6.55 by 55

The 6.55 by 55 or as its sometimes known as the 6.5 swedish is an old calibre that has loyal following on the continent, and its seeing a lot more interest here and in the states.

We have a very special rifle in at the moment in 6.5, so we thought it was a good idea to share what we think of the 6.5 swedish.

The 6.5 was born out of Swiss research in the late 1800's and first put into service in italy where an Army officer by the name Carcano developed a service rifle (rifle buffs out there will know that a 6.5 Mannlicher Carcano was used to assassinate JFK).  This calibre was then adopted by the Swedes with a 55mm cartridge case.

The thing that sets the 6.5 by 55 apart is the ballistic coefficient of the bullet - sort of how 'aerodynamic' it is.  It's a very long bullet, so it carries plenty of weight and deforms along its length to deliver that all that energy in a controlled fashion.

Having good aerodynamic and stability properties sets the 6.5 by 55 apart for accuracy, and now with modern rifles and powders the 6.5 can be propelled a lot quicker than the older swedish military rounds.

In Scandinavia they use the 6.5 on anything up to moose, so it should be more than adequate on any species of deer we have in the UK.

We have a special rifle in at the moment in 6.5 by 55, a Browning X-Bolt.  It's a available from Browning only by special order - but we have one on the shelf ready to go.

Read more about the 6.5 here