Thread: Whats your rifle of choice for stalking?

Cant beat a 6.5x55.Good for close up bush work and can knock over big stags at long range. Look into them , next to no recoil and they do nasty things to deer .

Originally Posted by Larrakin

Cant beat a 6.5x55.Good for close up bush work and can knock over big stags at long range. Look into them , next to no recoil and they do nasty things to deer .

Yes and they do nastier things with a 155 grain round nose too they blow shit up, I shot a pig with a reload i had made up with a 155gr RN lapua bullet for the swede at 200 meters and it sat the pig flat on its arse after giving it one in the chest and turned it's ticker into pulp if I got another rifle chambered in the swede I would just run 155gr RN bullets for a bush/midrange round

Originally Posted by Larrakin

Cant beat a 6.5x55.Good for close up bush work and can knock over big stags at long range. Look into them , next to no recoil and they do nasty things to deer .

I have a 6.5x55 and the problem is they are just so damn good you have no need for another gun (see my thread in the fire arm forum). So if you only want to own one gun then sure buy a 6.5x55 and reload. If you want to own multiple guns - buy something else.

Originally Posted by Timmay

I have a 6.5x55 and the problem is they are just so damn good you have no need for another gun (see my thread in the fire arm forum). So if you only want to own one gun then sure buy a 6.5x55 and reload. If you want to own multiple guns - buy something else.

or one 260AI and drill shit to death

Originally Posted by Neckshot

or one 260AI and drill shit to death

6.5x57, 6.5x55AI, 6.5-06, wsm, win mag, saum actually anything 6.5 or 7mm is an awesome caliber and does a bloody good job.

You lost me at 7mm08.



Awaits the shit storm.....

People seem to think the 6.5x55 is magic. Its not. But it is nice. Moderate recoil and noise are its advantages. But its best hand-loaded, and no matter what you do to it, it runs out of legs at around 350-400 yards and kills begin to be quite slow. Especially on large stags and bull Tahr. Its quite emphatic though out to about 280/300 yards.

I've owned a few and shot many animals at all sorts of ranges with them, and that is my experience.

In real life, its no better than the 308 or 708.

Looking back, the 308 takes a lot of beating. A T3 cut to 18" with a suppressor and firing 130 grn Barnes at 3k would have been adequate for every animal I have ever shot in my lifetime.

I don't know what all this rubbish about the danger of emptying a blind mag is. I just point in a safe direction, strip the round out of the mag with the bolt and draw the bolt back. The round is never chambered and the bolt certainly never closed. This is just as quick as dropping a mag and stripping the rounds out by hand and replacing the mag in the rifle so it doesn't get lost.

I've never stalked in bush before but I gather that shorter rifles are easier to manoeuvre. Fatter bullets generally perform better in shorter barrels than narrower bullets and suppress better. Also when you have a short barrel then there isn't really the need to go to a big capacity case. From this the natural conclusion would be the mighty 308, but pretty much anything will do.

Disclaimer: I'm a relatively new shooter and know sod all and have even less experience.

Originally Posted by Tahr

People seem to think the 6.5x55 is magic. Its not. But it is nice. Moderate recoil and noise are its advantages. But its best hand-loaded, and no matter what you do to it, it runs out of legs at around 350-400 yards and kills begin to be quite slow. Especially on large stags and bull Tahr. Its quite emphatic though out to about 280/300 yards.

I've owned a few and shot many animals at all sorts of ranges with them, and that is my experience.

In real life, its no better than the 308 or 708.

Looking back, the 308 takes a lot of beating. A T3 cut to 18" with a suppressor and firing 130 grn Barnes at 3k would have been adequate for every animal I have ever shot in my lifetime.

I agree with what you say and I also believe there actually is no magic caliber it is down to what you feel comfortable shooting caliber wise and the reality is it is all down to placing that shot in the right spot personally myself I feel very comfortable shooting 6.5x55, .270, .308 and 7mm08 hell my first kill was a 150 pound boar with a .243 which was my first rifle. and personally I have no need for a large cased rifle such as a magnum as I do not shoot any further than 300 meters off of a bi pod and no more than 100 - 200 meters unsupported. And if I did go back to a 6.5x55 I would reload for it again like I did with my last one to get around the anaemic factory loads.

Just personal taste, GM
I was hunting with a mate who had his (T3 I think) mag get a light smack and started looking a bit dodgy so to me it's just another factor that can go wrong. I don't mind cycling unused rounds out but I just like it that once I've shot an animal and I want to make my rifle safe I hit the floor plate and the rounds are out and I can get to butchering.Simple and quick.

Everyone has got their own way of doing things but I've found that keeping everything as simple as possible works for me cos otherwise I'm fiddling with too many bits and pieces and carrying too much shit which I find distracts me from enjoying the bush.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

I don't know what all this rubbish about the danger of emptying a blind mag is. I just point in a safe direction, strip the round out of the mag with the bolt and draw the bolt back. The round is never chambered and the bolt certainly never closed. This is just as quick as dropping a mag and stripping the rounds out by hand and replacing the mag in the rifle so it doesn't get lost.

I've never stalked in bush before but I gather that shorter rifles are easier to manoeuvre. Fatter bullets generally perform better in shorter barrels than narrower bullets and suppress better. Also when you have a short barrel then there isn't really the need to go to a big capacity case. From this the natural conclusion would be the mighty 308, but pretty much anything will do.

Disclaimer: I'm a relatively new shooter and know sod all and have even less experience.

Originally Posted by 308

Just personal taste, GM
I was hunting with a mate who had his (T3 I think) mag get a light smack and started looking a bit dodgy so to me it's just another factor that can go wrong. I don't mind cycling unused rounds out but I just like it that once I've shot an animal and I want to make my rifle safe I hit the floor plate and the rounds are out and I can get to butchering.Simple and quick.

Everyone has got their own way of doing things but I've found that keeping everything as simple as possible works for me cos otherwise I'm fiddling with too many bits and pieces and carrying too much shit which I find distracts me from enjoying the bush.

I know what you mean. Even with the rifles I have with hinged floor plate or drop box mag I find I just strip them out of the mag with the bolt and catch them one at a time. If I open the floor plate they go everywhere on the ground and that is a right sod for this old twit. Whose bright idea was it to put the ground at foot level, honestly?

Originally Posted by gadgetman

If I open the floor plate they go everywhere on the ground and that is a right sod for this old twit.

I don't find it too hard with the Ruger to open the floorplate and drop them into the same hand. Different rifles have different catches though I guess!

If anyone has trouble cycling a bolt with live rounds without having an accidental discharge should perhaps look at another hobby...
Knitting perhaps.

Ive got a M96 Sweedish mauser . Its had the lock time sped up and the barrel wacked off at 18 inches with a 2-7 tasco.
. It does everything from rabbits too deer and all ive ever used for 20 years. In the bush its handy too have a rifle that will go through a red stag from one end too the other and the reason I went back too the 6.5 20yrs ago after a short stint with a 3030.
BUT ..... the last deer I saw was beside the track 10 yards away as I wanderd along ,rifle slung , rolling a smoke 10 miniutes from the car.
Soo I went and bought a little 16inch rossi in 357mag , its my boat - goat rifle, my rabbit rifle , my Kaimai rifle and Ill possibly never pick up the mauser again .
Its appiture sighted , shoots 3 inch at 80 yards and ill shoot deer when there in close and pointed the right way round .; Best bush rifle in the world and best beer can rifle too.!!!!.