks and pulled him to the main road.

He offerred to pay me, which I declined, but took the opportunity to educate him on not going into an area someone else was already hunting.

The rifle mas a model 38 Husqvarna 6.5x55 swede 160 gr hornady, one shot kill base of skull neck shot. There is a reason local hunters are often successful, they know the animal, the area and have done it before.

Randy

The northern European countries have been using this round for a long time, and take moose with them on a routine basis. Not to start another caliber war....but what about those among us that have gotten an elk with their .243 Win? My brother and I are 2 that I know of.....and I am sure there are more here on the boards. 6.5x55 is an all around great cartridge with low recoil and stopping power beyond its numbers.

Yep

My 16 year old niece filled her antlerless tag on a cow moose this year with one shot from her 6.5X55. Perfect shot placement, perfect bullet performance, cow took 2 steps and legs just came out from under her

We got two moose this year. I used my 358 Norma. Pretty good round. One of them I took with a friend and we both shot him through the lungs. He had a 308. Penetration was nearly identical with the bullets stopping in the opposite shoulder. The wound diameter of the 358 was much larger. The moose wandered the usual 30 yards and died.

However either shot would have killed the moose. I used 250 Speers in my 358 and they core separated. I think a partition would have exited. I am inclined to agree with Klikitarik that an off side hole would have helped. The 358 would have done that with better bullets. the 308 didn't on this big moose and bullet performance was perfect.

Moose are big and seem immune to shock. They seem to need to bleed out and that takes a while. I wouldn't be too worried about using a 6.5, as a minimum caliber for a smaller person.

I wouldn't use regular 160 grainers however. They seem overarted in my own testing, as they often core separate. 140 partitions are my go to bullet. I have a nice Rem 660 in 6.5 Rem Mag that my wife will use next year as her moose gun.

No worries.

Lester Roloff was right!
Do you have any experiences with folks taking Moose with the Barns 130?
Jim

Ya gotta dance with the girl ya brung, and if I was dancing for moose with a 6.5 Swede, I'd make sure she was wearing a pair of 140 TSX sandals. Had I chosen a girl with 160 Interlocks, I'd waltz her right through the engine room as well.