Let’s discuss the 6.5x55 SE

[farmerlifter]

I want to see a pic please when you're done. I'd love a short barreled Tikka with open sights.

Will do! Should have it sometime next week, I went with the necg ghostring sight with standard aperture and Corlanes in BC is doing the drill and tap for a hooded williams base. At some point Ill be setting it into a Wildcat composites stock as well.

 

[Runwilderness]

Stupid question here, but I see people mentioning the long throats on the tikka rifles, do most people when loading for hunting not go to cartridge base to ojive? Would that not solve the problem of how deep or shallow the throat is cut?

The long throat allows you to load to a longer COAL before you hit the lands, giving you an increase in case capacity.

 

[WI-Carcosa]

update on this for those trying to get more speed from a shorter barrel. I had Hendershots add .5g of n560 for an updated load shooting 135drt out of a 19” T3.

Original Hendershots 135g drt: 2714 fps avg, 40 std dev, 111 es
With .5g added n560 135g drt: 2740 fps avg, 20 std dev, 66 es
Both shot very similar groups.

I am waiting to try n555 to get more temp stable. This is a fun round to shoot

Put my Swede in a rokstok and it shoots the N560 just under pressure with the 135grain DRT terminal shock very well now. 2704fps avg in 36 degree temps.

 

[Skatchewan]

First of all, I love this round, and I don’t want this to turn into a debate. I’m just now getting into reloading. Using Hogden’s online tool, I’m seeing Max loads reaching around 2700 fps in a 140 gr and 2800 in a 120 gr respectively. Curious if anyone here has pushed these weights closer to the 2900 fps range safely. What powders are you using, etc? Fwiw, this will be getting fired from a Tikka T3 Hunter 1-9 twist with a 22.4” barrel. Will be used for Coyote and Whitetail predominantly.

I shot a buck yesterday with a ML, muzzle velocity 1700 fps. exited, buck ran 100 yards and he piled up dead.

Don't get too hung up on velocity my friend.

 

[Stearinlys]

You’ll like the setup! This small tikka will outshoot my full customs most days.

View attachment 779939
View attachment 779937

@Decker9 is this nitrided?

 

[Decker9]

@Decker9 is this nitrided?

No it’s a cerakote, midnight black iirc.

 

[Stearinlys]

Over blued or stainless?

 

[Decker9]

Over blued or stainless?

It was originally blued

 

[johs]

Awesome thread fellas, running a 6.5 swede here in Little old NZ and starting the reloading journey, great to get some info on the loads from others.

Cheers

 

[Harronek]

This is my Tikka 6.5x55 which is my NZ Rifle, it shoots this load into small groups .
It has a 18 inch barrel so take that into account in regards to the fps / speed .
This load isn’t max in this Rifle , but is where the best accuracy was achieved.
If your new to reloading start of well below max recommended powder charge weights and work up slowly.

 

[Oropi]

Another Swede from NZ….

Tikka 6.5x55 15.5” barrel
Shooting 140s at 2630fps

Tikka 6.5x55 22” barrel
Shooting 143s at 2920fps

Using ADI 2209 (hogdons H4350) and Reloader 26

 

[johs]

Great to see a few in NZ. I'm way up north so not as much deer hunting as I'd like but they seem to work well on most species, pigs are the common thing up here.
Thanks for the tips, luckily I have reasonably experienced reloader to learn from, hut really appreciate the info on loads for Tikka's as wil hopefully shorten the development process.

any issues with such a short barrel? I was under the impression they liked a bit more length?

On a side note I'm on the hunt for a swede barrel Ideally stainless and fluted if anyone has upgraded to a custom barrel and wanta to part with the old one. Cheers

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

This is my Tikka 6.5x55 which is my NZ Rifle, it shoots this load into small groups .
It has a 18 inch barrel so take that into account in regards to the fps / speed .
This load isn’t max in this Rifle , but is where the best accuracy was achieved.
If your new to reloading start of well below max recommended powder charge weights and work up slowly.

What stock is that?

 

[WI-Carcosa]

Good to know they have RL26 in New Zealand. If it’s available in the states more ubiquitously that seems like a cheat code to get good velocities wow well done

 

[Te Hopo]

What stock is that?

Looks like a Hitec/Kroseg Tikka Hunter

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

Looks like a Hitec/Kroseg Tikka Hunter

Looks like I need to try one if it’s a possibility

Edit: woof just saw the price

 

[Harronek]

Yes it is a NZ made Hi-Tech stock .
I’ve had it for about 6 years .
It’s a very nice stock , but although I haven’t checked lately I believe the price has skyrocketed since I purchased mine . There was a change of ownership of the company and the new owners ( Hardy ) in my opinion overprice everything they produce. Now I have no idea of “ costs” and maybe it costs alot to manufacture in NZ , but maybe they just like making alot of profit……
I’d be interested in knowing what it costs to get one of their stocks in the USA in American dollars after the exchange rate adjustment and shipping etc .

Cheers Ken

 

[Oropi]

Great to see a few in NZ. I'm way up north so not as much deer hunting as I'd like but they seem to work well on most species, pigs are the common thing up here.
Thanks for the tips, luckily I have reasonably experienced reloader to learn from, hut really appreciate the info on loads for Tikka's as wil hopefully shorten the development process.

any issues with such a short barrel? I was under the impression they liked a bit more length?

On a side note I'm on the hunt for a swede barrel Ideally stainless and fluted if anyone has upgraded to a custom barrel and wanta to part with the old one. Cheers

No issues with the short barrel other than the obvious, more noise, slightly more recoil/muzzle jump.

Was told I couldn’t shorten the Swede down but I wanted to try it out for a brush gun. But still push it out to 500m

 

[johs]

That's awesome to hear. Good onya going for it.
Has there been a drop off in accuracy?
Still happy out to 500?

 

[Ozarkansas]

I posted this on another 6.5x55 thread, but after cutting my barrel down to 18”, I did a pressure ladder with staball 6.5 and 140gr Gold Dots. Results were very encouraging:

47.5gr: 2640 FPS

48.5gr: 2662 FPS

49.0gr: 2744 FPS

49.5gr: 2771 FPS

50.0gr: 2782 FPS

-primers started flattening on 49.0 and up, no significant ejector marks or visible damage to brass. I still need to shoot for groups but 47 grains is what I used as my hunting load the last two years. It’s extremely accurate, and these loads all hit the same POI and sub 1”, so I feel confident I’ll have a winner.