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Does anybody make a rifle in this caliber anymore. I tried all of the American companies but didn't find anything. Even Reminton doesn't have their 260 listed which would be a close match. A friend is looking for a youth rifle for deer. The kid hunted with my Swede with a scout scope last weekend and really liked it recoil wise. Personally I think the 257 Roberts would be a good pick and I think Ruger still offers that chambering.
Bob
Ruger and Winchester used to list them.
Probably need to check the gunshops and auction sites to find one. I had a WIn Featherweight that was sweet.
Good luck.
There is nothing the 6.5X55 can do that the .270 can't do better. And if you want to load it down to 6.5 ballistics, you can. Or make it an elk rifle with the right bullet. Every company makes one, and a Savage in that caliber would be a lot less expensive than any 6.5. If you're going to handload for it, there's little argument for wanting the rifle in a caliber to match another rifle. I've argued this case to myself for years; the .270 always wins...
I am happy with the performance of my CZ550 American in 6.5x55.
I have the CZ 550 FS, (full stock) in 6.5X55, and I am very pleased with it for the money. Especially accuracy wise.Quote:
Originally Posted by practical_man
+1 on Scrounger, I love the 6.5x55 and the CZ 550, but I think that rifle is too big for a youth.
If you want a sweet one, and you don't mind a little pricy look at the Kimber 84, awesome, accurate, light, and available in 7mm-08, 260 and 257 Roberts, I'd love to have one in the Bob, mine is a 7mm-08 and weighs with a Weaver 3x9 classic and Talley one piece base/ring combo 6.25 lbs.
Hard to beat a 270 though, and much more available.
One of the big distributers has some exclusive 6.5x55 Ruger International (full stock) guns available.
http://www.lipseys.com/itemdetail.as...ems=exclusives
That is a slick gun.
All good points, but did you ever pick up a gun and fall into instant love, whatever cal. it was. We are talking a 15 year old kid here. A friend of mine has taken this kid under his wing and he doesn't reload and I don't have anything for a 270. I'm half tempted to give the kid the gun but I like it too much. I really like seeing the youngsters come into hunting though. His parents aren't hunters and neither were mine so I can relate and more power to my friend that is working with him.
BTW thanks for the replys.
Bob
Nice to see him like walnut and blue too. Not that I don't have my share of stainless and synthetics, but I know what you mean. I took my 13 year old nephew to the gun store last spring and he oogled over a Winchester 1300 I bought for cheap with a walnut stock he just loved. I gave it too him later that night. Nice to see the younguns still like some real wood and blue sometimes, eh!
Finding another sporterized Swede and mounting a Scout scope on it all over is certainly the most economic choice. It may be tough to scrape one up in a hurry, but no tougher than finding a .257 Roberts in any configuration.
If you want a factory sporter, the least expensive would be the CZ 550 . I recently bought one, used, but like new (in 6.5x55). It cost in the low $600's. The nice part is that it has integral scope bases. Not really a youth economy rifle though.
It would probably be quickest, and most feasible, to look for a decent off name, used scoped bolt action hunting rifle in .243 Win or .270 Win.
Good luck.
Kimber at one time took surplus 6.5 x 55 Mausers and sporterized them. They came in blued and nickel with an aftermarket stock. A guy I was in school with had one. I don't know if you could find one use or not, I have never seen one in a gun shop.
Exile
The 6.5 Cal. is one of the most efficient made. The 6.5X55 has killed almost every species of game there is. In Europe the 6.5 is the STANDARD
big game caliber. I have several 6.5s in 6.5X55 and 260 Rem. also a 6.5X284.
It is my favorite caliber. Killed my first deer with a 6.5X55 Swede many many
years ago.
If the boy likes it as you say then why not lone it to him for the season.
This would buy time to find another before next year. The 260 Rem. is one sweet cartridge and I beleive it is available from Rem. A dealer should be able to help
locate one.
Larry
Boz, an older gun nut like myself brought a bunch of guns into my favorite little gun shop to sell for him. There were some good guns and some good prices. One of them was a Model 96 Swede that had the barrel shortened to 17 or 18 inches and fitted into a Mannlicher type stock, probably Fajen or Bishop. Fitting and finishing was perfectly done and it had a 3 to 9 scope on it. Really nice, so pretty it hurt my eyes. He wanted $250 if i remember correctly. That was 3 weeks ago. If it's still there Thursday, I'll take a picture and send you. Most of the guns were as issued military models. I'll try to get som pictures of some of them too. Another one was an older 1895 Marlin .45-70 in perfect condition for $375.
Take a look at this one, it ought to fill the bill well enough: http://www.auctionarms.com/search/di...temnum=8841319
As a matter of fact, look down these lists of guns for sale at AuctionArms. They are two chains of pawnshops that do all their selling on the internet. They run about 200 guns a week through AuctionArms. It might be worthwhile to bookmark these sites and check them every Friday for things you might like. They list things Monday through Friday and for 7 days each.
http://www.auctionarms.com/search/au...x?ad=CAF+Sales
http://www.auctionarms.com/search/au...?&ad=SuperPawn
Get him one of the Marlin XL7s in 270Win. It will do anything the 6.5 will and then some, cheap as chips and works good! Check out the test on gunblast:
http://www.gunblast.com/Marlin-XL7.htm
The 270s are sold out here, I'll be getting one asap.
I own a model 70 Fwt in this caliber have since 1984, and have killed a lot of game with this rifle over the years, from Muleys, antelope, Fox, Coyotes, P-Dogs the list goes on. Just sold a 550 american in this caliber to my brother for my nephew he took his first buck with this single set trigger rifle at 235 yrds lazed. Bullet was a 140 gr Game King.
I was raised on 270's in the Fwt a pre 64 of my Dads used it until I was 22 years old. After buying my first 6.5 and finding that not a 270 made would shoot as accurately as this caliber will I was sold on them. Recoil is less with the 140 gr pill you have 4 more inches of drop at 400 yards then the 130 270 yet have 50 more foot lbs of energy and this is with 10 grains less powder the bullet is that much more efficent. The crosshairs of your scope cover more then 4 inches at 400 yards. I do however handload this caliber. In Swede actions its also an excellent rifle. Had one of the afore mentioned Kimbers made up for my other brother sadly his exwife pawned it in a fit of anger and it was lost in a fire in the pawn shop after the death of my Brother.
In my Days of High Power Competition my fav 600-800-900-1000 yard bolt gun was a Swede Match Rifle I had imported, using 140 gr match bullets this rifle will shoot into 3/8 of an inch with irons at 100 yards. This is the only rifle I have ever fired Master with in Long Range.
I also this past week replaced the 550 American that I sold to my youngest brother with a 550FS Lux. The High BC of the 6.5 bullets kill all kinds of out of perportion to its size a 140 has the same BC as a 190 30 cal at the same velocitys. My handloads have taken bull elk and with aplomb.
My father is 71 years old, and was a 270 man most of his life, Dad was an expert rifleman in the Army and packed an M1D from 1958 to 61. The past 20 years he often grabs my Mod 70 fwt in 6.5x55. That is more testament to this Caliber then I could ever convey.:Fire:
Kenny Wasserburger
No moss grows on the Swede. Bob is a kind and sometimes peculiar fellow sometimes. I've a fondness for the 7X57. I read O'Conner in my youth but never cared for his baby. Mrs. O'Conner carried a mouser of the ordinary variety. Quite a woman and from what I've read, a better shot than Jack.
Pressure is the root of many a ruint barrel lads.
WUT! KW shootin them things. True confessions of a BPCR man. I guess we all have our weeknesses. Dont worry we wont spread it arround.:)
BIC/BS
6.5x57 is still strong in High power rifle competition. In a modern arm they run the pressure up to 52K for the long range match. But then you're just shooting another barrel burner. Less than 2K rounds per barrel. Any young boy/man can shoot that in a month.
Get a 308 with 12 twist barrel and shoot boolits. The savage Scout Rifle would be ideal but it has a 10 twist barrel.
I've a Seaco plain based 140 grain 30 caliber you can shoot over a few grains of Unique for the cost of pistol ammo. Great blasting fun for a yungun. Load the rifle up from their for whatever the hunt requires.
The Wife hunts with a Tika in 6.5X55 and it is a shooting son of a gun.
I'm a pretty big 6.5 fan myself. Took my first couple whitetails with a 264 mag that I traded for. That was a fun all around gun, ground hogs to elk and very flat shooting. Mine liked the 120gr Nosler or Sierra. The best group was 3/8 inch at a 100.
Art, let me know on that 6.5 if they still have it, sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Bob
The argument over which caliber is best will go on as long as we have rifles. Jack O'Connor as well as others fell in love with the .270 when it was introduced and nothing was going to change their minds. There is a good reason for that, it is a fine cartridge. I have been shooting since the middle 50's have tried about everything but the later short magnums. I tried wildcatting back in the day. I have come to my own conclusions. One is that you can make a case for and against any caliber currently available to the shooter. The 6.5x55mm is one of the finest cartridges ever produced. It hits as hard as the .270 but with a little less recoil. The .270 shoots very flat and cartridges are availble in just about any store that sells ammo. The factories "load down" the 6.5x55 because of some of the old actions associated with it and therefore to get the best performance from it, you have to reload. Personally, I would rather have a .280 Remington than the .270 but that is only because I handload and there are far more bullet weights available for the .284 bullet diameter than the .277. Of course the ol tried and true 30/06 is a better selection for bullet weight than either the .270 or .280. Books have been written on this subject and more will follow in the future. Experienced shooters tend to buy what we like. Gun writters make a living trying to convince us and the new shooters we need the latest and greatest "whompestcat magnum". That in turn spurrs gun sales, magazine sells, and as sure as day follows night, money in their pockets. I currently have 2 6.5x55's and I built one from a turkish mauser for my grandson. If I were going after grizzle I would want something heavier but for everyting else on the north american continent, the 6.5x55 will handle it with authority if the proper bullet weight is place in the heart/lung area. A dead whitetail, elk, or moose is a dead whitetail, elk, or moose whether it was shot with a 30/30 or a 375H&H magnum. Regardless of which way you go in caliber, the young man will benefit and will probably cherish that rifle the rest of his life. Its a win/win situation. James
Ok, below are some pictures of that dolled up 6.5 Swede, price is $250, as well as:
Enfield .38 (S&W?) $120
Enfield L1A1 .308 $175
Winchester 1894 Trapper (?) in .45 Colt $375
Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt $280
Marlin 1895 .45-70 Microgroove $375
The gunshop
s business card is shown and they will ship to you for very reasonable money. Call them with any questions; they are open only 9 to 5, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. They have a quite a few other milsurps in there, it can't hurt to ask if you're looking for something. Too many pictures, there'll be another post.
Continuation:
12 year old boy?
Model seven youth in 260 rem. 6 3/4 lbs.
http://www.remington.com/products/fi...outh_specs.asp
Ruger makes rifles in at least their compact chambered for 260 rem. but I'm never going to recomend a Ruger.
Saw one years back in a pawn shop local and it was the Win 70 with Mannlicher stock. Never knew they had such a thing. It was cheap too. The guy said you couldn't get ammo for it.:???:
The Savage rifle that Scrounger listed in the Auction arms site is a steal!
Now I won't argue the merits of .270 vs. 6.5x55 ..... they are both grand! ..... and I am a .270 man ittchin' for a Swede myself ......
But my wife bought one of those Savage 111's in 7 Rem mag for $245 out from under me at our local gun shop. The scope is bottom of Simon's barrel but it works until something better comes along.
For the bucks and if you are under a time constraint ..... it would be hard to beat.
Three 44s
Art,
Thanks a bunch! I passed the info along and I might be interested in the Enfield Revolver myself. Might be able to get the whole mess in one shipment.
I need a bunch of fence put up at the farm might be good payment to this kid and help me out as well. I'm getting a little long in the tooth to be hefting a spud bar all day. Of course this is assuming the kid's parents agree. :Fire:
Thanks again
Bob
Scrounger,
Thats a fine looking Mannlicher Sporterized Swede. If I hadn't recently bought the CZ-550FS, I would be tempted myself. $250 is a great price for that Rig.
Sean