6.5 Hunting Velocity?

[davidheart]

Howdy! So I worked up a load which I'm pretty confident is accurate in my 6.5x55 rifle. (I still want to shoot it more to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt!) It's 15.6gr 4227 under a 147gr RN boolit.

My question is.... is this: I've chrono'd it at 1600fps-1615fps 10ft from the muzzle. Is this fast enough to take a deer as far as 100 yards away for a 6.5 boolit?

[crabo]

The RN would bother me...

[waksupi]

I'd also say no on the round nose bullet. Otherwise, a good flat nosed bullet would be fine at 100 yards. I killed a couple deer with a 6.5 in that velocity range. One I remember had a four inch hole through the lungs, and a shattered liver.

[Larry Gibson]

..........My question is.... is this: I've chrono'd it at 1600fps-1615fps 10ft from the muzzle. Is this fast enough to take a deer as far as 100 yards away for a 6.5 boolit?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Certainly enough to kill the deer. How fast will it kill the deer is the question. With a heart shot the deer can go a long ways. With a lung shot probably never see the deer again until the buzzards get it. If you're hunting the smaller southern deer and you've got a couple very good tracking dogs you might try it. Or perhaps if in a stand and you can precisely place the 1st shot. I've shot a couple deer with 6.5 cast using a RN bullet and a HP'd bullet that were doing 1900 fps (slower 9" twist) and was not impressed with the results of either. Just not enough bullet. I won't even hunt deer with cast in my 7x57 any more for the same reason. Yes, I know they will kill deer but just not quick enough. The smallest I use is .30 caliber these days with 170+ gr bullets cast soft, slightly HP'd and pushed 1950 - 2200 fps.

Whether or not to use you load is a decision you must make based on the shooting conditions you will have for a precise shot. May work out for you, then again, maybe not.

Larry Gibson

[richhodg66]

Have been working with a 6.5 Swede with that in mind, I just can't get mine to shoot very well.

If I were to deer hunt with it, I think I would do the BruceB soft point method for casting. A 6.5 is small and going to be less forgiving than a .30.

[quilbilly]

I would try the "soaked phone books" terminal ballistics test at that muzzle velocity to see if the boolit does what you want then make a decision. Just get a stack at least 18 inches thick of thoroughly water soaked phone books tied together and shoot at it from 30-40 yards then recover the boolit after looking at the "wound channel". If your alloy is right, you might be impressed (or maybe not).

[DonMountain]

I've had exactly the same experiences as Larry Gibson in post #4 above. Progressing from jacketed 243 to 6.5 Swedish Mauser to 7mm Mauser and up to the 30 calibers, then switching to lead projectiles, I've gotten rid of the 243 as not big enough for deer (grand for coyote), and the 6.5 Swedish is minimum for deer with high velocity jacketed loads, but not enough power for good kills with lead due to low velocities. My minimum lead bullet gun for deer are all the 30's with flat tipped bullets of 180 grains or more. More energy means more consistent kills. And less tracking.

[jhalcott]

I HAVE takendeer with a couple 6.5 guns.. jacketed sure works better than cast. The crop raiders all ran a good distance when hit with a cast boolit, but died quicker from a siimilar hit from jacketed. I usually test the loads I hunt with for accuracy and penetration on wetpack AT THE DISTANCES I PLAN on using them.

[seaboltm]

I personally prefer 35 caliber and up when using cast. Just my preference.

[David2011]

I was a 6.5 fan before 6.5 was cool. Almost all of the game I've taken has been with a 6.5x55 built on a Mauser 98 action but with Nosler Ballistic Tips. As much as I love the caliber I don't think I would hunt with it using cast boolits. I expect my first game kill with a cast rifle boolit to be out of a .375.

David

[davidheart]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Maybe I'll just keep my 6.5 cast loads for hitting small game while I'm hunting deer with j-words.

[TCLouis]

Have any here taken a file to that round nose no matter the caliber and filed a decent sized meplat?

Not 6.5, but one of my really accurate 7mm loads is with a RN boolit and performance on impact with water filled 1 gallon milk jug was lackluster at best, I filed a flat point on that boolit and the same load opened the gallon milk jug up with authority.

Performance on deer . . .

Two reasons I can not say . . . .

I carrry 30 cal and up when I go out with cast

and more importantly

I have no idea why, but when I carry cast boolit gun or a pistola, they seem to scare off every deer in the county.

Well there were two exceptions last year, when the first one reached my previously chosen spot where I planned his demise (338 Mag and cast) I looked around the tree and the sun was so strong/bright in my eyes I could not even see the forest, let alone the deer. The second encounter was on the way back to the cabin that morning. I was stalking up on one as it browsed and my stalk was going so well i was able to get within about 50 yards, I decided I would take one more step. Oops . . . ONE TOO MANY.

Dang and I had finally found an accurate load for the 338 Mag with the RCBS RNFP (Thanx to winelover).

Oh well working on two new lead slinging calibers for this year (7.7x58 and 8mm) to not shoot at deer.

[shafer44]

Where i live, we shoot deer with .223, .243, 6.5 etc with no problem. However, our deer are maybe 100lbs field dressed, so not very big deer. A well placed shot will kill a deer with no problem, no matter what the size of the boolit. Dropping them dead in their tracks takes a larger boolit, I guess, but I have not lost a deer that I have shot with a rifle. Sometimes, they dropped close, sometimes I had to track them 100 yards or more, but they left a good blood trail to follow.

[Sur-shot]

I have tried the 6.5s with cast several times and I just can not get excited about its performance, it tends to just makes holes like in paper. Our deer here are also small, about 90 pounds, but you still need velocity or a well designed bullet, like a big flat point to put them down with one shot. I have a couple of subsonic guns for hog hunting at night, but I use heavy jacketed bullets in them for penetration, unless I use PC cast for day time, in the AR platform, just for follow up shots. I built a 6.5 Grendel sub gun that I use with 160 Hornadys just for hogs, with a can. Now it will penetrate about 18 inches of phone books with no real expansion, at 1,100 fps, just like a cast RN really. You can stitch a nasty old hog up with it, but one shot kills at night are pretty slim pickings and not much performance for a deer. Now the 358 on the other hand will put any critter on the ground with a powder coated RCBS 200 at 2,400 fps. Deer, hog or bear, he is going to the ground with that 358 cast at 200 or better in weight. Tracking is not an issue, 99% of the time, it is bang, flop.
Ed

[GooseGestapo]

I've used a small washer or any other piece of metal with an appropriate hole in it to mark a ring on the nose of a round or pointed bullet and used a file to make it a flatnose, or chuck loaded round in a Lee case trimmer and spin case with a cordless drill and touch bullet nose against a turning grinder wheel to take it back to mark. Heating of metal also anneals the lead to make it softer.
I used a Lee 220gr .338" RNGC with a small meplat that I also drilled a 1/8" by 3/8" deep hollow point on. I dropped a small 8pt buck with such a modified bullet. Broadside heart shot left a 1" exit wound. Shot from .338MarlinExpress over 40.0gr of RL15 for ~1,975fps.
Ive killed deer with a .22Hornet shooting a Lyman .225" 50gr semi pointed FNGC over 6.4gr of #2400 for 2,100fps. Not to mention the unmentionable ones with a .22wmr with 40gr hp's... I don't see why the 6.5 wouldn't work. I've got a .260 but no cast bullet mold. I've got a 7-30waters and a Lee .284 120gr RNGC that's very accurate over 10gr of Unique. I may have to get around to shooting a Bambi with it. Inquiring minds want to know! I bought the mold and used them over 10gr to fireform brass. Cheaper than $$$ jacketed bullets. Didn't even use gaschecks.

SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT.

[54bore]

Howdy! So I worked up a load which I'm pretty confident is accurate in my 6.5x55 rifle. (I still want to shoot it more to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt!) It's 15.6gr 4227 under a 147gr RN boolit.

My question is.... is this: I've chrono'd it at 1600fps-1615fps 10ft from the muzzle. Is this fast enough to take a deer as far as 100 yards away for a 6.5 boolit?

That is PLENTY of velocity to kill deer at 100 yards! I am not a fan of RN bullets, i much prefer a meplat of some sort, the wider the better, A wide Meplat is like hitting Game with a sledge hammer