I was just at Joe' s sporting goods in St. Paul MN. Looking at purchasing a new Tikka T3. The gun managager said the whole staff really likes this cartridge for Whitetail. He said this is a very popular cartridge in Scandanavia for Moose hunting so power isn' t an issue. Does anyone have experience with this cartridge? how does it shoot? Thanks

You have a winner. The 6.5x55 is one fine rifle. It is very effective on all game up to and including moose. I have had several. Mine is the model 38 swedish military rifle. I changed the bolt handle and drilled and tapped it for scope mounts and installed a Timney trigger. She first group I shot was 5/8 of an inch and I never changed a thing. I shoot 140 grain Hordady bullets. The 6.5x55 kills game much better that its size and velocity might indicate. The recoil is very light. I think youi will love it. I do.

I have it in a model 70 featherweight classic and a model 38 Swedish mauser . I have had very good performance from the 6.5X55 round on deer and have taken one elk with it .

there is some really good info about all the 6.5,264,and260s in one of the new gun mags i bought. i think it was petersons hunting or rifleman.check it out if your not convinced from after reading your reply' s. i feel that this is one of the most versital rounds that is not a magnum.

While it wouldn' t be my personal choice for moose, it makes a super whitetail rifle. I have several Swedish rifles in 6.5x55 and they are accurate and very mild in the recoil department.

Okay,

It sounds as though the 6.5x55 swedish is a great whitetail cartridge. Now what about ammo? So far I have found one load from Win. Rem and Federal. the basic soft points from each company. Is there any other choices I should be made aware of? I can stock up so finding them in different places wouldn' t be much of an issue. Is there any of these loads that are better? How is the recoil compared to a .270 Same or less?
Thanks

Much less tyan the 270. Less than my 243 as well. However tyhe military rifle is on the heavy side which cuts down on the recoil. Even then recoil is no concern at all. I have only used the Hornady 140 grain and have never fired a factory load in it.

If you are serious about buying a rifle in 6.5x55, I would seriously consider reloading for it. The remington and winchester junk, though effective, is seriously underloaded, and the Hornady light magnum' s are expensive. There are some european manufacturers of 6.5x55 loaded up to the right spec, but you aren' t going to find it on the shelves of your local stores. I forgot about PMC, not to be confused with UMC, can be found in places, which is loaded up near the cartridge' s potential, but the ammo is of questionable quality.

One of the greatest cartridges of all time. Handloaded, you are indeed well-equipped to handle all but North America' s dangerous game. Won' t hurt your shoulder, either.

I' m currently rebarreling a model 70 to .260 remington.

Handloaded, the 6.5 X 55 is a slightly better cartridge and that Tikka will allow you to improve on factory ammo which is designed for the 1896 Mauser.

Personally I' d use a thirty caliber (or bigger) on moose and elk, but there' s no doubt that the 6.5 X 55 will do it too.

Check out Holiday village for the best price however. Maybe it' s now called Gander Mountain.