Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bullet choice for the grand old 6.5x55 Sweed

When I ran my 6.5-06 I had outstanding results with the 139gr Hornady, 125gr Nosler Partition and the 120gr and 140gr Nosler BT. With that rifle I killed everything from coyotes to bear and elk and loved that rifle. My uncle gave my daughter a 6.5x55 Sweed with a lifetime supply of brass and hunting loads mostly heavier 140gr and 156gr Norma factory stuff. I am looking for a modern production 6.5x55 for myself now and will be reloading for both of us. My question is what bullets do you all prefer for the a round with the velocities of the Sweed? Any recovered bullet pictures? Thanks for the time.

ACLakey. Two cow elk the old federal 140gr part. 200? or so yards broud side at about 2500fps muzzel. Thay down load fore old rifles but that is what makes them so leathel get close and or hunting. The 156gr could go throu four trailer houses end for end Just a thought. Or moose rather big themselves.

Just maybe two on moose. Please just do'nt try to make it a magnum!!

For large Deer I have had great results with 120 Barnes TSX. RL-19 at max book in new action @ 2950FPS accurate and deadly although they run up to 50 yards then lights out. Buckfever1

I haven't killed anything with it, but my Ruger MKII 6.5X55 really likes the 140 gr interbond and partitions with IMR 4895. Very accurate.

Haven't killed anything with mine either, but it really likes the 130 Accubonds. I think a 130gr class bullet makes the most sense compared to velocity, and case capacity. Mine will shoot the heavies, but the 'Swede is no speed monster.

For my son's 6.5x55 I load 125g Nosler partition with I4350 as per the manual for hunting, there has not been a bullet recovered (no surprise) This has been a very effective load on deer sized animals; effective enough that I have not loaded another round for hunting. Accuracy is good and consistent.

For varmint shooting I load the 95 grain Hornady V-Max with I4064 2.3 grains below max as per the manual. This is a nice practice load and very effective on our "gophers".

WE have 3 6.5X55s in the house my son's Tikka T3 and 2 milsurps. I am giving serious consideration to getting another in the house. Great little calibre. GRF

I have hunted with 140gr Sierras and Speers. Both work like magic from my Rugers #1A and M77MkII. Have not recovered one yet, which is just the way I like it. Hit them in the shoulders and they go plop. Hit them in the ribs and they run 50-100 yards before going plop. It's just like a 30-06 except it doesn't kick as hard. Very nice deer hunting caliber IME.

I'm shooting 140 VLD's in mine..Makes the old cartridge about 80 years younger.

Both the 125 and 140 grain Nosler Partitions have worked quite well for me in the 6.5x55 Swede. So well, that I'm not even looking for another 6.5mm bullet.

i've killed elk, deer, hogs, black bucks, axis deer, and pronghorn antelope with the 6.5x55. most were killed with a 120 ttsx.

still trying to stop one.

For the 6.5x55 velocity the Remington core-lokt work great. I have had a Remington model 700 classic 6.5x55 swed. since 1994 and everything it's taken with a core-lokt has been a pass through or a perfect exspansion. I buy the core-lokt 140 gr. bullets from Cabelas.They use to have a good price on bulk Remington bullets but they have gone up.

Used the 129gr Hornady flat base in mine on about a dozen deer
Performance from dropping on the spot to a little run depending on the hit.
Ranges 25 to 300yrds. I would not hesitate to use it again.

In the past 5 years, I've had five 6.5x55's and one 260. I've shot multiple deer and a bunch of hogs with those cartridges using several bullets: 120gr NBT, 120 TTSX, 125 NPT, 140 NPT, 140 SGK, 140 AB and 140 VLD. I've been pleased with all of them for those applications. I've read consistently good results about the 129gr Hornady and 130gr AB as well. Lots of good 6.5mm bullets to choose from!

Wow lets see. I've used 140 corelockts, Powerpoints, Speer hot core, Sierra Game kings, and Horns. I've also used the 125 partition and am currently running the 129 Hornady interlock.

All have worked great! I don't think you can find a bad hunting bullet in the Sweed. I'm liking the 125 nosler and the 129 Horn in some book loads for a milsurp rifle. No noticeable recoil and my young nieces (9 and 13) can shoot it all day long. They flatten deer and hogs.

I'm with mohawk, hard to find a bad bullet in the swede. I've had really good luck with the now discontinued 160 Sierra and have a couple of hundred Lapua mega bullets to try out. Have also had good luck with 156 Alaska bullets.

Thanks for the replies. I found this link and thought it was an interesting read.

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledge+Base/6.5x55.html

BCSteve also did some good work on 6.5mm bullets

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...s/1481504/Huge_264_Bullet_Test_with_lots

Part II

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...s/4783400/Huge_264_bullet_test_Part_Deux

130 & 140 gr Accubonds working great for me