A friend’s rifle - or at least a cartridge, which did impress me about 22-23yrs ago was a 6.5 Swede Mauser. A buddy was trying to get into deer hunting, no cash since we were in high school, and his dad never hunted. He convinced his dad to take him to a gun show with a $100 bill, and he came home with a Swede in great condition, with no idea what he had just bought. Naturally, finding ammo wasn’t easy in a “pre-internet, instant satisfaction era,” so I ended up reloading for him, ordering out of paper catalogs. I really fell in love with the 6.5mm bullet and capabilities while I did load work up for him, and I ended up building a sporterized Mauser of my own, followed by a 6.5-06 Rem 700 shortly behind it. I was a big fan at that time of the 30-06 and the 7mm Mauser, and likely never would have tried the 6.5x55 if my friend hadn’t stumbled into one and then dropped it into my lap.