i have a chance to buy one of these its a ruger (bolt action) in good shape with a leupold scope. is it worth 500 dollars canadian? or should i just wait and get a .270 remington? which one is better neways?

I have three 6.5X55 Mausers and I think they are a great deer gun , If you reload your own ammo . If you shoot factory most of the stuff on the market is loaded light because some of the early military actions were not strong enough to safely shoot a max round . That said for over the counter ammo the 270 win is the better round .
I paid less than $400. US each for two of mine and they were both new inbox . I bought them this year ,but I have no idea how that price compares to the Canadian dollar.

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6.5x55 Swede is a great cartridge. If you hand load You can use it on anything fromm moose to wood chucks. For varmints I load 85 gr, for deer 120 gr ballistic tip, for moose 140 gr bullets. Not very many calibers can bost such a wide range . Very accurate mine is an old mod 96 swede mauser.

A few years ago I read an artical that started out What kicks like a 243 shoots flat like the 270 and hits like a 30-06? There answer of course was the 6.5x55. Well that artical may have been a bit misleading but not much. The old Swede kills like a bolt of lightning but is a ***** cat to shoot. It if far more effective that it looks on paper. Mine it an old Military model 96 cut off to 24 inch barrel. It shoots the 120 grain Ballistic tip at about 2850 fps without any stress signs and is very accurate. A friend of mine who is a gunsmith and I bought about 20 of them for 60.00 dollars apiece and cut them down added synthetic stocks and timney triggers and resold them. The customers were happy hunters to the last man. Varmits to small moose, its a graet gun. The 160 grain bullet penetrates like you wouldn' t believe. Great for Black Bear and moose. For big deer or Elk you can' t beat the 129 and 140 grain Hornady. I think Hornady loads them in thier light Magnum line of ammo. Buy it you won' t be sorry.

For everything up to and including elk and moose, the 6.5x55mm Swede is one of the greatest big game cartridges of all time. For deer, it is perfect.

A dirty little secret- if it were invented or standardized by winchester or remington and given even the normal level of hype and marketing, it would probably be one of the most popular deer cartridges today. It has just about everything you could ask for- low recoil, energy level slightly below a .270, excellent penetration, and outstanding accuracy (though this might have more to do with the rifles made for the cartridge than the cartridge itself- I' ve yet to see a remrugerchester rifle made with anywhere near the level of quality them swedes put into their military rifles.)

If the Ruger is new, then $500 canadian is an awesome price, what you should consider is what condition the ruger is in relative to other guns of known and accepted prices, if the value is good, then go for it...the 6.5x55mm is a great round, I' ve seen them on deer and other game in mausers, they' re exactly what they' re legened to be..the european .30-06...a jack of all trades that excells at all game applications.

It sure is! Worth $500.00 Canadian!

If you don' t buy the 6.5X55 don' t buy the .270....find a good .30-06.....all excellent cartridges.