I will start this. I have and love a like(new, well almost) 6.5x55 swede 96. I have harvested deer with the 6.5 s, and cannot find the performance people talk about. I wonder if sweden and its neighbors had a variety of calibers and cartridges the 6.5x55 would still be so mighty? Just my thoughts, Jay
Look twice, shoot once.
Some cartridges just plain work. Some cartridges gain a reputation because they are designed for a limited purpose and fill it well, e.g. .30 WCF and .458 Win Mag. There are others that excel across a wide range of requirements, e.g. .30-06. Your 6.5x55 is plenty potent for it's intended purpose, it penetrates well, is low in recoil and very accurate over range. It is no magnum nor a light varmint rifle but it does what it is designed to do very well.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the trouble with many shooting experts is not that they're ignorant; its just that they know so much that isn't so.
I have killed several deer with my old 6.5X55 using the Hornady 140 grain spire point bullets.I kept the MV at 2300 FPS or so and never have I had a deer take a single step after being hit behind or on the shoulder.They were dead right there.From my experience I think it is the best deer cartridge made. I am sure others have had different experiences,but for me the old sweed is a winner.
As with many calibers, there is no magic. Bullet construction is the single most important factor once you have sufficient velocity and mass to do the job. Too fragile a jacket and it expands too quickly reducing penetration and often compromising retained mass...too heavy a jacket and expansion is reduced.
It is one reason .30 caliber bullets can be iffy. A bullet designed to be effective at a muzzle velocity of 2300 fps out of a .30/30 is not a good choice for a .30/06 or .300 Mag.
I suspect the old 6.5's were so effective is that they had the right bullets. With the new higher velocity 6.5's now available, bullet designs may differ.
Don Verna
The 6.5's take a little more cerebral exercise to be impressed by. The launch velocities are nothing to get worked up over - it's the downrange RETAINED velocity and associated trajectory benefits that make them.
You could make an argument that almost every single military bolt action cartridge ever designed falls into the "over rated" category. We had a period of about 60-70 years in which countless cartridges were designed to throw a .26 to .32 caliber bullet of 140 to 220 grains between 2000 and 2800 feet per second, from rifles with sights frequently graduated out to over 2000 yards. Pretty much all of these rounds are capable of humanely killing a moose. In actual practice, they were mostly used on 150 pound humans at 200 yards and less. Outside of the 7x57 which served as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" wake-up call, all the local developments were mostly the smoke and noise of excited nationalism.
WWJMBD?
In the Land of Oz, we cast with wheel weight and 2% Tin, Man.
Over rated. I like the 6.5 Creedmoor but could easily argue that it is overrated because of the "long range" association it carries. It is a very good cartridge for deer hunting at normal ranges, however. The cartridge that gave me the biggest letdown was the 243. For varmints it is pretty good, but for larger midwestern deer I feel it is a bit lacking. You have to at the best use premium bullets in it. Not so much that it won't work, but it requires very fussy shot placement. I do feel it is better than the 22-250. For me the 22-250 was also nothing to get excited about as the 223 is very good on the small targets out to a pretty long range. If made in a heavy varmint rifle the 22-250 would have performed better but in a sporter its no better than a 223.
DEP
I agree with Bigslug, the 6.5 x 55 gets its excellent reputation from its downrange performance more than anything else. The fact that there were a lot of excellent but inexpensive rifles chambered for that round didn't hurt its reputation either.
I often see the opposite effect - cartridges that are far better than commonly assumed. The 7 x 57 (also mentioned by Bigslug) is a prime example of an under-rated cartridge.
In the end, it comes down to pure physics. There is just NO getting around the restrictions imposed by the laws of physics. We can try to optimize the cartridge for a particular aspect we desire or we can try to find the compromise that encompasses as many as the traits we desire; knowing that it is a compromise.
For example - If we need to stop a charging Cape Buffalo inside of 100 yards, we might want to optimize the cartridge around the traits of a 375 Holland & Holland. If we want to shoot prairie dogs at 400+ yards we might look to the traits of a 22-250. Both of those cartridges are optimized for the task at hand.
On the other end of the spectrum we might want a cartridge that has the widest range of usefulness while not particularly excelling at anything. Those would be "all around cartridges" such as the 7mm Mauser, the 308 Win of the .30-06, just to give a few examples.
A .30-06 isn't as flat shooting as a 22-250 but it's flat enough for most needs. The .30-06 lacks the power of a 375 H&H but again, it possesses a huge advantage over a .22 Short.
I don't think there are a lot of over rated cartridges but I do think there are a few under rated ones.
The 7mm Mauser when properly loaded is an outstanding cartridge despite its age. The 7mm-08 is a FAR, FAR better cartridge than it gets credit for. The 308 Winchester is easily the equal of the .30-06 until the ranges get way out there.
And for all practical purposes theres not a deer on this planet that could tell whether hit by a 300 Savage or the other two thirty cals.Originally Posted by Petrol & Powder
northmn- I'll second your assessment of the .243 Win. It's an excellent cartridge when used appropriately. With the right bullet and good shot placement - it is more than capable of cleanly taking whitetail deer. It is often selected as a "first" rifle for young hunters and I think that hurts its reputation some. That 6mm bullet yields little recoil but it requires a skilled hunter. I think many young hunters would be better served with a slightly larger bore.
It is the same phenomenon we see when people give a .410 shotgun to a kid as a "first" shotgun. The .410 is NOT a beginners gun, it is an expert's gun. It requires a great deal of skill. The 20 gauge is a far better choice for a new shotgun shooter.
The 243 Win does have some outstanding traits - low recoil, excellent accuracy, very flat shooting, better terminal performance than a .223. Deer are hardly bulletproof and a 243 will kill deer all day long but a 6mm bullet requires a skilled hunter.
As for the 6.5 Creedmore - I'm not impressed and I don't really know why that cartridge is needed.
.300 Blackout and it's brother the .458 Socom are overrated. Their claim to fame is that they can be shot in a semi auto.
Old enough to know better, young enough to do it anyway!
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I think the 6.5 swede is a classic round but if you really want to talk overrated how about the .17HMR ? Accuracy is one thing but down repeatable range performance is another. I had a .17 that shot great if there was no air flow (breeze)and after listening to country boys who were claiming kills past the 200 yard mark I figured lets go woodchuck hunting. There he was Mr.woodchuck at his hole on my favorite farm I was surprised I got so close to the hole (18 paces) in a cut field he would be woodchuck number 5 from that hole this season. He was down on all fours eating when I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and fired. I figured number 5 taken but was proven wrong when he sat up on his hind legs looked around then dropped back down and started eating. I knew the rifle and knew I didn't miss so I went back about the same time the following day with my .22-250 and took care of business. I had hit him right were I aimed with the .17HMR because there was a perfect hole of the bullets profile. It had struck the woodchucks shoulder sideways and gone in about 5/8" of an inch without even getting into the chucks boiler room. So much for that experiment. Now don't get me wrong folks there is no way I would have tried a shot past 75 yards with that lil'popgun but its an example of how over rated cartridges can get.
???? Wonder what happened to my reply posted yesterday. ?????
The .223 isn't a 22-250 and never will be. In fact, in your average 16"-20" AR15; you are getting .222 Remington ballistics. In equal length/ weight barrels the 22-250 is hitting harder way out there where the gun shy prairie dogs are. In my experience from using both cartridges for 46 years. And to stir it up more, I've NEVER had a problem killing deer with one shot with a .223, 22-250, or .243.
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Anything with the word magnum in it used to kill deer under 250 yards. Still can't believe all the people that buy ultra short belted mag for woods range hunting, with no intent of appropriate hand loading. Great way to develop a flinch and go deaf at the same time!
Agreed. Personally I have only killed a couple of deer with .223 and 22-250 never had any issues. I have killed 50 or 60 deer with the .243. Never came close to loosing one with the 243. I have came very close to loosing deer with .270, 338 Win Mag and 375 H&H. These were simply improper bullet selection. In all cases the bullets used were premium bullets designed for much large game. Back to the 243 all 50 or 60 kills were with either Remington 100 gr SP Corelocks or Speer 100 SP. To date I have killed apx 180 deer with a firearm and another 50 or so with the bow. I have lost one with each. With the bow I lost one at 11 years old in 1971. That was bad shot placement. With the firearm it was with the 30-06 with 150 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. I hit a piece of brush. The buck was killed the next day by another hunter. Some of the bullet fragments just penetrated the chest cavity .
As to overrated almost anything Ackley Improved that I have worked with did not live up to the hype or expectations.
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I don’t consider the 6.5x55 over rated, it does it’s job just fine. Basically driving a hi sectional density bullet fast enough to take moose without kicking your brains out. Personally most any cartridge I can think of dose it’s job, some just make more commotion in the process! To me the over rated cartridges are the ones marketed to instantly turn Joe Average into a long range killin machine. That is a disservice to the quarry and all hunters in the long run. The 6.5Cr comes to mind, nothing wrong with it but it is not the end all long range hunting load that the sales staff wants folk to believe. Used to be 7 REM mag, in the old days. Joe Average can’t shoot well enough to even think about 200 yards, much less select a good hunting bullet from all the target loads on the shelf. Lots of “over hyped” cartridges out there, but they will do the job if folk can sort the hype for reality.
“You don’t practice until you get it right. You practice until you can’t get it wrong.” Jason Elam, All-Pro kicker, Denver Broncos
Well the .458 Win Mag is probably a excellent candidate. it came out with great fanfare but in Africa it turned out to be less though. It wound up not being popular at all in Africa. The people there preferred the big British cartridges and calibers.
What he said
HANDS DOWN 6.5 Creedmoore!!!
Its a GREAT CALIBER, but duplicates wht folks have been enjoying for the last ONE HUNDRED YEARS with the 6.5x55. But these youngsters think its the second coming!!
CW
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The 300 BO I agree. The .458 Socom is one of the finest cartridges out there for deer and hogs. What's not to like about a semi auto 45/70?
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