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Old September 22, 2012, 12:41 PM   #26
SHR970
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BTW the European moose is smaller than ours.
The Alaskan Moose is the largest subspecies; the Shiras Moose is the smallest and happens to be found in the Lower 48. An Eurasian Moose is still bigger than an Elk. Still shows that the 6.5 has offerings that have the necessary combination of Sectional Density (needed for penetration) and Kinetic Energy (needed to do the work) to get the job done.

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In Scandinavia they use the 6.5 for moose routinely. Moose have a reputation for being stupid tough animals.
Tough yes, stuipid NO!
"Stupid Tough"...... Bullet sponges. If you don't hit them right, you are going to be pulling it out of a lake.

It still comes down to the fact that the OP has two viable options on the table for his stated purpose.

To match a 6.5 140 gr. bullet in S.D. he will need a 30 cal. 190 gr. bullet. To match a 160 gr. 6.5 he will need a 30 cal. 220 gr. If he keeps the velocities the same and matches the SD in an equal weight gun, the 30-06 will have about 35% more recoil.
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Old September 22, 2012, 01:13 PM   #27
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30-06. A no- brainer.
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Old September 22, 2012, 01:35 PM   #28
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Rustle in the Bushes: I Shoot a SAKO 30-06 and I shoot 110gr V-MAX`S up to the REM 220gr COR-LOCK`S. I am a died in the wool 30-06 fan. I have tried the SABOT 55gr bullets from REM and even tried reloading them my self don`t seem to work for me yet but haven`t given up all tograther, The 110 gr and 125 gr works great fro me on Coyotes and Varmints. and the 130gr thru 220gr works for everything else I have ever hunted, Lhave never hunted any large bears or hunted where they were. As far as recoil I am getting more recoil senteativy all the time. To me 110gr`s recoil less than the 220gr bullets, but I am real leary of using squib loads and have never done it or even shot any of them. I use a good recoil pad and I am going to be getting a PAST RECOIL pad that you wear. You are going to love your SAKO in 30-06 other than a good 22 LR rifle, you won`t really need another rifle. You will have most everything you will hunt covered. I wish I had hunted your county when I was young, I am to old now and I truely regret not seeing your Moutains. GOOD LUCK TO YOU: ken
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Old September 22, 2012, 10:16 PM   #29
TimW77
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"30-06. A no- brainer."

But someone with a brain might want to use it and decide on something else...

T.
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Old September 23, 2012, 12:57 PM   #30
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AGreed with the above. I think the 30-06 is probably the finest most verstile caliber of all time, but one needs to subtantiate that from his perspective.

The 6.5 will do a good job, though I think the 30-06 is better overall for state reasons (and if he is getting a Sako then that pushes it over my edge!)
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Rustle in the Bushes: I Shoot a SAKO 30-06 and I shoot 110gr V-MAX`S up to the REM 220gr COR-LOCK`S. I am a died in the wool 30-06 fan. I have tried the SABOT 55gr bullets from REM and even tried reloading them my self don`t seem to work for me yet but haven`t given up all tograther, The 110 gr and 125 gr works great fro me on Coyotes and Varmints. and the 130gr thru 220gr works for everything else I have ever hunted, Lhave never hunted any large bears or hunted where they were. As far as recoil I am getting more recoil senteativy all the time. To me 110gr`s recoil less than the 220gr bullets, but I am real leary of using squib loads and have never done it or even shot any of them. I use a good recoil pad and I am going to be getting a PAST RECOIL pad that you wear. You are going to love your SAKO in 30-06 other than a good 22 LR rifle, you won`t really need another rifle. You will have most everything you will hunt covered. I wish I had hunted your county when I was young, I am to old now and I truely regret not seeing your Moutains. GOOD LUCK TO YOU: ken
What Sako do you have? Mine is early enough it did not have import stamp on it. I think they had to do that in 1968 (mines about a 64). Don't hunt anymore but fits in with the target shooting. Just a great feeling handling gun.


note: The 1922 era 1903 I have belonged to my Step Dads father. He took 4 or 5 grizzlies with it. Not small ones, huge. I have seen the pictures. I would not wanted to deal with any of them with anything short of a 50 caliber. Scary huge.
No idea what round he used but they were all one shot kills from what my Step Dad can remember. Not your first choice these days, but its what they had and used effectively in those days (he had a wife and kid and could not afford to have a grizzly prowling around when he was up on the mining claim).
Now considered the minimum is one of the 375 magnums and 458s are not uncommon.
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Old September 23, 2012, 01:06 PM   #31
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"Stupid Tough"...... Bullet sponges. If you don't hit them right, you are going to be pulling it out of a lake.
Not sure what stupid tough is. Most went down with a good shot. Up here they are extremely wiley and considered very smart.

And I did pull one out of a creek after a bad shot followed up by trying to hit one running full speed at 400+ yards. One shot took out a rear leg at the joint and he ran 3/4 of a mile through the woods. No idea how he kept going as massive blood loss (none inside when we skinned him out).

Last gasp was to jump up from the bank of the creek and jump into it. Made for a fun night.
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Old September 23, 2012, 01:48 PM   #32
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I am a bit contrary on this. FMJ was used by the military since ? And we can kill people but not animals with it?
The Hunting regulations are written with the intent of humane quick kills. The military uses FMJ for exactly that reason, they are least likely to provide a humane quick kill. The Hague accords (often incorrectly identified as the Geneva Convention) prohibited soft nose (Dum Dum) type bullets for war. The intent was to reduce the suffering of the soldier when shot.

If you are using an 06 on 80lb animals, using FMJ is an option (where legal) but a better opotion is to use less gun for the game.
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Old September 23, 2012, 08:26 PM   #33
Art Eatman
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20 to 25 grains of 2400 behind most any bullet in an '06 makes a good plinking load to work on eye-trigger finger coordination. I used to use 20 grains with a 169-grain lead gas check bullet.

A double-ought buck ball ahead of five grains of most any pistol powder or shotgun powder makes a great squirrel load.

Or an 80-grain pistol bullet ahead of gobs and gobs of 3031 makes for near-4,000 ft/sec if you're mad at coyotes.
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Old September 24, 2012, 02:36 AM   #34
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I am a bit contrary on this. FMJ was used by the military since ? And we can kill people but not animals with it?
What 44AMP said. The military uses FMJ because international agreements decided that it was more humane for use on humans because people are less likely to be outright killed or disfigured when using FMJ's, and thus keep the body count lower than it would be otherwise. In other words, they're used precisely because they are ineffective. There's also a theory floating around that states that a wounded soldier is better than a dead soldier, because they tie up medics and possibly other soldiers who would otherwise be shooting back at you.

On the other hand, when we're shooting game, we want a quick, humane kill because the kill itself is the objective. We don't want the game to suffer, because we aren't going to fix it up and send it back home, it's destined for the grill. So something that maximizes quick lethality is far more appropriate.
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Old September 24, 2012, 03:59 AM   #35
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If you load your 30-06 down to 30-30 ballsitics, you'll have trouble with bullets mushrooming properly. Typical 150-180 grain bullet jackets are too thick. But if you load a "varmint" bullet such as 125 grain Sierra, you'll be happy with this performance plus sigficantly lowered recoil.

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Old September 24, 2012, 01:37 PM   #36
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"But if you load a "varmint" bullet such as 125 grain Sierra..."

The 125g SPT .308" bullet is NOT a varmint bullet.

T.
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Old September 24, 2012, 04:58 PM   #37
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I shoot a reduced load from the '06 just for target work, use a 200gr gas cked cast bullet, and 13gr of unique (be careful to look at each and DO NOT double charge)1600fps and super accurate at 100 yds.
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Old September 25, 2012, 08:24 AM   #38
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If you're gonna load 30-30 loads in a 30-06 case use 170grFP 30-30 bullets. I load them quite a bit for close range deer - 30gr of IMR 3031.

George
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Old September 25, 2012, 02:42 PM   #39
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The 6.5 Swede

The .30-06 has a lot more to offer(ammunition, availability, muzzle energy, velocity, case capacity-I could go on all day), but the Swede is easier to shoot well and more than enough for American Game.
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Old September 27, 2012, 09:41 PM   #40
goredsox
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What the barrel twist? The effectiveness of going heavy/light for a particular caliber is mostly about what the particular rifle can/will stabilize per it's twist rate.

The Sectional Density of the 6.5x55 makes it capable of penetration that rivals the 30-06, though with less punishment of the shooter and with much longer reach for smaller/thin skinned game.

The only down-side of the 6.5x55 is in comparison with the .260. They're so close ballistically that one must consider the .260 and when doing so.. the shorter action, barrel and lower weight of a nearly identical shooting .260 gives the .308-based cartridge a huge advantage in my book.
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Old October 4, 2012, 04:02 PM   #41
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I've owned a few 6.5x55's over the years. I currently own 2, but one of those was acquired recently, and just last night I mounted a scope on her. I'll be taking her to the range on Saturday to see what she can do.

Over the years I've owned about 10 different 30-06's. I currenlty own 3.

I only tell you this to let you know my familiarity with these cartridges.

I've taken more deer with the 6.5x55 than the 30-06. I think it's a great deer cartridge using 120 to 130 gr bullets. Of course bigger bullets also work well, but I like the velocity that these bullet weights allow.
The 125 gr Nosler partition is the perfect bullet in my opion for hunting deer with this cartridge.

When I hunt something larger like moose or elk, I prefer something a bit bigger. That's not to say that the ol' Swede round couldn't do it, but my preference is to get a bit more weighty bullet, like a 180 grainer, going faster than what the Swede can muster.

As a side note, let me tell you what I know about hunting in Sweden. My brother has been living in Sweden for the past 4 years, and has been out a couple times. First of all, only hunting clubs are given tags, not individual people. So group hunting is how it is done. In the summer these clubs go out to their designated hunting grounds and they clear shooting lanes. There are specific shooting stations and any one station is within view of the adjacent ones. The shooting lanes go between the stations. So when they hunt they use dogs and a couple dog handlers. The dogs go and flush the moose to run across the shooting lanes. The shot comes from one of the shooting stations as a running shot when the moose crosses the nicely cleared out lane. THe shots are normally 80 yards or thereabouts. Then, if the moose is only wounded, they use the dogs to track it down and finish it off. So in this circumstance the 6.5x55 with 160 gr bullets would be great.

This is just what I've got from my brother who has participated with a club. There may be some variation across the country, but from what it sounded like, not very much. This seems to be how all the moose huntng is done there.

But North American hunting is quite a bit different, and for the circumstances I find myself in when shooting bigger critters I like to have a bit more reach, but that's just me.


So, for a one rifle battery, given the two choices, I'd take a 30-06 over the 6.5.55, unless I was really only planning to hunt Mule Deer and smaller game. If I were just planning to hunt deer and coyotes, then the 6.5x55 would be my pick. But if an elk or moose hunt were likely then I'd pick up a 30-06. It really is more versatile. Especially if you're not a handloader. That's my preference based on the experiences I've had with both cartridges. YMMV.
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Old October 4, 2012, 07:13 PM   #42
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You can get the wonderful 95gr AMAX for vermin control in 6.5. The 140gr hunting bullets in the 6.5 are amazing for penetration.
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