The old 6.5s | ImpactDynamics

The ancient 6.5x55, or the modern .260 Remington, or the brand new wunderkind 6.5 Creedmoor?

In fact, to this must be added the old 6.5x54 Mannlicher, the old 6.5x57 Mauser, the old 6.5x58 Portuguese, the old 6.5x64 Brenneke, the .264 Win Mag - not to mention the old Carcano and Arisaka. Had a high velocity bullet been the requirement all these must look up to the old German 6.5x68 Schuler. Fact is, no matter the amount of hype,"there is nothing new under the sun" - it had all been done in Europe more than 100 years ago; Let us view the "improvements" by the modern offerings:

As an outright statement regarding hunting, an honest review must immediately begin with: "Ignore the little differences in case geometry (including the dogmatic 'shoulder angles') of the different cartridges and take the rifle with the nicest wood and neatest appearance an most reliable action; that one which draws your eyes immediately and speaks to you - and particularly if it shoulders easily with the iron sights naturally lined up. No matter the cartridge it takes it will be as good - in fact exactly the same - as any other one in the list".

Forget about the infatuation US shooters have with engaging in endless, circling arguments on the .260 Rem and the 6.5mm Creedmoor (or the .308W and 30-06 for that matter). At that level of argument the 6.5x55 is better than both the 260 and Creedmoor - and the 6.5x57 is better than the Swede, and the 6.5x58 Portuguese is better than 6.5x57, and so on. "Better" by splitting airs; an energy wasting infatuation with bickering with paralyses by undending analyses as the only outcome.

In practice they are all the same. Once the bullet is flying (in fact even as it leaves the case mouth) the geometry of the combustion chamber of that gas generator that had spitted it out has nothing to do with its performance on the animal you are shooting at. Then it is only him and his design ability to withstand the heat release into the matter is is made of during a sustained but exceedingly brief impulse on the low shoulder of the animal. That heat release is by the kinetic energy it had carried.

No matter the distance you shoot your mule deer at - the bullet from a 6.5x58 Portuguese impacts the same as would a 6.5x57 Mauser had the deer been two yards closer.
If the deer was another two yards closer a 6.5x55 bullet would impact like the 6.5x57 did that two yards further.
The 6.5x54 Mannlicher impacts the same as the Swede would have done five yards further.
The .260 Rem bullet impacts the same as would the Mannlicher have doner.
The 6.5 Creedmoor bullet would strike three yards closer as hard as the .260 Rem.

The US gun media, when referring to the performance of the old European 6.5mm, 7mm and 8mm cartridges seem to have colluded to only list their original performance with the old, too fast propellants of 100 years earlier. Furthermore, the informal and inconsistent specifications adviser SAAMI downgraded each one of these to such low pressure levels that they do not indicate there real performance.

One example is the 6.5x55 Swede. In the real world of Europe and South Africa where SAAMI advice on MAPs is not accepted its case capacity allows it to outperform the .260 Rem by about 50 ft/sec with 140gr bullets and by 90 ft/sec with the long 156-160gr.

In the virtual world where any European action prior to the Mauser 1898 is deemed by SAAMI to be weak, the superbly strong Carl Gustav 1894/1896 is limited to 51,000 psi while the .260 Rem and Creedmoor are rated for 61,000 psi.

In the real world of Europe and Africa the ability of the 6.5x55 is well known and respected; its action is respected for what it is - one of the finest ever made with the strictest quality specifications, quality control processes and quality assurance testing.

CPI demands that every single rifle (yes, every single one) with its cartridge has to be proof fired at 125% of the maximum pressure applied for. Careful measurements are carried out to confirm all specifications with zero tolerance for any plastic deformation.

The 6.5x55 '94 Carl Gustaf is fired at 71,000 psi, as an example. This means that hand loaders consider 60,000-62,000 psi as a safe working pressure for these rifles and cartridges. Factory loads will be at least 10,000 psi higher than US factory ammunition for the same cartridges.

To meet the same quality standard in the USA every single rifle chambered for the .270W and a cartridge from each manufacturer should be fired at 81,350 psi before being sold.

With these base lines we can review the following table and evaluate the value of the modern offerings:

Because in practice different bullets behave differently at impact, if one wishes to compare different cartridges shooting the same calbre bullet a consystent norm needs to be set. Using a Peregrine or GS Custom or Impala monolitic solid with a flat nose that does not change its frontal impact area or loose weight the impact force per square millimeter can be calculated. Impact velocites were calculated for 200 yard shots from actual tested maximum muzzle velocities in 24" real rifle barrels by an indepedent laboratory (Denel-Rheinmetal Munitions - also known as Somchem)

The depth of penetration by bullets of the same shape but at different impact velocity is depenedent on only one thing and that is the impacting impulse force applied to the frontal area of the bullet. This force overcomes the opposing drag force by the medium into which it impacts.

Impulse is the time taken for a bullet's momentum to decellerate from the impact moment to coming to a stop or to pass through. Typically for bullets that do not fragment that time is one five-hundredths of a second.

Apart from the old German 6.5x68 Schuler which has been a mean performer for many years and is in a class of its own, all the 6.5mm cartridges are exactly the same. The hunter will see absolutely zero difference on the on-animal performance between the following cartridges as depicted in the table below, ranging from the almost 130 years old Mausers to the modern Creedmoor:

6,5x58 Portuguese Mauser

6x5x57 Mauser

6,5x55 Swedish Mauser

6x5x54 Mannlicher Schönauer

.260 Remington (no tests have been made using 160 gr bullets with this cartridge because of the short neck)

6.5 mm Creedmoor (no tests have been made using 160 gr bullets with this cartridge as case capacity is too low).

Not included in the table are the .264 Winchester Magnum / 6,5x64 Brenneke / 6.5 mm-.284 / 6,5mm-06 as they form another group of the same on animal performance.

Looking at the values for bullet momentum and penetration force at 200 yards impact they all are the same with no difference in on-animal-performance: