I recently picked up a new Howa 1500 chambered in 6.5x55 Swed, knowing that off-the-shelf factory loaded ammo would be a bit scarce. The new barrels are advertised as being 1 in 8 twist. I don't currently reload but plan on doing so in the future. My brother has offered to load up some brass for me in a load that shoots exceptionally well in his Sako.

I understand individual rifles can like specific loads, but would like to hear from you guys on loaded ammo you've had luck with, and online and retail sources. The only ammo Sportsman's had was Fusion 140 grain. I'll check my local shops this weekend as they usually stock the less popular rounds. Thanks in advance!

I like the Hornady match grade for my 6.5, it's very consistent and cost are not to bad.

Isn't anything wrong with the Fusion 140's if they shoot. I have only seen about 2300 FPS out of most of the 140 loads from my rifle. The Fusions, PRvi, and Federal Blue box stuff.. It was all very accurate and would cleanly take deer without drama out to a couple hundred yards.

Lapua, Norma and RWS are all excellent and have the proper rim diameter. Don't overlook Privi Partizan either, good brass and bullets comparable to corelokts and cheap.

Federal and Hornaday are good but they have the American .573" head diameter I believe. Winchester are good but fairly slow.

Had one box of Herters and I stuck two cases and got two misfires out of 3/4 of a box, I pulled the rest and resized the cases and used them for turkey loads.

I would also look out for Noslers on sale. I have not shot the 6.5 but other loadings were excellent and good reloading brass too.

The only factory ammo I ever used in my CZ was PRVI. It is slow and seemed a little dirty but accuracy was outstanding.

Try the Fusion first. You may find what you are looking for. The Fed Blue Box Vital Shok ain't bad either.

If the Prvi will shoot you can shoot twice as much for the same money

Nosler Trophy Grade - Da Bomb. Accurate as all hell.

I can vouch for PRVI being slow. The 140s I graphed were 2225-2250 fps.

Jerry

Thanks for the info, gents! Hopefully I can find time to visit my local haunts and see what can be had. Good to hear about the PRVI stuff as I found a bunch of it online for good prices.

I bought a variety of ammo for mine a while back. Liking heavy for caliber bullets, the second ammo I tried was 155gr Lapua. The rifle shot it so well i never tried the other ammo. I have several random boxes of ammo on the shelf if you're interested. If not, try the Lapua, shoots great in my M70xtr.

jwall - I knew the PRVI was dirty but had no idea it was soooo slow. Granted my CZ550FS has a short barrel but 2225-2250fps is akin to slingshots & rocks these days. "Sedate", "slow", even "grand-fatherly" come to mind... My Hornady #9 shows 'starting'
loads at 2300fps for 140gr bullets out of their 29" barreled M1896 test rifle, topping out at 2600fps w/IMR4350,RL19 and H4831. Homesteader

The lot I had clocked 2450 fps in a 24" barrel. Dirty and slow but accurate and performed well on hogs and deer. But that is probably the last factory load that rifle will see.

Getting right at 2950 fps with R26 and 129-130 grain slugs.

That's slower than any 6.5x55 factory ammo I ever chrono'd. The slowest I recall was Wolf at 2,479 fps. Hornady Custom came in at 2,512 the last time I tested it. I believe everything else I tested was between 2,550-2,590 (all 140g ammo).

I always thought ~2,500 fps was a bit sad for factory ammo. 2,250 is pathetic.

The Prvi stuff sounds like milsurp ammo. What are you doing with your ammo? Are you looking for a plinking round or a hunting round?

I prefer plinking stuff for break in and sighting. After that I'll go to a hunting round, and use it to get really dialed in out to 300 yards or so. Whether it goes hunting this year depends on what I draw out for.

In defense of the Swede --- my comment related to the only factory ammo I 'remember' graphing. I had some WW 140s but I don't remember checking the speed.

OTOH ! ! I handload 120gr NBT w/ 4350 (either H or IMR) at 3000 fps. I didn't mention because the OP is asking about Factory ammo.

120gr @ 3000 AINT bad for the case size. Consider the 6mm Rem 100 gr @ 3100.

Jerry

156 norma oryx factory ammo

I'll have to look for the Norma. Local shop only had the Federal and Winchester. Local Sportsman had Winchester, Federal, and Nosler with the Nosler being the fastest. Didn't buy any as this weekend is packed with work/horse/kid stuff, so no time for guns.

I'd be all over the 50 round boxes of Laupa 123's

I shot some Sako 156gr. Hammerhead that was really good too and was a semi round nose. I though it was an interesting looking round. Think they might be rebranded Norma or vice versa?

The Winchester for sure has a smaller rim diameter than a Norma, Sako, Prvi case because they are based on 30-06 cases. I'm not sure of the real world implications, just so you know.

Thanks for the tip. This being a modern rifle, one would think it wouldn't suffer any issues with the smaller rims, but it's worth knowing.

The only real world issue with the rim is some brass won't fit in the standard 3006 size shell holder and some does. Annoying to switch while loading.

Gotcha. Not reloading yet but I will def. keep in mind.

My son ran across several old boxes of Norma 156 gr. RN loads a number of years back and thought it might be fun to smack an elk or moose with them. No animals have been shot yet but they were very accurate and I'm sure they work well on whatever gets in their way.

Found some Lapua 123 gr scenar loads online at Graf's a while back. Never checked the speed but accuracy-wise, they put 5 rounds inside of .45". Got them on sale.
Main reason I picked these was the quality of the brass.

Back when I shot factory ammo, the W+W 140g was good in my 550FS. Grouping 0.75"-1." The now discontinued Horn. 129g load was superb. It grouped 0.5"-0.75."

I found the Prvi 120 gr match 6.5x55 to shoot pretty decent for me.....much better accuracy wise than the standard 139 grain Prvi ammo.

As to Grafs and its Lapua 6.5x55 ammo. I bought some of the 123 gr ammo, due to its velocity being listed at a little over 2700 FPS, slower than most of the Lapua 6.5 Swede ammo had to sell. It shot quite well for me when it came to accuracy. Check Grafs for its Lapua 6.5x55 ammo. Shows the velocity of each kind they sell.

I have some 6.5x55 ammo that I will be selling soon.

It is the old Federal Premium ammo loaded with 140 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets. I bought around 8 boxes of the stuff and I am sure I have at least 5-6 boxes left.

Here is what is interesting. All but one of the boxes were manufactures in Europe and the other was manufactured here in the US. When I converted the metric m/s to ft/s, the European rounds were loaded much hotter than the US rounds and have been fantastic both at the range and in the field.

I have started handloading for my 6.5x55, so feel free to shoot me a PM if you are interested in them.

I understand you are asking about factory ammo for your swede but the sooner you get to reloading for it the better. The only factory stuff I know about just doesn't come close to the providing the little swedes true potential. Handloaded, I consider it one of the all time greats.

There you go. Forgot about that when I switched to a Forster Co-ax and RCBS universal hand primer.